Duurzaamheidscoördinator Onderwijs

The primary mission of the Duurzaamheidscoördinator Onderwijs is to structurally anchor sustainability and circularity into the educational programs and daily pedagogical practices of mboRijnland. This involves mapping current initiatives across the institution's colleges, identifying gaps, and authoring a comprehensive implementation plan tailored to the vocational education context. You will actively support various educational departments (colleges) in articulating their sector-specific sustainability visions while ensuring alignment with overarching institutional policy. In practice, this means co-designing curricula improvements, facilitating staff professionalization programs, and empowering students to actively participate in green projects on campus and beyond. Additionally, you will coordinate mboRijnland's participation in external benchmarks such as the SustainaBul MBO, act as a peer reviewer within that learning network, and maintain strategic collaboration with the existing sustainability coordinator to guarantee alignment across operations and curriculum.

This position offers significant exposure to modern educational transformation frameworks, notably the Whole School Approach and the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within secondary vocational training (mbo). You will deepen your understanding of how systemic change operates across multi-campus institutions with diverse professional fields, from engineering to hospitality and healthcare. Professionally, you will hone advanced stakeholder management and policy-to-practice translation skills. Representing the institution in the nationwide SustainaBul MBO network offers strong visibility, benchmarking insights, and valuable peer exchange with sustainability leaders across the Dutch vocational sector. Furthermore, through the internal mboRijnland Academie, you can access continuous personal and professional development programs to sharpen your change management, coaching, and strategic advisory competencies.

The ideal candidate brings a higher professional education (hbo+) background paired with solid conceptual and practical knowledge of sustainability, circular economy, and educational innovation. A proven background in educational environments, curriculum development, or educational policy is essential to navigate the pedagogical environment effectively. Strong interpersonal sensitivity and organizational dexterity are essential. The role demands an energetic self-starter who can connect disparate initiatives, bridge the gap between abstract strategy and daily lesson plans, and persuade teachers and college directors without formal hierarchical authority. Experience leading complex change projects, facilitating workshops, and engaging diverse stakeholders, from teenagers and vocational instructors to educational executive management, will make an applicant particularly compelling.

To stand out, avoid general statements about personal eco-consciousness and instead focus specifically on educational change management. Highlight concrete examples where you successfully introduced sustainable concepts or new frameworks into teaching methods, training modules, or large multi-stakeholder organizations. In your motivation letter, directly answer the posting's invitation to explain how you would shape and launch this brand-new role during your first six to twelve months. Referencing your understanding of the Whole School Approach, vocational qualification structures, or the Dutch mbo ecosystem will demonstrate immediate readiness. Frame your role as a collaborative catalyst rather than an auditor: convey how you build trust (vertrouwen), connection (verbinding), and craft (vakmanschap) across autonomous teaching teams.

The core focus of this position centers on education for sustainable development (ESD) and circular thinking. Rather than focusing solely on campus facility management or energy efficiency, the emphasis is placed on student learning outcomes, mindset development, and vocational skill sets relevant to the ecological transition. You will utilize the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Whole School Approach to ensure sustainability touches pedagogy, school culture, community partnerships, and physical campus projects in an interconnected manner. A recurring milestone will be tracking and optimizing the institution's performance within the SustainaBul MBO ranking, using its peer-review criteria to drive continuous improvement in circularity and social responsibility throughout all branches.

A central challenge will be overcoming institutional inertia and potential resistance from teaching teams who already face high workloads and strict curriculum requirements. Introducing sustainability cannot feel like an additional burden; it must be framed as a natural, value-adding component of current vocational profiles. Given that this is a newly defined position spanning six different cities (Leiden, Gouda, Alphen aan den Rijn, Zoetermeer, Woerden, and Leidschendam-Voorburg), managing broad geographical scope and prioritizing where to intervene first will test your organizational discipline. Additionally, striking the right balance between broad institution-wide vision and sector-specific realities, such as the differences between automotive training and health assistance, demands exceptional adaptability and patience.

A typical day could start at one of the regional campuses meeting with a team of vocational instructors to brainstorm how circular materials can be integrated into their practical workshops. You might help them identify available learning modules or adapt existing case studies for their students. By midday, you could connect with student representatives to discuss a student-led sustainability initiative, followed by a collaborative working session with the corporate sustainability coordinator to align policy targets with educational outcomes. In the afternoon, you might draft strategic milestones for mboRijnland's upcoming SustainaBul submission, participate in an online peer-review meeting with fellow coordinators from other mbo colleges, and wrap up by preparing a professional development workshop for teaching staff.

Because you are building this function from scratch, successful execution provides immense internal visibility across all levels of mboRijnland, including college boards and the Concernbeleid & Strategie executive leadership. This can pave the way for senior advisory, strategic policy, or educational management positions. Furthermore, expertise at the intersection of vocational education (mbo) and green transition skills is in extraordinarily high demand across the Netherlands. Leadership in national networks like SustainaBul elevates your profile as a pioneering voice in Dutch educational sustainability. Depending on your interests, the role can naturally evolve toward broader strategic program management, regional public-private partnership leadership, or specialized consulting in regenerative education.

Your closest collaborator will be the operational Sustainability Coordinator, ensuring holistic harmony between sustainable campus operations and educational programs within the Concernbeleid & Strategie department. Externally, you will frequently interface with regional vocational partners, municipal sustainability networks, and national working groups such as the SustainaBul MBO community and other educational peers. Internally, your everyday success relies on building trusted relationships with college directors, team leaders, curriculum developers, teaching staff across varied occupational disciplines, and the student body across all six campus locations.