Between 1902 and 1913 two acclaimed educational reformers wrote several series of children's primers in the Netherlands. Jan Ligthart and Hindericus Scheepstra collaborated closely with the painter Cornelis Jetses who provided the illustrations. The series would become classics in both text and image. In this article the symbolic educational…

In this article, we briefly describe the history of intelligence test use with children and youth in the Netherlands, explain which models of intelligence guide decisions about test use, and detail how intelligence tests are currently being used in Dutch school settings. Empirically supported and theoretical models studying the structure of human…

The declining economy of the Dutch Republic obliged city governments in the eighteenth century to take measures to undo the effects of the social deterioration. They therefore founded schools for the poor and sometimes gave full financial support. After 1795, the Batavian Revolution proclaimed that primary education was a state affair, but after a…

Over the years attempts have been made to standardize sign languages. This form of language planning has been tackled by a variety of agents, most notably teachers of Deaf students, social workers, government agencies, and occasionally groups of Deaf people themselves. Their efforts have most often involved the development of sign language books…

The purpose of this article is to present an analysis of the philosophical, historical, sociological, political, and economic perspectives reflected in the public policies about lifespan sexuality education of Germany and The Netherlands. A new conceptual framework for analysis and evaluation of sexuality education policies that integrates the…

This paper tries to depict important elements of the professional career of Bert P.M. Creemers. Starting from his early work on teaching styles and its effects on students' initial reading, it is shown that there are consistent patterns in his work. These come to the fore in his widely cited "The Effective Classroom" (1994) but also in…

These two papers look at international aspects of quality in higher education from contrasting perspectives. The first paper, "Higher Education Quality: A European Dimension" by John Brennan asks whether there is a distinctive European dimension to quality in higher education and, if so, what are its implications for British institutions…

The title echoes the well-known phrase "the idea of the university", and European universities have always been seen as institutions with a strong international dimension, developing according to common patterns. In their case, it was the "Humboldtian" model embodied in the University of Berlin founded in 1810 which prevailed.…

The history of (external) quality assurance schemes in European higher education since ca. 1980 is sketched in this article. The three pioneering countries in Western Europe are taken as models of different developments and contrasted with the rise of accreditation in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989. Using theoretical insights, the dynamics…

Selected papers from an adult education conference are as follows: "Learner Involvement in Literacy Education" (Acton et al.); "Faith in People" (Ambury et al.); "Beginning to Tutor Problem-Based Learning" (Ambury); "Exploring Literacy through Theatre" (Andruske); "Developing Learning Packages for…

This book, which focuses on how personality, societal values and politics have influenced the mission of adult education, contains 34 papers originally presented at a 2000 conference on the history of adult education. Following a Foreword (Poggeler) and Preface (Nemeth) the papers are: "The Globalization of Adult Education and the One World…