Pallas joins student autonomy, personal development and academic knowledge with real-world skill. Three spines: the International Business College, Upcycling projects, and the Dutch government’s definition of media literacy.
Contents · 5 parts
School
Pallas Athene College
Pallas is a secondary school in Ede offering mavo, havo and vwo. It is student-centred: academic achievement and personal development weigh equally. Learners choose inside the curriculum — talent programmes, masterclasses, projects that match interest. The aim is participation in a complex, globalising world: cognitive, social, economic and digital competence.
- Four vision points: personal attention and student voice; talent and choice (sport, arts, science, technology, entrepreneurship); challenging and innovative education; every student’s full potential.
- Lessons sit with project work, collaboration and real-world application.
Economic citizenship
IBC — International Business College
IBC is a specialised programme in the upper years of havo and vwo for business, entrepreneurship and international economy. It is practice-heavy: students spend one full day a week in IBC.
- A dedicated IBC room, company and institution visits, excursions, guest lectures, internships, setting up and running their own company.
- Marketing, finance, production, organisation, international trade. A bridge from school to the professional world.
- Student examples in the e-book: EcoWrite (inkless long-life pen), Yourney (T-shirt brand), Refresh (recycled bottle with time marks and a Limited Edition Ecosystem).
Economy + environment
The Upcycling Project
Year-3 havo students turn leftover home or local-business materials into something valuable, useful or beautiful. The aim is a second life they would actually use at home. Process and product are told in a short video.
- Definition in the e-book: upcycling is a form of recycling in which discarded materials become new products of equal or higher value. It questions linear consumption and throwaway culture.
- Link to IBC: run a real enterprise and embed sustainability in economic decisions. In economics and geography: product life cycles, global chains, CO₂, energy transition, waste.
- Competences: value creation, creative problem-solving, cost, marketing, digital communication (video commercial). Assessment is both economic and geographical.
Digital citizenship
Media literacy in the Dutch government sense
For the Dutch government, media literacy is the ability to use media in a conscious, critical and active manner. It is an essential part of modern citizenship — more than a technical skill: ethical awareness and critical thinking.
- Evaluate reliability; recognise misinformation or fake news.
- Understand how algorithms and platforms shape what users see.
- Protect personal data and online privacy.
- Communicate respectfully and responsibly online.
- Be aware of media’s impact on opinions, behaviour and identity.
Practice
How Pallas embeds media literacy
Not a separate subject: it is woven through the curriculum. First year (bridge class): laptops, safe internet, responsible social media, basic digital skill, online risk. Mentor lessons across the years: netiquette, cyberbullying, social media and self-image, privacy and data, critical reading of online content.
- Economic participation is increasingly digital, so economic and digital citizenship are one model.
- The e-book closes on a balance of knowledge, skills and attitudes, with learning tied to real life and global challenges.
Modules this e-book feeds
The trainer carries the e-book into the session through these doors.