Teaching ‘Philosophy’
While I’ve been teaching for close to a decade, my experience at Maastricht University (UM) has transformed how I see myself as an educator. Initially, I saw teaching as mainly about delivering knowledge.
Working in the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) environment in Maastricht reshaped my perception of my role as a teacher into that of a facilitator. I see myself more as a guide helping students actively construct their own understanding.
The CCCS principles—Contextual, Collaborative, Constructive, and Self-directed learning—are now at the heart of my teaching philosophy.
My goal is to create an environment where students work together, actively participate, and take charge of their own learning journey. I encourage students to engage with real-world problems collaboratively, promoting deep, self-directed learning.
I’m committed to practical learning, grounding experiences in real-world challenges so students can apply theory to practice. By doing this, I hope to empower students to take ownership of their education, becoming independent learners.
Teaching Experience
I began teaching in 2016. Before joining Maastricht University, I had the privilege of teaching as a Graduate Tutor at the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB) during my Masters in Sciences under Professor Gustavo Rabay, where I taught both Bachelor students in Law as well as Foreign Affairs. More specifically, I taught courses on Human Rights and Constitutional Law, Private Law including Property, Tort, Contract Law, and generally Introduction to Law topics.
As a PhD Candidate at the University of São Paulo (USP) I focused on teaching more advanced and specialised specialised subjects. At USP I served as a Teaching Assistant for Professor Wagner Menezes’ courses, including International Trade Law and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Epistemic Foundations of International Law, International Law of Foreign Affairs, Public International Law, and Private International Law.
At Maastricht University (UM) in the Faculty of Law, Foundations of Law Department, I am responsible for instructing courses such as States, Markets and European Integration (SMEI) for Bachelor students, and the Foundations of Global Law for (Post-)Graduate students. I also teach Skills, Legal Argumentation (Thinking Like a Lawyer), and Legal Philosophy for the Bachelor Programme.
At UM, I have been overseeing the Legal Practice Internship Programmes. Additionally, I am involved in course planning and co-ordination for several key LLM and LLB courses.
Feedback from Students
“The teaching staff were in my experience, very good. Especialy my tutor henrique was absolutely incredible. He tutored perfectly, is very capable, prepared, highly intelligent and cared about the students. He is a great asset to the university.”
“Henrique Jerônimo Bezerra Marcos was an amazing tutor. Without his guidance and explanations I would have given up on this course.“
“I love how dynamic the Tutorials are being, and how invested our tutor is making everything as simply explained and comprehensible for us to fully grasp the underlying meaning of each reading..”
“I really appreciate that for each explanation you provide us a concret example of something that you experienced. It is really helpful for the understanding of this course. I also find it really great that you take the time to use the whiteboard to summarize what has been said loudly in class..“
“The teaching staff were in my experience, very good. Especialy my tutor henrique was absolutely incredible. He tutored perfectly, is very capable, prepared, highly intelligent and cared about the students. He is a great asset to the university.”
“Henrique Jerônimo Bezerra Marcos was an amazing tutor. Without his guidance and explanations I would have given up on this course.“
“I switched classes and as such had a new tutor Henrique Jeronimo Bezerra Marcos, who is very insightful and provided a lot of knowledge about the course but also provided tips for our overall study. I think it was very kind that the teaching staff allowed me to switch tutorials. Henrique was very helpful and as such tutorials were always a blastl and provided us with the necessary information.“
“I am simply writing this email to express my gratitude for the amazing time you gave us during our weekly tutorials. Despite having an 8.30 am tutorial which is mostly dreaded by students, I believe it was due to your leniency and freedom in your style of teaching that our tutorials were always full of discussion and active. You were able to provide us with a great and fruitful learning environment that not only made us feel comfortable, but also allowed us to take ownership in the way we wanted to learn. Your calm and kind attitude as a teacher was truly outstanding and that made us all feel more at ease and interested in our tutorials as they felt natural and not draining places.”
“I truly liked the manner of the teaching method of my tutor Henrique Marcos and his desire to help us with our struggles and to help us understand the reading materials and the content of the course in general. His guidance was one of the best things about the course.”
“For me, the help and availability I found in my tutor Henrique Jeronimo was very positive. Thanks to him we were able to understand concepts that seemed impossible with the reading of a text, and his attitude encouraged the students to try to engage with the subject.“
“Thank you for the best lecture in this course and your encouragements for participation in the tutorials.”
“I am really glad that our paths crossed and I hope to see you in Maastricht in the future!”
“I appreciated the content of this course as well as the guidance of my tutor. The tutorials were held in nice atmosphere where no one was afraid to discuss and ask questions which was supported by the tutor who always helped us to understand the topics and regularly checked if we all understand and engaged us in discussions. During my exchange this was my most favourite tutorial thanks to the group of students and the tutor. I also think the lectures gave us good basic information before the tutorial and guided us in what to look for in the texts for tutorial readings, which were sometimes a little hard to read.”
“I really liked the teaching style. It was one of the only courses that I enjoyed attending, because conversations and debates were fostered and encouraged in a very real and interesting manner.
I felt that the things taught in class where the most useful in studying for the exam.”
Henrique Marcos 