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All you need to know about education in the Netherlands

According to an article published by the British Guardian in 2017, the number 4 concern of Dutch voters is "more money for education". It thus ranks even before the issue "Integration of refugees" which is only a number 9 concern. A good reason to explore education in the Netherlands more thoroughly.

Even though this small EU member state does not make many headlines when it comes to international politics, it has certainly managed to make quite a few headlines about its successful educational system. The Netherlands have repeatedly scored top marks in various international surveys on students' performances. In 2013, 92% of Dutch students successfully graduated from secondary school. On top of that, the OECD's annual education report "Education at a glance" 2016 states that the Netherlands and Belgium were the only ...

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... European countries that effectively met the benchmark level for the OECD sustainable development targets.
The Netherlands has a decentralised education system. The state has the highest supervisory authority in educational matters, represented by the minister as well as the state secretary for education, culture and science. With the exception of institutions of higher education however, being the responsibility of the state, primary and secondary education is administered by local authorities. Moreover, a high amount of Dutch educational institutions is being funded by private investors since everyone has the right to establish schools. Many of those schools have a particular religious affiliation. Nonetheless, they have to meet the criteria of the official national curriculum.
Education in the Netherlands is compulsory for all children between the ages of 5 and 16, even though most children start school at the age of 4. Like the majority of its fellow EU member states the Netherlands is also part of the Bologna Agreement and has been implementing reforms accordingly since 2002.

On the occasion of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2016 and its guests of honour, the Netherlands and Flanders, both being linked through a shared language, Education Worldwide gives an overview of their educational systems. The dossier on the Netherlands is structured as follows:

General Information on Education

Netherlands
Eurydice is the "Network on education systems and policies in Europe". Amongst others, it provides very comprehensive country profiles on on education systems in Europe (formerly know as "Eurypedia"). All areas of education are covered from early childhood to adult education, as well as overarching issues. Each country [...]

Netherlands
The Government of the Netherlands provides an alphabetical list of important topics, which also includes information websites on different sectors of education in the Netherlands. You can find the following topics:
> Freedom of [...]

Netherlands
[NiederlandeNet (NetherlandsNet) was shut down around November 2023. We provide a copy of the website from the Internet Archive as of October 2023.]
NetherlandsNet, based at the Center for Dutch Studies at the University of Münster, Germany, offered web dossiers on various topics related to the Netherlands (only in German). [...]

Netherlands
The Centre for the Study of the Netherlands at the University of Muenster offers via the platform NiederlandeNet a compilation of information on education and research in the Netherlands. Topics are: archives in the Netherlands, German in the Netherlands, the school system of the Netherlands, studying in the Netherlands, Dutch in [...]

Netherlands
This site provides structured information on education in the Netherlands in German language. The single chapters deal with school, higher education, and teacher education.
"anabin" is an information database of the German Conference of Ministers of Education - Central Office for Foreign Education (Kultusministerkonferenz - [...]

Netherlands; Germany
The website of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) provides ample information on academic exchange and cooperation with the Netherlands. Information only available in German. [Abstract: Editors of Education Worldwide]

Netherlands; Germany
The website which is provided by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), provides a broad overview of research and education in the Netherlands, including information on statistics, educational reports, policy or cooperation with Germany and other countries. Additionally, you will find basic country [...]

Netherlands
The Center on International Education Benchmarking, a Programme of the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) provides analyses of socalled top-performing education systems in different countries. Among others, the analyses take a look at the reasons for the good performance of the respective education systems. You can [...]

Educational Policy (Governmental Bodies & Official Documents)

Netherlands
The English website of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science provides information on its organisation and tasks, on the educational system, news as well as some documents from educational policy. [Abstract: Editors of Education Worldwide]

Netherlands
The website of the Dutch School Inspectorate provides a lot of information on its work, the process of inspection, criteria for evaluating school, as well as many fulltext documents (reports, studies, results from school inspections etc.). The Dutch website moreover provides a school finder where you can filter for many different [...]

Netherlands
The Education Council of the Netherlands is an "independent governmental advisory body which advises the Minister, Parliament and local authorities." The English version of the new website provides information on the organisation and working methods of the council as well as many publications on educational matters. The old website [...]

Netherlands
The AWTI advises the Government and the Parliament on policies related to scientific research, technological developments and innovation. Knowledge, research and innovation are important for all policy areas. In spite of this, the AWTI mainly relates to the areas dominated by the minister of Education, Culture and Science (science [...]

Belgium; Netherlands
Together, the Netherlands and Flanders run an entity for accreditation and quality assurance of educational institutions in their respective countries. The NVAO also organises the accredition of foreign qualifications. Its website provides a lot of information on the work processes of NVAO, including annual reports on [...]

Netherlands
The database Planipolis provides official fulltext documents on educational policy and planning from UNESCO member states. For the Netherlands you can find documents starting in the year 2000. Planipolis is provided by the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP). [Abstract: Editors of Education Worldwide]

The Dutch school system is one of the best in the OECD, as measured by the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). It is also equitable, with a very low proportion of poor performers. Basic skills are very good on average, while the system minimises weak basic skills among teenagers as effectively as the East Asian champions [...]

"This policy profile on education in the Netherlands is part of the new Education Policy Outlook series, which presents comparative analysis of education policies and reforms across OECD countries. Building on the substantial comparative and sectorial policy knowledge base available within the OECD, the series will result in a biennial publication (first volume in 2015). It [...]

Belgium; Netherlands
English translation of the "Cultural Treaty" between the Netherlands and Flanders in 1995. This treaty includes the "cooperation in terms of Culture, Education, Sciences and Welfare" between the country and the region linked by a common language. A commission (CVN) was created to monitor the implementation of the treaty. [...]

Belgium; Netherlands
Website of the Commission in charge of the monitoring of the implementation of the "Cultural Treaty" between the Netherlands and Flanders in 1995. Unfortunately, the site is not available in English. The Dutch site informs about the [...]

Belgium; Netherlands
Short article about the celebrations on the occasion of the 20 years of the "Cultural Treaty" between the Netherlands and Flanders in 1995. The article links to relevant information on the treaty, on cooperating institutions and the [...]

Educational Reports, Statistics, Assessments

Netherlands
The official Central Agency for Statistics (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek) in the Netherlands provides some news ony educational statistics as well as some educational statistics (facts/figures) and some in-depth articles. Furthermore, you will find online publications on statistical data in the Netherlands in general. The [...]

Netherlands
Every year the Dutch Inspectorate of Education publishes the Annual Education Report on the state of education. This report outlines developments and key themes in Dutch education and includes findings for primary, secondary and higher education. An English summary informs about the most important subjects of the report. [...]

Netherlands
The Unesco Institute for Statistics (UIS) provides the most recent basic data on education in the Netherlands. You will find information on the following issues:
* General information
* Education System
* Participation in education
* Progression and completion in education
* Education [...]

Netherlands
The country dossier for the Netherlands, compiled by the International Bureau of Education of the Unesco (IBE), provides information on statistics (from the World Data on Education - WDE), national education reports, education plans and policies, a bibliography (partly with fulltexts) and links to other sources. [Abstract: Editors [...]

Netherlands
This interactive website is provided by the OECD. It can be used to compare the Netherlands' results from different international educational assessments (PISA, TALIS, PIAAC ...) as well as their educational statistics (EAG) with that of the average OECD results or with the results of other countries. You can create graphs, tables [...]

Netherlands
The OECD provides some data from assessments or educational policy for the Netherlands that can be compared to other countries taking part in these assessments (Click on "Trend" or "Ranking" - Please note that this only functions automatically if you open the link in the same tab. Otherwise, please choose your country under [...]

Netherlands
"A video series profiling policies and practices of education systems that demonstrate high or improving performance in the PISA tests."
"This series of videos has been produced jointly by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Pearson Foundation to present initiatives being taken by [...]

Netherlands
The OECD publishes their educational news from and on a specific country in this section. You will also find publication announcements like e.g. "Education at a Glance", and other studies and reports like "Netherlands 2016 - Foundations for the Future". [Abstract: Editors of Education Worldwide]

Organisations & Associations

Netherlands
The "Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (NRO)" aims at strengthening the cooperation between research, practice and educational policy. NRO's main activities are the coordination and funding of programmes and projects (among others, e.g. the big international assessments like PISA, TIMSS or PIRLS). The English website [...]

Netherlands
The Netherlands Educational Research Association VOR provides English information on its organisation, on the eleven thematical sections of VOR (including a PhD group) as well as on the annual Educational Research Days (Onderwijsresearchdagen) that VOR organises jointly with the Flemish Educational Research Forum (VFO). The Dutch [...]

Netherlands
Formerly known as "Vereniging van Samenwerkende Nederlandse Universiteiten", the VSNU officially represents the fourteen Dutch research Universities. The association's website provides information on its focus areas, among others: human resources, research, education, finance, governance & accountability, international affairs, [...]

Netherlands
The Education Cooperative unites several educational workers unions: * Algemene Onderwijsbond (AOb) (with a short English description on their website)
* Beter Onderwijs Nederland (BON)
* CNV Onderwijs (with a short English description on their website)
* Federatie van Onderwijsvakorganisaties [...]

Netherlands
Unfortunately, the Dutch Association for Teacher Educators (VELON) no longer provides the short English description of the association that it used to have on its website. You can only look it up in the Internet [...]

Netherlands
The Dutch student union ISO was founded in 1993 as an umbrella organisation for 5 local university students councils. Since 1995, ISO also represents students of universities of applied sciences. As of today, ISO represents 35 organizations (december 2013). On its English website, ISO provides information on its vision and mission, [...]

Netherlands
The website of the student organisation LSVb doesn't have an English website. You can find English information on the website of the European Students' Union (ESU). The LSVb was founded in 1963 as a successor to the [...]

Higher Education & Research

Netherlands
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) NWO falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and is the biggest funding institution for science and research in the Netherlands. As such, it also decides about the funding of broader research programmes or strategies. NWO's website [...]

Netherlands
"NARCIS is the main national portal for those looking for information about researchers and their work. Besides researchers, NARCIS is also used by students, journalists and people working in educational and government institutions as well as the business sector. NARCIS provides access to scientific information, including (open [...]

Netherlands
"The aim of Neth-ER is to influence the European policymaking process in an adequate way in order for the Dutch knowledge field to optimally use European policy and instruments that Europe has to offer to the Netherlands. To achieve this, eight Dutch organisations working in the field of education, research and innovation, founded [...]

Netherlands
"Study in Holland" is a portal created by the organisation EP-Nuffic which supports internationalisation in education in the Netherlands. The website provides information on all aspects of studying in the Netherlands, as well as practical information on everyday life. Furthermore, you will find information on options after having [...]