Kristin: "I really like the combination of research and education."
“As a graduate teaching & research assistant, you spend half your time working on your PhD and the remainder of your time supporting one or more professors in their educational tasks. I find teaching fascinating, especially because I am given the opportunity to delve deeper into subjects that interest me. I also like the research aspect of my job a lot. In my doctoral research I want to see how schools can optimise their policy choices by using information they can gather purposefully and systematically. I really like the combination of research and education."
“I have a lot of freedom in my job. I can choose my working hours myself without having to justify it to anyone else. And when I want to write a text without being disturbed, or read articles, I work from home. But this great freedom does not mean that you are left entirely to your own devices. I regularly confer with my supervisor about my PhD. He gives me a lot of feedback and helps me establish contacts with other researchers in my discipline. Every new PhD student or assistant also has a mentor. This person is not directly involved in the content of your work but is someone you can turn to when you have a problem".
“I do think that I have a busy job, and it can be quite hard at times, but thanks to the flexible working hours I am able to combine everything with my private life. I'm also really satisfied with my pay. Before I started working at the university I spent 13 years teaching in secondary education. These years are taken into account for my seniority, meaning I did not have to start again on a starter salary when I moved to the university."
