Do you want to contribute to better secondary vocational education with your research? Summa is looking for a senior researcher (0,2 FTE) who conducts independent research and translates insights into concrete improvements in educational practice. Teaching experience is not required, but an affinity with education is! You will work with students, education professionals, and partners on a meaningful assignment that you can flexibly combine with your current job. This is a temporary position until December 2027.
About the Practorate in Relational Work
The Practorate of Relational Working is a driven learning community of education professionals from across Summa. Drawing on the presence approach, we conduct practice-oriented research into relational working and are committed to the professional development of staff.
Together with education professionals, students, and partners, we gather insights from practice and translate them into actionable knowledge. Our research yields knowledge that is directly applicable in daily educational practice. In this way, we collectively contribute to the further development and improvement of secondary vocational education.
Working at Summa. Home base for talent discoverers.
Your impact as a Senior Researcher
- With your research, you contribute to education that better aligns with the needs and development of students.
- You translate research results into concrete insights and improvements that enable teaching teams to strengthen their daily teaching practice.
- You ensure that knowledge does not remain on paper, but is translated into practice together with education professionals, students, and partners.
This is what you will do as a Senior Researcher
You are working on two grant projects within the Practorate of Relational Work:
- Subsidy project 1: Sense of Belonging as a lever for equal opportunities in secondary vocational education. In this project, we investigate how we can strengthen students' connection to their study program and how teachers can better align with their learning and living environments. Using questionnaires, interviews, and practice-oriented action research, among other methods, you map out experiences and needs. Together with students and teachers, you develop, research, and evaluate interventions that contribute to more inclusive education, greater engagement, and equal opportunities.
- Subsidy project 2: Relational action as a lever for (future) MBO professionals regarding misunderstood behavior is a project grant from ZonMw within the Grip on Misunderstanding program. It develops and investigates educational interventions in which expertise by experience, realistic case studies, and practice-oriented learning take center stage. The goal is to better equip students to recognize, interpret, and manage misunderstood behavior, thereby strengthening the connection between education and practice. Your role consists of conducting, analyzing, and reporting on the research. We follow a design-oriented, participatory research approach in four phases (exploration, development, pilot, and evaluation). In co-creation with students, teachers, practice partners, and experts by experience, three coherent interventions are being developed that will be tested and iteratively further refined in educational practice.
In addition, you perform the following tasks:
- You gather additional insights from educational practice and analyze research data.
- You translate research results into usable knowledge and report on this.
- You coordinate with colleagues, students, and partners and involve them in the research.
- You ensure that research results find their way into daily educational practice.
As a Senior Researcher in Practice-Oriented Education, you will be part of the Relational Working Practorate: an engaged and learning community of education professionals. You will collaborate with colleagues and partners within and outside Summa. The position (0,2 FTE) offers a great deal of flexibility: you coordinate your working days and activities in consultation and schedule them largely independently. This makes the position easy to combine with your current job, if applicable.
This is what we offer you
- You conduct research that contributes directly to better secondary vocational education. Together with an engaged, learning community, you make an impact on educational practice and develop yourself as a researcher.
- The position (0,2 FTE) is flexible and can be filled in consultation. This allows you to combine the work well with your current job and largely plan your own activities.
- A salary in accordance with the MBO collective labor agreement, scale 10 or 11, between €3.824 and €6.396 gross per month based on full-time employment (salary scale depends on your knowledge, experience, and educational background).
- A temporary appointment of 0,2 FTE through December 2027
- Year-end bonus of 8,33%, ABP pension fund, a laptop and phone on loan.
- Develop yourself through training, a course or the annual development festival.
This is what we expect from you
- You have experience conducting, analyzing, and reporting research.
- You are curious and enjoy investigating how things work in practice.
- You are capable of immediately taking on projects independently and at the same time know how to connect with others.
- You are flexible and can handle limited available time and varying research activities well.
- You have an affinity for research and practice. Experience in education or a professorship/practical research group is an advantage, but not a requirement.
- Knowledge of relational work is not required. You are curious, inquisitive, and know how to translate insights into practice.
Become a Summa colleague!
We strive for a workforce that reflects society. We invite anyone who identifies with the profile to apply.
Even if you are already employed by another employer, we invite you to apply. This 0,2 FTE position in particular offers the opportunity to combine your existing duties with a meaningful research assignment.
Please indicate your interest via the 'apply' button.
The first round of interviews will take place on Thursday, November 19 and Monday, November 23, 2026.
More information? Contact one of the practitioners:
Hans Panjoel (06-15459551) or Kennedy Tielman (06-14976707).
Acquisition in response to this vacancy is not appreciated.
