Francqui Chair 2025-2026 : Peter Van Petegem

The Faculty of Education is honoured to welcome Professor Peter Van Petegem, winner of the Belgian Francqui Chair for 2025-2026. He gave his inaugural lecture entitled Learning from Yesterday, Inspiring Tomorrow: Educational Sciences on the move on 1st December 2025.

Full programme

• Monday, 1 December 2025, 3pm – Inaugural lecture: Learning from Yesterday, Inspiring Tomorrow: Educational Sciences on the move

Summary:

"Educational Sciences are a relatively new discipline. They have their roots in the pedagogical sciences but have developed into an independent, distinct, and diversified field. Yet, one may ask whether Educational Sciences are by definition interdisciplinary. Is a continuing connection with the pedagogical sciences inevitable, or even necessary?

Starting from Peter van Petegem's personal story, he will reflect on Educational Sciences as a discipline. What can we learn from the development of the field over the past fifty years, and what should we consider when thinking about its future? Are we, as educational scientists, capable of answering fundamental questions for our discipline: What is good education? What is educational quality? Can we have an impact on children’s learning, teaching practices, and educational policies? Is there a future for educational sciences? And what warnings should we keep in mind?"

Following the inaugural lecture on 1st December, the lecture series continue with four further lectures:. 

• Tuesday 10 February 2026, 2pm - 4pm, SOCR25: Measuring impact in education for sustainable development 

Summary:

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is an educational approach that aims to empower learners to act for people, the planet, and shared prosperity. This lecture explores how the impact of ESD can be meaningfully measured. It introduces the concept of action competence as a central learning outcome of ESD and discusses the methodological challenges involved in capturing such complex outcomes. Beyond the level of the individual learner, teachers and school organizations also play a crucial role. The lecture presents conceptual frameworks and research instruments developed to assess learners’ action competence, the role of teachers, and the characteristics of ESD-effective schools.

Download the lecture material for 10 February 2026 in PDF >

• Friday 13 March 2026, 2pm - 4pm, AGOR01: Quality assurance: a balancing act between internal and external evaluation

Summary:

How is quality assurance connected to educational improvement? The Flemish Decree on Educational Quality shapes both the standards and the practice of quality assurance in Flanders. This lecture examines the Reference Framework for Educational Quality, the instrument used by the Education Inspectorate in school inspections, with particular attention to its focus on internal quality assurance. We will explore the effects of inspections on schools and the factors that influence their impact on policy and practice. At the same time, the decree assigns primary responsibility for quality to schools themselves, creating a dynamic tension between external accountability and internal ownership. We will elaborate on the what, who, why, and how of school self-evaluation by showcasing some concrete instruments. This session invites critical reflection on how schools navigate this relationship and what it means for educational improvement.

Download the lecture material for 13 March 2026 in PDF >

• Wednesday 8 April 2026, 2pm - 4pm, SOCR25: What can we (not) learn from International Large Scale Assessment, like TIMSS and PISA 

Summary:

International large-scale assessments, such as TIMSS and PISA, have become influential tools in shaping global discussions about education quality, policy reform, and student performance. Policymakers and researchers often use these results to benchmark national performance, identify potential strengths and weaknesses in curricula, and inform evidence-based reforms. During this lecture, relevant results and secondary analyses of TIMSS 2019-Repeat and TIMSS 2023 will be presented, and what these have brought about in Flemish education policy. We will also critically reflect on both the possibilities and the limitations of international large-scale assessments.

Download the lecture material for 8 April 2026 in PDF >

• Monday 11 May 2026, 2pm - 4pm, SOCR25: Integration or Isolation? The Effectiveness of STEM Education

Summary:

This presentation explores the value of an integrated STEM (iSTEM) approach in secondary education. It outlines the key characteristics of iSTEM, emphasizing, amongst others, interdisciplinary learning, real-world problem solving, and collaboration across science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The presentation also reports on findings from a strategic basic research project that compares the effectiveness of integrated STEM with more traditional, discipline-based approaches. Both cognitive outcomes (such as knowledge acquisition) and non-cognitive factors (including motivation, attitudes, and self-efficacy) are examined. As a practical outcome of this research, the iSTEM platform was developed to support schools and teachers in implementing integrated STEM practices effectively in the classroom.

Who is Peter Van Petegem ?

Peter Van Petegem is a former science teacher and currently full professor of Educational Sciences in the Department of Training and Educational Sciences within the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). He also holds a part-time appointment as Research Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway.

His research focuses on evaluation studies in education, particularly at the macro level (educational policy) and the meso level (educational innovation, school policy, and quality assurance). He has a long-standing interest in Environmental Education, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), and STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

Professor Van Petegem has served as principal investigator for numerous national and international comparative research projects. He has published extensively in national and international journals and edited volumes, with more than 250 articles indexed in ISI-listed journals.