General
Despite its relatively small surface area and number of inhabitants, Brussels is a metropolis that is amongst the top cities in various different international rankings. As an economic and institutional centre, of course Brussels also faces the challenges that increasing globalisation, migration, urbanisation and ethnocultural diversity present. In fact, (much) more than half of its population are of non-Belgian origin. The central district has high levels of economic poverty and social disadvantage (34% of Brussels inhabitants are living under the at-risk-of-poverty rate). Approximately 28% of pupils in secondary education are academically at least two years behind, and 15 to 20% of young people leave school without any kind of secondary education diploma. Brussels is truly a city of paradoxes. And this is also the case with regard to the education it offers.
The MILO is rooted in this same incredibly diverse Brussels environment, but the focus of both our teaching and our research extends much further. The expertise that we have built up in and about Brussels can be applied to the rest of Belgium, and at the same time, we want to be able to compare the specific situation in Brussels with that of other non-Belgian metropolitan areas.
Researchers
Researchers within line of expertise 1 – Urban Education in ‘super-diverse’ (global) city-regions:
- Prof. Dr. Els Consuegra (interculturalism, diversity, inequality, teacher profiling, ...)
- Prof. Dr. Wouter Cools (sports and stereotypes, including physical education)
- Prof. Dr. Gustaaf Cornelis (taboos, intersectionality)
- Prof. Dr. Tom Kuppens (sustainability in education)
- Prof. Dr. Inge Placklé (teacher profiling, employment-oriented education, the strength of the city as a place to learn)
- Dr. Jetske Strijbos (pupil photovoicing, citizenship education)
- Prof. Dr. Iris Stiers (citizen science, STEM)
- Prof. Dr. Jill Surmont (multilingualism, education policy)
- Prof. Dr. Joost Vaesen (lteacher profiling, outdoor learning, citizenship education, education policy)