About meChiel van der Veen is Professor (lector) of Urban Care & Education at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences in Almere, and guest researcher Educational Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His work spans a broad developmental range — from early childhood to adolescence — always driven by the same question: how can education be made accessible and meaningful for every child?
His research career began with dialogic classroom talk and language development in young children, and has since expanded to include play-based learning, social relationships in early childhood classrooms, and dialogic writing in upper primary education. He currently leads stronger2gether, a six-year NWO/NWA-funded project investigating social relationships, flourishing and mental well-being among adolescents in pre-vocational, vocational, and special education. Chiel holds a PhD in Educational Sciences (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 2017), an MSc in Theory and Research in Education (cum laude), and a BSc in Primary Teacher Education. He was a visiting scholar at Clark University, department of Education (Worcester, MA) with prof. Sarah Michaels. He supervises multiple PhD projects (Eline van Rossum, Iris Bogaers, Maaike Radix, Kilian Geryszweski, Frytskje Simonis, Rianne de Wit, Annelies Robben, Deniz Seyhan, and MoPryia Somai) and serves on the editorial boards of De Wereld van het Jonge Kind, Pedagogiek, and the International Journal of Educational Research Open. Specialties: dialogic classroom talk · play-based learning · language development · social relationships · mental well-being · early childhood education · adolescence · urban education · equal opportunities · teacher professional development · cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT; Vygotskij) Download his full curriculum vitae (last updated July 2026). |
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News
*Mireille Smits en Elizabeth Wynberg gepromoveerd op onderzoek naar spel
*Onze documentaire 'Taalbouwers' is af. Check de trailer
*NWA ORC: financiering voor STRONGER2GETHER
*Prof. Gasser and doctoral student Preisig from PHBern visited Amsterdam & Almere to learn more about our research on classroom talk
*New video on MODEL2TALK (in Dutch)
*Onze documentaire 'Taalbouwers' is af. Check de trailer
*NWA ORC: financiering voor STRONGER2GETHER
*Prof. Gasser and doctoral student Preisig from PHBern visited Amsterdam & Almere to learn more about our research on classroom talk
*New video on MODEL2TALK (in Dutch)