In 2015, based on her experiences as a physical education (PE) teacher and next to her job as a PE teacher, Christa started her PhD research investigating the overall research question “How are performance grading, as well as goal clarification and process feedback, related to students’ motivational functioning and fear during PE?” in a joint-doctorate at Utrecht University and Ghent University. By the time of her dissertation completion, she published her four doctoral studies in peer-reviewed journals in the educational – psychology research field. She presented her work at various national (Toetsrevolutie, Toetsen & Examineren in het VO, KVLO) and international (JURE, EARLI, AIESEP) conferences. Next to her work as a PhD researcher and a PE teacher, Christa worked with several groups of Dutch teachers from various schools and domains (i.e., education-wide and PE specific), implementing theory on motivating assessment into everyday practice. Moreover, she issued several professional publications on the topic of assessment and motivation, to inform a wider educational audience (teachers, parents and school leaders) about her research findings.

Pursuing her interest in research, education and innovation, Christa momentarily works at Eindhoven School of Education as a post-doctoral researcher on the NRO research project “Sustainable Innovations in Primary and Secondary Education”. Next to this position, Christa is involved in a project, which is on behalf of Ons Middelbaar Onderwijs, that investigates the current role of (teacher)research in secondary education, aiming to identify opportunities to connect (teacher)research with education and to strengthen its interplay.