It has long been recognized that education plays a crucial role in the development of a nation and its people. Therefore, it is logical that there is much interest in increasing the quality of the education system. Schools are a significant representative of this system, and in recent years, there has been growing attention to the concept of the…

In large-scale educational reforms, many actors play their roles. The diversity of contributions and lack of harmonization prove to be frequently found to cause educational reform failures. Many explanations for these failures focus on differences between the actors and on differences in their contributions to the reform process. In this article,…

Education policies for greater accountability of schools assume that schools are capable of building their capacity for continuous improvement. While policy-makers, scholars, and practitioners acknowledge the importance of building school-wide capacity for continuous improvement, empirical evidence to this effect remains thin. In this study, we…

This article empirically examines the effect of social background, education, and school organization on adolescent tobacco use in the Netherlands. We test theories of norm enforcing and horizon expanding social networks and distinction by examining the relationship between daily smoking behavior and school organization. Using the 2007 Dutch…

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the means by which principals achieve an impact on student achievement. Research Design: Through the application of structural equation modeling, a mediated-effects model for school leadership was tested, using data from 97 secondary schools in the Netherlands. Findings: The results showed a small…

This article addresses the inherent tension in the Bologna process between the aim of convergence and the will to maintain the diversity of national higher education (HE) systems, as well as the decentralised and autonomous nature of national policy formulation on Bologna reforms. Starting from an analytical discussion of the concepts of…

This article sheds new light on the so-called "natural tension" between bureaucracy and professionalism in schools. As it is quite common in the educational field to appoint teachers, it is debatable whether the assumed tension really exists. It seems more reasonable to find hierarchical control "within" the professional group.…

Explores how Dutch secondary schools can provide supportive working contexts that promote teacher learning, focusing on integration of two substructures (subject departments and student guidance units). Analyzes tensions between the substructures, summarizes insights into teacher learning communities, and discusses integrated teacher teams'…

Examines early childhood education in the Netherlands: its history, general conceptions of child upbringing and developmental psychology, organizational patterns, main research projects, and goals. (JH)

The shortage of school leaders, mainly caused by the growing complexity of the job is steadily growing in recent years. This study reports on the results of a comparative empirical study into the causes of premature departure for male and female principals in primary and secondary education. Principals who have experienced premature departure…

Explores whether and how teachers' communication behavior varies within and between schools, based on a sample of eight Dutch primary schools. Also examines how teachers' network participation is related to their perception of different types of tasks. Teacher isolation at least partly results from individual teachers' behavior. (42 references)…

In the Netherlands, the constitutional freedom of education offers the opportunity for the growing number of Muslims to establish state-funded Islamic schools. At the moment there are 46 Islamic primary schools; a number of schools are in the process of being established and there is still a need for an additional 120 such schools. Right from the…

In response to an evaluation conducted by the Netherlands Inspectorate of Education of the nation's elementary schools, the Institute for Educational Development and Advice (Christelijk Pedagogisch Studiecentrum, CPS) undertook a 3-year intervention to revitalize 5 schools experiencing problems with student achievement, curriculum,…

Three articles in this special issue explore the people/school organization interrelationship in England, Canada, and the Netherlands. Two articles discuss learning organizations' change capacity. A third article examines tensions occurring when people/organization interactions clash with desired outcomes. Chaos theory and improvement programs are…

The twin rationales for this study are: (1) that the educational implications of metropolitan conditions deserve further study; and (2) that these implications transcend national boundaries. The study focuses on two facets of metropolitan school systems located in four metropolises: the characteristics of teachers and the patterns of perceived…