Netherlands

Introduction to the VET System in the Netherlands

The education System in The Netherlands is coordinated by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, as well as by municipalities. Compulsory education goes from the ages 5 to 18 and there are public, religious and private schools.

As far as VET is concerned, Social Partners in The Netherlands have an important advisory and initiating role in a great range of networks, bodies, councils and institutions, and are involved in important new developments.

At national level, the main advisory body of the Dutch government is the Social Economic Council (Sociaal Economische Raad – SER), giving advice on major social and economic issues. It represents interests of trade unions and the industry in the country. Although government and social partners have their own responsibilities, they work inter-dependently as they have both access to policy instruments, for instance, on wage policies. Furthermore, the cooperation between both bodies is essential in order to achieve objectives that are defined collectively.

At sector level, social partners are represented by COLO, an association of expertise centres on VET and the labour market. The board of COLO is tripartite, and consists of a chairman and representatives from employers (two), employees (two) and national expertise centres for vocational education, training and labour market (four). For each branch, commissions (partitaire commissies) have been created, with the objective to define occupational profiles.

At regional level, regional training centres (ROC) have regional representatives of social partners in their supervisory board.

According to the latest policy report on education priorities in The Netherlands, the objective for all education sectors (schools, higher education, vocational education and training and adult education) is to increase autonomy and to deregulate by reducing the administrative burden through the removal of unnecessary obstacles, lack of clarity and complex legislation, by abolishing furnishing and equipment stipulations, strengthening the position of teachers and, where possible, that of pupils and students, and allowing room for institutions’ own educational initiatives within the framework of clear administrative relationships .

IVET

In The Netherlands, full-time education is compulsory from the ages of 5 to 16. From the age of 16, pupils can chose a path through part-time compulsory education, requiring students to attend schools for 2 days per week, until they reach the age of 18.

Those following the block or day-release pathway (beroepsbegeleidende leerweg, BBL) in senior secondary vocational education (middelbaar beroepsonderwijs), are allowed to attend school for one day a week.

One of the distinct features of the Dutch education system is that pupils can choose their path early, organizing instruction according to their own requirements. This system can be found in private schools. Public schools are under supervision of local authorities/municipalities, but it is important to mention that both systems (public and private) are subsidized by the government, and need to fulfil the criteria established by the Ministry of education. Education is divided into:

Primary education (basisonderwijs);
Secondary education (voortgezet onderwijs, VO), which has two cycles;
Senior secondary vocational education (middelbaar beroepsonderwijs, MBO) and general adult education (volwasseneneducatie);
Higher education, comprising higher professional education (hoger beroepsonderwijs,HBO) and university education (wetenschappelijk onderwijs, WO);
Special education.

In general, the system is divided into two educational streams, the general education and the vocational education stream. Vocational education goes from preparatory senior secondary vocational education to higher professional education.

The vocational education stream goes from preparatory senior secondary vocational education to vocational and adult education.

The vocational education stream goes from preparatory senior secondary vocational education to vocational and adult education. The Senior secondary vocational education path is the most chosen one: It is mostly seen as the end of initial education, completed with an initial qualification. For others, it is regarded as an alternative route to higher professional education. Most students follow the vocational education pathway although general education is viewed as a superior path. Improving parity of esteem between the two routes is a policy priority .

CVET

Aimed at people over 18, at qualifying them for work or preparation for further training, CVET in The Netherlands is a broad field with many options, depending on what path a person desires to follow in his/her career or in what area a person wants to deepen his/her knowledge. In basic terms, a distinction can be made between general adult education and vocationally oriented continuing training (for unemployed and people in the job market). Corporate training for employed people comprises a large part of this system, however, it is also the hardest sector to define. CVET in The Netherlands can be defined as follows:

(a) adult education and general secondary education for adults (voortgezet algemeen volwassenen onderwijs, VAVO) are the types of education which come under the 1996 Adult and Vocational Education Act (Wet educatie en beroepsonderwijs, WEB) and are provided at regional training centres;
(b) training for the unemployed; this aims people in a long-term unemployment situation or with difficulties to access the job market;
(c) training for the employed (corporate training, privately funded training and part-time vocational education).

The general policy strategy is that the government is responsible for general adult education, which comes under the WEB Act, and training for the unemployed. The Ministries of Education, Culture and Science and of Social Affairs and Employment are the most important actors. Since 2002, the integration of immigrants (of older generations as well as the ‘newcomers’) is the responsibility of the Minister of Integration and Immigration, residing under the Ministry of Justice.

Adult education is primarily targeted at people who are unemployed or wish to rejoin the labour market. Participants must have completed compulsory education to be admitted to general secondary adult education (voortgezet algemeen volwassenen onderwijs, VAVO). Additional requirements may be imposed, depending on the type of education. No requirements are necessary to be admitted to basic adult education courses or continuing vocational training for adults .In general secondary adult education, courses are provided at the initial levels 1 and 2 and the advanced level, through which participants can obtain a MAVO (middelbaar algemeen voortgezet onderwijs – secondary general education), HAVO (hoger algemeen voortgezet onderwijs - senior general secondary education) or VWO (voorbereidend wetenschappelijk onderwijs - pre-university education) qualification .

Furthermore, adult education has a separate six-level-structure.

Examples of courses include the educational component of the (compulsory) integration programmes for newly arrived immigrants.

Quality Assurance

Quality assurance is a central priority in education policy, since the government is leaving more responsibilities to the institutions in the field. VET institutions have a great deal of autonomy to design their own quality assurance system. Self-evaluation by institutions is the starting point for external quality assurance under the responsibility of the Inspectorate of Education. Supervision and monitoring by the Inspectorate takes place through yearly visits and is proportional to the self-evaluation; institutions with a well developed quality system are monitored less intensively.

In August 2002, a national Kwalititeits centrum examinering (KCE, Quality Centre for Examinations) was established for quality assurance by BVE–raad, Colo and Paepon. In it, education institutions and the labour market cooperate to control the quality of examinations in secondary vocational education. The aim is to improve the quality of the examinations of accredited courses and all related aspects.

The tasks of the KCE include:

Defining and maintaining the quality standards for examination;
External validation of the quality of examinations.

Quality assurance should cover the central responsibilities of the institutions: qualifications, accessibility, effective educational tracks, study and career-choice information;

All stages of the quality assurance cycle should be carried out:

formulating goals or quality standards, targeted results;
determining assessment methods (including measuring instruments) and establishing the role of external parties involved in assessment;
establishing/measuring the results achieved;
evaluating the results achieved with respect to goals/standards;
(in the event of shortcomings) instituting improvement measures;
where necessary, adjusting the goals and measurement instruments;

Furthermore, an independent consultancy CINOP is specialised in lifelong learning, vocational education & training (VET), adult education, career guidance and human resource development in The Netherlands. It acts as a think-tank for the Dutch government, and is therefore a crucial organization in order to apply a quality assurance system for The Netherlands, reflecting the CQAF

Since CINOP has great experience on VET issues, such as lifelong learning, it has been involved in advisory services for the Dutch government in the development of a national policy for lifelong learning, based on the Lisbon strategy. Apart from policy development, CINOP contributes to the actual development and implementation of lifelong learning as follows:

Competence based learning will be the focus of attention in VET in future years in The Netherlands. CINOP is closely involved in its implementation and the monitoring of the innovation.
CINOP and Nuffic form the National Agency Leonardo da Vinci, part of the ‘Lifelong Learning’ programme (LLP, 2007-2013)
CINOP conducted studies about the state of development of lifelong learning in The Netherlands for a comparative research in European countries for CEDEFOP.
CINOP participates in several European projects, funded by the European Commission through the programmes Leonardo da Vinci, Grundvig and e-Learning 2010 .

EQARF Indicators

The following PDF attachment summarises evidence identified that relates any indicators used at national level to the ten indicators proposed in the EQARF recommendation: EQARF Indicators The Netherlands