Els Consuegra (°1988) holds a PhD in Educational Sciences (2015) and is an associate professor (hoofddocent) at the Multidisciplinary Institute of Teacher Education (MILO) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)(01/10/2018 – present, 1 fte).

Research

Her research addresses pre- and in-service teachers’ professional development with a focus on inclusive education. Since the beginning of her PhD at the Department of Educational Sciences at VUB (2011-2015; IWT SBO Procrustes) Els has been studying teacher professional development to improve competences to deal with student diversity. By using a quantitative quasi-experimental design with longitudinal surveying and classroom video observations, in her PhD research, she showed that collaborative inquiry and video-based reflection are effective methods to decrease gender-bias in teachers’ classroom interaction patterns. With her PhD research Els was nominated for the New Scientists Scientific Talent 2017 and she was a laureate of the EOS Pipet 2016. The scope of Els’ research broadened during her post-doctoral research (2015 – 2016, VLAJO SBO Potential) to also include teacher professional development for inclusive education in general (not only gender) and by focusing on pre-service teachers as well as in-service teachers. Ever since, Els has continued to investigate the initial and continued professional development of teachers with a focus on equity, inclusion and diversity issues. Professional development strategies that are put forward in her work combine 1) teacher collaboration and 2) teacher practitioner research. In her most recent work Els focuses on within and between schools teacher collaboration in professional learning networks. Els has (co-)supervised 5 PhD students that have successfully finished their PhD and she is currently supervising two PhD students. The past five years she has been awarded 13 research projects as a promotor or co-promotor with interdisciplinary and/or inter-university consortia (e.g. Flemish support center for the development and assessment of the implementation of central exams in Flanders, IRP Debest “democratic empowerment of Brussels Education, Students and Teachers”, COLIBRU collaborative researcher for school leaders in and around Brussels, “iSTEM inkleuren“ interassociation-cel to support schools with the implementation of integrated STEM education …).  Els is also the former elected junior coordinator of the Special Interest Group Teaching and Teacher Education (2013- 2016) of the European Research Association for Research on Learning and Development and is member of several Special Interest Groups and Divisions in the European Association for Learning and Instruction and the American Educational Research Association.

Current PhD student and researcher supervision

• Djiwo Weenas (01.11.2024 - 30.09.2029)
  Student voices on Wellbeing
  European School II Woluwe 
  Promotors: Joost Vaesen, Els Consuegra
  
• Panaypta Cotzaridis (01.10.2024 - 30.09.2028)
  Explaining the ethnic gap in student higher education achievement
  FWO SBO ENGINE
  Promotors: Jozefien De Leersnyder, Orhan Agirdag, Els Consuegra
• Khadija El Youssfi (01.01.2025 - 31.12.2028)
  Diversiteitscompetenties docenten hoger onderwijs
  FWO SBO ENGINE
  Promotors: Els Consuegra, Jozefien De Leersnyder
• Akim Said Aalou (01.10.2024 - 30.09.2028)
  Different Childhoods, Unequal School Lives. The social pre-production of eductional inequality during the transition from kindergarten to primary school.
  FWO Aspirant
  Promotors: Els Consuegra, Timo Van Canegem, Peter Stevens
• Keaten Van den Rym (01.10.2024 - 31.05.2025)
  Ontwikkeling van een model voor evidence-informed onderwijspraktijk voor Vlaanderen.
  Leerpunt
  Promotors: Jerich Faddar, Vicky Willegems, Els Consuegra
• Ariadne Warmoes (01.09.2021 - 31.12.2025)
  The role of professional learning networks in increasing educations' data-based decision-making skills in Flemish secondary education.
  Steunpunt Centrale Toesten in Onderwijs
  Promotors: Els Consuegra, Katrien Struyven
• Iris Decabooter (01.09.2021 - 31.12.2025)
  Standardized testing in Flanders: the role of a data coach in the professionalization trajectories for the different feedback users in primary and secondary education
  Steunpunt Centrale Toesten in Onderwijs
  Promotors: Katrien Struyven, Roos Van Gasse, Els Consuegra

Teaching activities

Els teaches general pedagogy and didactics in the teacher education master programs of the VUB. She has supervised over 50 master dissertation studies in various programs such as educational sciences, teacher education, gender and diversity. Els is the chair of the Connected Learning Community Urban Education (1/11/2021 – present) which is part of the EUTOPIA Alliance which brings together ten European universities to become, by 2030, an open multicultural, confederated operation of connected campuses. Within this community Els and her colleagues are creating a shared knowledge-base on how to train teachers for inclusive education. International cross-campus online learning environments and assignments are being created for student-teachers across Europe to develop their competences for inclusion.

Policy and governance

Since 2017, Els has been the elected vice-president of the Multidisciplinary Institute of Teacher Education (MILO). Els is chair of the Commission for Inclusive Education at the VUB (2021 – present) which was established to develop a mission and vision on inclusion for the upcoming policy period and to advise educational reforms at the VUB. Formerly, Consuegra was the elected vice-chairman of the VUB board of governors from 2014 to 2017. She is also a member of the board of governors of the largest official school network in the Flemish community (Scholengroep Brussel Onderwijs van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap) which comprises more than 100 schools and over 20.000 learners in Brussels, the capital of Belgium). Els is also part of the Flemish inter-university workgroup of university teacher educators and member of several advisory groups of the official advisory body on the education and training policy of the Flemish Community (Vlaamse Onderwijsraad, VLOR). Els is also part of the promotors steering committee of the Support Centre Inclusive Higher Education (SIHO) which serves policy makers and higher education institutions in Flanders in the development and implementation of equity and inclusion measures for inclusive higher education.