Prof Harm Tillema is a visiting associate professor of the Department of Educational Psychology. He visited the Faculty during March and April 2015. He has been involved in research in the Department on the topic of professional learning for more than 5 years. During the visit, Prof Tillema worked with the professional research group on mentoring interactions in professional preparation of teachers. This research has resulted in numerous international publications, including a text published by Sense Publishers in Rotterdam on Mentoring for Learning.
Prof Tillema presented a public lecture on 17 March on the topic: “Professional Development through Mentoring – “Climbing the Mountain”. He also participated in the workshop of the Transformation Committee of the Faculty of Education where he spoke about approaches, methods and conditions for successful mentoring in university environments. Prof Tillema gave some classes to postgraduate students, staff and professional supervisors of the Department on assessment for learning, research proposal writing, and learning theories. This included a presentation to the Conversation Analysis Research Group on mentoring conversations. His participation in the Faculty’s Achterbergh Excursion over a weekend was well received by staff and students; it was an honour to have an international visitor facilitating their discussions. The book publication on Mentoring for Learning was launched on 27 April. This book is the culmination of collaborative research between Leiden and UJ. It was edited by Prof Tillema (University of Leiden), Prof Gert van der Westhuizen (University of Johannesburg) and Prof Smith, (University of Bergen, Norway). Contributors were from the Netherlands, South Africa, Norway, Spain, and Australia. The UJ authors who contributed to 7 of the 17 chapters are Dr Martyn van der Merwe and Prof Gert van der Westhuizen (Department of Educational Psychology), and Ms Annatjie Pretorius (UJ Academic Development Centre). The link for the book is
http://tinyurl.com/mzcjya4. Prof Tillema’s visit was concluded with invited presentations to staff and researchers at the Universities of North West, Cape Town, and Stellenbosch on the Leiden/UJ collaborative research. Staff and students at UJ are looking forward to the continuation of this research.
