William Paterson professors, faculty from Windesheim University, and teachers from the Kinnelon School district during a roundtable discussion held in the Valley Road Café. (From left) Huub Olfers and Linda Terpstra, Windesheim; Michele Kiely, and Christina Ruela, Kinnelon; Christopher Mulrine, William Paterson; with Marcel Jansen, Petro Bonsink, and Ilja Veenman, Windesheim

More than twenty professors and administrators from the School of Education at Windesheim University in the Netherlands visited the University and some of its professional development schools last month for an exchange of ideas and a discussion of the challenges of teaching.

This is their second visit to the University’s campus. Windesheim is a graduate university whose curriculum offers a program on special education. During their week on campus they met with faculty from the University’s Department of Special Education and Counseling and visited elementary, middle, and high schools in addition to visits to William Paterson’s professional development schools in Passaic, Paterson, Prospect Park, and Kinnelon.

They also participated in roundtable discussions about various topics including multicultural issues, administration and school leadership, inclusion, child study teams, and testing.

“Windesheim and William Paterson have similar accredited special education departments so we are interested in the way you have things organized,” says Fennanda Verweij, one of the visitors. “We were interested in visiting the professional development schools, and also to expand the partnership between the two universities. The roundtable discussion with the William Paterson faculty and staff provided an excellent opportunity to exchange information, experiences, and ideas.”

“Their visit gave us an opportunity to talk with educators from another country about specific topics,” says Nancy Norris-Bauer, director of field experiences, who coordinated the visit. “It was wonderful for our teachers in the professional development schools to have an exchange of ideas, find commonality, and to discuss the challenges in preparing special education teachers.”