6/22-23

Tuesday, our educational travel host, Henk Van Hezel, gave us an overview of the education system in the Netherlands. I did find out that The Netherlands would fit inside Texas 16 times, and I shared that the next day with teachers at the school we visited, and it made them laugh. You think we have it bad with two major political parties, and some smaller ones besides? The Dutch have to deal with 10 political parties, so compromise is essential in order to accomplish anything. Right now, the Christian Union Party is in power (a minority party), and they only have 50 members in Parliament (out of a total of 150), so it will be a challenge to accomplish anything. This is the first time since World War II that a minority party has been in power.

The Netherlands has a queen, Queen Beatrix, but she has no political responsibility. When the Dutch people are asked if they would rather not support (through taxes) the monarchy, they say they want to keep the Queen. Henk shared with us that the educational system is centralized, with decentralized management and administration. He said that "freedom of education" is guaranteed by the constitution. I asked if homeschooling of children by their own parents was allowed, and the answer was unequivocal--home-schooling is illegal. Parents who attempt to home-school are fined and children are forcibly sent to school. Parents may also be sent to prison, and children removed to the custody of the state. 

Students take an exam (designed by CITO, discussed later) at the age of 12 which determines whether they continue in a vocational track or a pre-university track. Parents can choose any school, but popular schools may choose students. On the other hand, the birth rate in the Netherlands is declining, and some schools are being closed, creating competition for students. The goal of the government is to raise average Cito scores from 535 (reported in 2010) to 537 by 2015. A lot of resources and attention are paid to low-performing students, but little recognition is given to gifted students or high-performing schools.

Differences from the US educational system include: separation of special needs students from the general population, one major test that decides your educational and career path at age 12, more vocational training earlier in life to prepare for careers, government subsidies of all schools public and private, low university tuition rates (2000 Euros for an entire year).


Our second presenter was Frans Kleintjes, who is a consultant in educational measurement and a senior research scientist with Cito, which provides many assessment instruments for both education and business, but is the unique provider for the test which children here take in the 8th grade to determine their future education and career path. Students are tested on language, arithmetic/mathematics, study skills and environmental studies. At the website: www.citotoets.nl, parents can find 20 sample questions from the previous year's Cito test. Frans said that parents with money pay to have their children tutored and coached for the test outside of school. This is *similar* to ACT/SAT prep in the United States, which is the most similar in terms of a high-stakes test.

After the test, students progress to VMBO (preparatory intermediate vocational education--provides admission to senior secondary vocational education (MBO) after final exams after 4 years), HAVO (senior general secondary education--provides admission to higher professional education (HBO) or senior secondary vocational education after 5 years) or VWO (pre-university education--provides admission to higher professional or university education after final exams after 6 years). While in theory it is possible to move from one track to the other, it is extremely rare, and highly unlikely. The claim by the testing company is that "The Cito Test is a reliable measure of what children have learned during eight years of primary education." Also considered is the assessment of the primary school, and the desire of the parents, but the test is the primary determination. The other controlling factor is that secondary schools get to decide whom to admit, and the test score plays an important part in that decision. About 50% of students score well enough to be recommended for the university track. The percentages used to be 60/40.

Lastly on Wednesday, we met in small groups with teachers from Porta Mosana College, which is a senior secondary (pre-university) school. Marie Luise, whom my group had the pleasure of visiting with, had been an exchange student in high school in Arvada, Colorado. She said the American high school seemed much easier than European secondary school.She discussed "talent-based learning" in which teachers aim to discover the strengths of the student and aim to teach to the student's strengths. She was trained in English at a teachers' college, which is a level slightly lower than university in the European model. She is now a deputy head of her school, which is like an assistant principal.

When choosing a university, Dutch students can study anywhere in the European Union for the same cost due to the Bologna Treaty.


Thursday morning, I traveled by taxi to the Bernard Lievegoed school, which is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolph Steiner. This is similar to Waldorf schools in America. In the Netherlands, they call this a "free school." It has only recently been supported by the government, and that relationship has moved the curriculum to more accountability and testing than the classic Waldorf model of learning. This is a secondary school, and the first two hours of the day look most like what is a traditional Waldorf school. Students spend three weeks on a single subject with a single teacher (just the first two hours of each day). They produce a learning book, which contains research, writing, drawings, etc. on the topic. There is no rubric or guidance for what these books are to contain. We were shown examples of some of these books, and they were quite interesting. Some were rather ordinary, and others extraordinary. In a typical school year, students will produce 12 learning books. The rest of the school day is spent in traditional classes organized by subject (English, Dutch, math, science, etc.). These are called "vak leren." You do not want to hear me pronounce this! I looked it up, and it means "learning box." Marcel explained that much of this secondary school is much more structured than a "free school," especially at the primary level, would be. I imagine more of that is outside the learning "box"!

Our host was Marcel Notermans, a geography teacher. He explained that this is the only school in Maastricht that is growing. (Remember, most schools are shrinking due to low birth rates.) Interviews determine admission to the school, which is competitive. Ten years ago, they had only 60 students, now they have 500. They share some building space with the neighboring United World College, a primary school headed by Catherine Copeland, who we met yesterday. Marcel explained that the focus is on quality education in small groups, concentrating on the talents and skills of the students. The relationship between teacher and student is very close. Cultural artifacts include shaking hands and greeting students before and after every class. This is not the norm in Holland. At other secondary schools students would either take exams in the arts *or* in science, but at Bernard Lievegoed, all students are required to pass exams in both science and the arts.
From 2 to 4PM in the afternoon, students have practical lessons in things like carpentry and hands-on crafts. This is based on Steiner's philosophy that learning should engage 3 things: head, heart, and hands. In addition to the end-of-secondary school exam, "free school" students must prepare a research paper and 20-minute creative presentation on a topic that they are interested in. Another graduation requirement is two weeks of full-time volunteer work for each of 3 years, which is called "stages." In other schools, service learning is performed during a student's free time. Here, it is incorporated into school, and learning competencies must be demonstrated through assignments that a teacher monitors.

The ideal teacher for a "free school" is open to real contact with students, not just "teaching the student" but developing them as a person. Teachers take 10 days of training over a two year period once they are hired here.