Helen Claus trained as a teacher, gaining her Bachelor of Education in Mental Handicap and Primary Education from the University of Birmingham. She taught in schools in Birmingham and Essex, before moving to The Netherlands.
Helen held a number of posts at the prestigious international school: The British School in The Netherlands. During her time at the school, she helped to develop the school’s provision for students with additional educational needs for which the school has become renowned. Latterly, she held the post of Junior School’s Inclusion Manager and was responsible for guiding the development of the school’s philosophy on inclusion.
Since becoming an independent consultant in 2015, Helen has advised many international families about schooling for their child with additional needs in International schools and in local Dutch state schools. She also held the post of Interim Director of Lighthouse Special Education in The Hague from 2016 to 2019.
Helen is a firm believer in continuing professional development and in 2005 she gained her NVQ Level 5 in Operational Management and became a member of the British Institute for Leadership. In 2014, Helen gained the Certificate for Competence in Educational Testing. She is also registered as an Educational Ability and Attainment Test user with the British Psychological Society (RQTU 351314), and adheres to their test protocols. Helen is a Fellow of the British Chartered College of Teaching and is registered as an independent teacher with the Dutch quality-assured Centraal Register Kort Beroeps Onderwijs (CRKBO).
Believing in passing on knowledge, Helen has more than 20 years’ experience in delivering training to international schools in The Netherlands on a variety of subjects related to Special Educational Needs and Inclusion. She has been a speaker at conferences run by ECIS, COBIS and ELSA (France). She has delivered workshops for Dutch professionals at the Leiden Passend Onderwijs Parade and for Stichting Perspectief. She has presented a Masterclass on inclusion for In1School. Helen regularly organises study days for teaching staff in international schools across The Netherlands.
Recently, Helen has become a founding member and an honorary distinguished fellow of the International Forums of Inclusion Practitioners. For the IFIP, Helen is also working with a European Erasmus+ group that is developing resources to help European teachers have access to resources about inclusive education.
Helen grew up in England, the daughter of a Dutch father and English mother, living in a cross-cultural family. She is a native English speaker and also speaks Dutch fluently.