Background: The Netherlands traditionally has a strong civil society. This has had an impact on the education system through the relatively high degree of autonomy for schools on moral and didactical choices as well as on the curriculum. Such freedom provides ample room for citizenship to develop at a local level. The large degree of curricular…

In 1988, the Dutch Parliament adopted a motion that must result in an improvement of quality and in the integration of environmental studies in education for the 5 to 16 age group within the next few years. Within the scope of basic education, certain committees received a commission from the minister of education to pay explicit attention to…

In 1993 the subject Care was introduced as a compulsory subject in Dutch secondary schools. This paper analyzes the heated discussion preceding the decision. The introduction of the subject Care is regarded as a case study that illustrates the problems linked with feminist curriculum politics. The paper argues that the discussion referred to…

The Ministers of Education of the European Community (EC) drafted a resolution in May 1988 regarding the consolidation of the European dimension in education. The resolution is meant to contribute to young people (1) becoming more aware of the European identity and the value of European civilization and of its foundations; (2) realizing the…

At the end of the 1992-93 school year, Dutch schools finished their preparations for a new core curriculum for the first stage of secondary education. One of the problems teachers faced in implementing this curriculum was the problem of class heterogeneity. How teachers dealt with heterogeneity was studied through an examination of the use of…

In this five-part essay, a project concerning development education at the secondary school level in the Netherlands is discussed. The project, entitled Educational Project Development Cooperation (EPOS), will work closely with schools and develop teaching-learning packages and model core curricula to teach students about the moral responsibility…

This paper describes social and political education in the Netherlands ("maatschappijleer") since the introduction of the subject in 1968. Points discussed include historical developments, the national curriculum project for "maatschappijleer," goals and content, government educational policy, and the position of East-West…