Femke van der Wilt works as a lecturer and researcher in Educational Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Wanting to become a primary school teacher, she initially enrolled in a primary teacher training . After obtaining her propaedeutics (cum laude), however, she switched to Educational Sciences at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She hoped that this study would go into more depth and be more challenging and, fortunately, she found what she was looking for. After she obtained her bachelor’s and master’s degree (both cum laude) she was admitted at the department of Research and Theory in Education and started to teach.
Besides her teaching activities, she is working on her PhD research that builds on her thesis research she has done during her studies. This research project is focused on the relationship between oral communicative competence and peer rejection in early childhood education. She hopes that the outcomes of this research will provide early childhood teachers with tools to tackle peer rejection among their pupils. Promoting positive peer interactions might just be the key.
ICE lab 