The classroom redesigned

• Design of games tools in combination with workshops and events within the Gedragswerk project. Commissioned by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, 2019 to 2021.

• The Tower of Hold, game commissioned by the Municipality of Rotterdam and Gedragswerk.

Many children and young people are at home. They do not come to school and are desperately looking for a way out of their stalled, often complex situation. Parents do not feel heard or understood, professionals in education, youth care and on the labour market do not know what to do with it either. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has set up the Gedragswerk project to get this somewhat stuck system that is mainly based on (mandatory) attendance moving. With the starting point: what do these children and young people need, how do they think, do and learn? And how can we help them with that?

In order to ultimately create a more inclusive school environment, Noud Sleumer literally physically unravelled and dismantled the education system and then rebuilt it. Together with various (primary) school directors, educationalists, compulsory education officers and designers. He organised workshops and events for this and designed several games and tools to use in this.

As a follow-up, Noud Sleumer created the game De Toren Van Houvast on behalf of the Municipality of Rotterdam and Gedragswerk, in cooperation with Foundation We Are. The game encourages teams in primary schools to think more from the perspective of presence (what if the child is there) and not from the perspective of absence (what should we do if the child is not there).