Trudie Schils

Senior researcher

Trudie Schils is Professor in Economics of Education, Member Dutch Educational Council (Onderwijsraad), Scientific director OnderwijsMonitor Limburg.

As an education economist Tudie want to contribute to decision-making in education, to offer children the education that matches their needs and talents, but also prepares them properly for the next phases in their lives. Starting point in my research is that we can only improve education by good and structural collaboration between educational practitioners, policymakers, and researchers from various disciplines. By looking at educational questions from all these perspectives, we get a more complete picture of the exact questions and can develop proper solutions. This collaboration leads to educational research that can be used in educational practice and is scientifically validated. Only in this way we can improve education.

In my research I focus on factors that play a role in students’ learning outcomes, such as expectations of teachers, students and parents, or non-cognitive factors. I also zoom in on differences between groups of students, such as differences between students from various socio-economic backgrounds or gender differences. Finally my research concerns the process of collaboration in research-practice partnerships.