Learning at work should not depend on luck.
I help companies, vocational schools and regional partnerships understand where internships and workplace learning break down and what they can change. Through research, advisory work, keynotes and practical tools.
Maarten Brand · Dutch and English · Online and across Europe
The agreement looks clear. Wednesday morning is unfortunately less cooperative.
A student comes to learn a profession in a place where the work must continue. The school sets learning goals. The company has deadlines. The mentor helps when time allows. Everyone wants a good outcome, but they do not always work with the same expectations.
I study what happens between those worlds. Whose experience is missing? Who is expected to act? Who can change an agreement? And do people have the time, knowledge and support to do what the plan asks of them?
Good intentions matter. Workable arrangements matter on Monday morning.
Start with the question, not the format.
Sometimes a keynote helps people see the issue. Sometimes the issue needs interviews, data or a working session. We choose the form after the question is clear. Catering can wait.
A room that sees its own practice differently.
Keynotes and talks built around recognisable situations, research and questions that bring the audience into the story.
- Conferences and professional events
- Leadership and partner meetings
- Panels and online sessions
Find out what is actually getting in the way.
For companies, schools and partnerships that need more than impressions. We bring experiences, arrangements and daily practice together.
- Qualitative research and interviews
- Internship and workplace-learning scans
- Regional and cross-sector collaboration
Turn insight into the next workable step.
Practical sessions for mentors, educators and project teams. Built around their own situations rather than somebody else's ideal process.
- Mentor development
- Team and partnership workshops
- EIF, Stagebooster and the Interaction Model
From different experiences to a decision people can use.
Students, mentors, educators and managers each see part of the same practice. I help organisations compare those perspectives, test their assumptions and decide what to change.
- 01InvestigateTalk to the people who work with the arrangement and examine the information already available.
- 02TryChoose one concrete change that people can carry out in their daily work.
- 03ReviewLook at what happened and revise the question, roles or decision-making where necessary.
A keynote should start a conversation worth continuing.
I connect field experience with research, history and organisational theory. The examples are concrete. The audience does some of the thinking. Nobody needs another hour of somebody reading slides aloud.
The Internship Paradox
We ask students to learn in organisations designed to get the work done. What must change when learning and production compete for the same hour?
The Mentor Nobody Trained
Mentors carry part of the next generation's education, often without time, preparation or a clear role. What helps them make better choices?
Who Gets In?
How selection, bias, geography and informal networks shape access to internships, long before a student gets the chance to prove anything.
Assessing What You Cannot See
What can a school know about learning that happens elsewhere? A talk about evidence, distance and the seduction of a completed form.
“Maarten opened our eyes with a vibrant talk and great insights.”
Enough structure to think. Not enough to hide behind.
The tools support the conversation. They do not replace it. Each one helps people examine a different part of workplace learning.
EIF
The Emergent Internship Framework helps mentors choose between three roles and recognise five conditions that shape how a student learns.
Internship booster
The student, mentor and organisation answer the same questions. Their differences show where the conversation about improvement should begin.
Interaction Model
Four connected questions about the shared issue, people's roles, decision-making and the support needed to make an agreement work.
The thinking continues off stage.
Books and essays about the places where education and work meet, disagree and occasionally manage to cooperate.
The Little Internship Book for Supervisors
A practical guide for workplace supervisors and the coordinators supporting them. The full English edition is now being prepared. Read the free English sample and register interest in the first English printing.
Based on Het Kleine Stageboek voor Begeleiders.Dutch original now in its third printing.
The update link opens a prepared email. Press Send to finish your request.
The Future Is Not in the Building
Fifty-three practical ideas for internships in remote and hybrid organisations. Because learning at work does not stop when the work leaves the building.
Ask about the book →
I work where education meets the working day.
For twenty-five years, I have worked with training companies, mentors, educators, HR professionals, project leaders and executives. I have visited more than a thousand workplaces and written seven books about internships, mentoring and workplace learning.
I studied Human Resource Management and Military History. One taught me how organisations talk about people. The other taught me to look for the structures underneath that talk. Both turned out to be useful.
I am part of LEO-NET and have given talks in Lithuania, Portugal, Belgium and Spain. Working across those settings brings different education systems and familiar questions about supervision into the same conversation.
- Bestselling author in the Netherlands
- Nominated for Management Book of the Year
- Keynotes and workshops in Dutch and English
- Founder of Bureau Brand and Stagebooster
What should work better in your organisation or partnership?
Send me a few lines about your organisation, audience or project. You do not need to know yet whether it requires research, a keynote or a workshop. That is what the first conversation is for.