Birgit Boogaard, national Teacher of the Year 2023: "Didn’t expect so many doors to open"

An hour after Birgit, lecturer in African philosophy and Social Justice Technology and Development, was awarded the title of teacher of the year at the Utrecht city theatre, Dutch news radio was already on the line. And it did not stop there: "I have since been interviewed many times. But I have also, for instance, been to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science for a talk on the need for knowledge diversity in education. Soon, I will be keynote speaker at the Dutch Comenius Festival for teachers. There will even be a tile in the Walk of Fame on our campus. Honestly, I didn't expect so many doors to open."

Birgit shows an illustration she drew the night before the interview - she is also a professional illustrator - which shows the development she has gone through. Certainly not a straight line, but rather a road full of twists and turns. Long story short: Birgit studied Animal Sciences in Wageningen with a brief interlude in Utrecht, where she got her first degree in Veterinary Medicine.

After returning to Wageningen, she specialised in what was then called Tropical Animal Production Systems, for which she spent six months in the Gambia, among other places. It was there that her love for Africa arose, which would later define her career. She pursued an MSc degree at the intersection of animal science and social science and did her interdiscplinary PhD in Rural Sociology and Animal Science. 'Africa' was parked for a while. Instead, she studied the relationship between animal husbandry and society, in the Netherlands and Norway. Subsequently, she obtained her teaching qualification, being one of the first tenure trackers: she became assistant professor in Rural Sociology.

Brazil, Gambia, Mozambique

Not long after, a vacancy came up for a postdoc position in Mozambique. Birgit: "That was a real match; I had already studied in Brazil for six months and spoke reasonable Portuguese. In the Gambia, I had been working on a goat project and this was also a project about a goat keeping. I was hired and lived and worked there for two years. My husband, then still my boyfriend, quit his job and went with me."

Although it turned out to be a fantastic time, Birgit was also critical of the project: "It was called a 'research-for-development project'. That appealed to me, because what researcher doesn't want research to be socially relevant? By contributing to development, for example? But in practice, it worked out differently and I was quite disappointed about that."

Having returned to the Netherlands in 2013, Birgit is at a crossroads in her career. She devotes herself to drawing, her other passion, and starts the preparatory course at the Art Academy in The Hague. During an art exhibition in her hometown of Zoetermeer, she meets the philosopher Heinz Kimmerle, founder of intercultural philosophy. He introduces her to the work of African philosophers: "I thought, how is it possible that I had never heard of them? We then started an African art project together. Unfortunately, Kimmerle passed away even before the opening exhibition in 2016. After his death, his family gave me access to his study room and bookshelves, which included a lot of work by African philosophers. From conversations with him, I knew roughly who were the great thinkers. But which are the key texts, is not something you just google. My great luck was that Heinz had written and underlined a lot in his books. This gave me direction. Gradually, while reading these texts, I realised what insights I had missed all along. In the 1990s, philosophy was completely dominated by Western thinkers. Kimmerle wanted to break through that. To work with African philosophers, he very consciously chose a dialogical approach. That also means looking for more equiality. So, not thinking in terms of right and wrong, but respecting differences and listening to each other."

For Birgit, these insights marked a turning point in her career. She returned to Wageningen and knocked on the door of Cees Leeuwis (Professor of Knowledge, Technology & Innovation) and Ewout Frankema (Professor of Rural & Environmental History). "Go and develop a course on 'African Philosophy'," they said. I started doing that, thinking it would be for a small group of students. But the first time in 2018, it immediately attracted 30 students and the course received a WUR Excellent Education Award."

Eight-week journey

In the years that follow, African Philosophy grows into a popular elective course that attracts large numbers of students. One of her main courses, Social Justice Technology and Development, also wins a WUR Excellent Education Award. In an earlier article, she reflects on the methods she uses in her lectures. She thoroughly prepares the first three quarters of an hour, the lecture: "I write out my story completely, so that I know it fits in terms of time, and support my story with drawings, which I make into Prezis; I zoom in and out. In the second part, students interactively engage with what they have learned, by using flipcharts, post-its or coloured A5 cards, for example. Such interactive methods create a safe space to respect different views, discuss with each other and to look in the mirror."

Birgit embraces her students, she says: "My students are truly fantastic. We really make a wonderful eight-week journey together. I find them extremely eager to learn. Perhaps that is characteristic of the current generation of students. They feel the urgency to do something about climate change and issues like racism, discrimination and colonial legacies. As a teacher, I find it important to hear where their concerns lie. And I try to create space in my classes to talk about these kinds of existential questions. I hope in this way I can give them thoughts and tools to deal with it. While I also learn from them."

Educational grant of €25,000

Through her title of National Teacher of the Year, birgit has earned an honorary seat on the board of the Comenius Network, which brings together educational innovators in higher education. She also received an education grant of 25,000 euros, a sum doubled by her Knowledge, Technology & Innovation group. She has plenty plans for spending this amount: "I will invest it in a structural and more equal collaboration with my African colleagues, such as Mogobe Ramose, Pius Mosima, Michael Eze, Ndumiso Dladla and Beatrice Okyere-Manu. The courses I teach can only be taught thanks to their knowledge. And I want to contribute to a structural exchange of lecturers between Wageningen and African universities."

Best teacher in the Netherlands

She is still in the wonderment phase, she confesses. "That evening in Utrecht, the beautiful words from the jury, the kind reactions from so many people afterwards... It still feels unreal. Seven years ago, I could never have imagined that I would ever win this prize.

After the death of Heinz Kimmerle in 2016, I felt like I was on my own. Where was I supposed to start? Without my husband's support, my search would never have succeeded. So in my acceptance speech, I said that this is also his prize. It really does feel that way. And my children? They proudly say: 'My mum is the best teacher in the Netherlands."