The Teaching Profession in the Netherlands: From Regulative Structures to Collaborative Cultures

Het Nederlandse onderwijssysteem kan beschouwd worden als ‘the hidden secret in education’ (Alma Harris). Weinig landen zijn in staat om hoge onderwijs kwaliteit te combineren met een grote mate van gelijke kansen. Daarmee kan Nederland naast gidslanden zoals Finland, Canada/Ontario en Singapore een inspiratiebron zijn voor andere landen.

Met dit doel voor ogen is in mei 2017 het boek ’The Dutch way in education: Teach, learn and lead the Dutch way’ gepubliceerd. ‘because the Dutch score high on Pisa rankings, they top almost every chart on child well-being and have a high performing system with a good balance between equity and excellence. These are just a few aspects that indicate the Dutch society and its education has a lot of things to discover if you look more closely.’

In dit boek worden de verworvenheden van het Nederlandse onderwijssysteem beschreven vanuit verschillende invalshoeken (klik hier voor de inhoudsopgave). Lector Marco Snoek heeft het hoofdstuk over de leraar in het Nederlandse schoolsysteem beschreven.

In the Netherlands, as in every country in the world, the quality of education is an issue of major concern, as education is a key factor in maintaining and developing the economic and social stability of a country. It is a key responsibility of the government to maintain and develop that quality. After all, educational quality is not a static concept, as education needs to adapt itself continuously to changes and new needs in society.

This chapter focuses on the way in which educational quality and development are supported in the Netherlands and the role teachers play in these. Three perspectives on that role are presented, one in which teachers are recipients from government measures and follow system structures and regulations, one in which individual teachers are seen as the key actors in defining and realizing educational quality and one in which educational quality is considered the result of close collaboration of teams of teachers.

The chapter shows how government and local policies in the Netherlands have moved from the first to the second perspective and are now, slowly, evolving to the third perspective.

Het boek is uitgegeven door Uitgeverij Onderwijs maak je Samen. Zie www.thedutch-way.com. Het boek zal in november 2017 een Nederlandse vertaling krijgen.