In this contribution to the Special Issue of Studies in Higher Education, I describe developments during the COVID-19 pandemic in Dutch higher education along three lines. First, the context is outlined in chronological order. It concerns the evolution of the pandemic in the Netherlands, complemented by the general situation at my own university…

There are many group training sessions to train people in effective behaviour. The authors are experienced in the development and execution of such courses for small groups of gifted adults. As literature on this theme is scarce, the authors will share their experiences. First, the theoretical model used in the training course is explained. Then,…

When preparing students for study abroad, understanding the religious dimension of the target country/culture is generally viewed as essential for cultural competency training. What is generally left unexamined is the civil religious culture that might be operative. This essay first provides an introduction to the concept as it was introduced by…

Dutch schools experience three types of violence: interpupil violence, aggression between teachers and pupils, and violence resulting from outside criminal influences. When confronting school violence, educators must confront three pedagogical paradoxes. The school can only partly compensate for bad societal influences, since other institutions…

Although support for parents has been common in Dutch policy and practice since the early 1990s, recent efforts are focusing on improving the match between supply and demand, improving coherence, and making it easier to identify and to access relevant support agencies; efforts are also focusing on prevention. This article examines how the…