Technical, economical, and social changes place great demands on the qualification of professional forces in all areas of the national economy. The decisive foundations for these qualifications are built in vocational education. Vocational education is an investment in the future and one of the decisive pillars of the prosperity of every state in…

This paper highlights my experiences as World Citizenship teacher at a public school in the Netherlands, comprising a student population of second generation immigrants with a Turkish background. It shows how the concept and course of world citizenship has evolved since its inception three years ago. The paper also reflects what we, as teachers…

Several factors have been identified that influence a teachers' use of curriculum materials. This paper focuses on the development of materials as a key factor in this process. Clarification is given on how a sophisticated design of curriculum materials can improve curricular implementation processes and outcomes. An overview of the implementation…

One of the goals of Project Onderbouw in the Netherlands is to develop an educational concept and curricula to be used in primary education. The educational concept adopted for the project is termed "developmental education." Based on neo-Vygotskian principles and other theoretical approaches, "developmental education"…

This study investigated the empirical structure underlying students' perceptions of their teachers' behaviors in terms of the amount of control displayed in the regulation of students' learning activities. A group of 2,061 Dutch secondary school students taught by 67 teachers completed a 14-item survey that examined their perceptions. Data…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined the effectiveness of the guidance program used by change agents in the Dutch School Improvement Project (NSIP) on program implementation. Sixteen schools composed the experimental group and 13 made up the control group. The experimental variable was the guidance strategy of the NSIP. The two…

An instrument constructed for scoring behavioral directions in curriculum materials was utilized in an evaluation of 25 randomly selected curricula. Selected curricula were not more than 10 years old and were used through 1986 in Dutch primary schools. Directions included in texts were scored on completeness, clarity, potential, and commitment:…

The government of the Netherlands is currently rethinking national educational policy on a broad basis, according to this report. In addition to preparing the way for a substantial restructuring of the educational system, from the pre-primary to adult education levels, this national policy overhaul has raised major issues regarding the purposes of…

When considering the use of computers in their lessons, two questions are important for teachers: how to select courseware and how the role and practice of the teacher may change by using computers. To answer the first question, a courseware-selection checklist was developed and its use by teachers was investigated. The checklist serves the…

Describes four areas of educational change: (1) the curriculum, (2) the role of the teachers, (3) the school structure, and (4) student learning. The impact of intensive computer use on each of these areas is examined using observations from a "technology-enriched" school project that is currently underway (1989-92) in the Netherlands.…

The research question addressed in this paper concerns the degree to which teachers use authentic pedagogy, i.e., teaching strategies that foster authentic learning. Three questionnaires were developed, covering four characteristics of authentic pedagogy: (1) the construction of knowledge in complete task environments; (2) the connection to the…

Two studies have explored how teachers in the Netherlands think about value stimulation and how teachers combine stimulating the development of specific values with teaching skills that enable students to adopt critical thinking or to analyze various opinions. The results of an investigation into the importance attached by teachers to stimulating…

Dutch secondary schools offer educational programs on four tracks, vocational and nonvocational. At the end of each program, a final examination is administered, with the test content areas determined by law, by the schools, and by the student's individual program. Assessment is by means of a written, nationally administered exam and…

This document contains three papers from a symposium on the future of human resource development (HRD) and trends in HRD. "Searching for the Future of Human Resource Development" (Wendy E.A. Ruona, Susan A. Lynham, Tom Chermack) reports on a survey of 55 HRD and HRD-related practitioners and academics that examined trends in the HRD…