Test-based accountability or 'TBA,' as a core element of the pervasive Global Education Reform Movement (GERM), has become a central characteristic of education systems around the world. TBA often comes in conjunction with greater school autonomy, enabling governments to assess 'school quality' (i.e. test results) from a distance. Often, quality…

This article presents the results of scientific-pedagogical research, which consisted in analyzing the American experience of the Dalton plan in the schooling of the Netherlands, the ranking surveys according to strict criteria, and the implementation of an adapted version of the original American pedagogical model of the Dalton Plan in the…

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's (IEA) mission is to enhance knowledge about education systems worldwide, and to provide high-quality data that will support education reform and lead to better teaching and learning in schools. In pursuit of this aim, it conducts, and reports on, major studies of student…

Video is increasingly used to support in-service teacher professional development (TPD). Advances in affordability and usability of technology mean that interest is set to develop further. Studies in this area are diverse in terms of scale, methodology and context. This places limitations on undertaking a systematic review; therefore the authors…

How can the Netherlands move its school system "from good to great?" This report draws on international experience to look at ways in which the strong Dutch school system might go further still on the path to excellence. Clearly the Dutch school system is one of the best in the OECD, as measured by PISA and PIAAC and is also equitable,…

Prepared for a Strategic Education Governance learning seminar, this working paper analyses the ways in which the Dutch government tried to reach overarching goals in education, in a system characterised by a high degree of distributed autonomy of education institutions and the participation of multiple actors, and consequently a government highly…

"New" school inspections are essential parts of "evidence-based governance" concepts and have been implemented by many European countries as a major strategy to assure and improve the effectiveness and quality of their education systems. However, national inspection systems vary in their composition and in their contextual…

This book samples recent and emerging trust research in education including an array of conceptual approaches, measurement innovations, and explored determinants and outcomes of trust. The collection of pathways explores the phenomenon of trust and establishes the significance of trust relationships in school life. It emboldens the claim that…

This article describes the results of a study into the utility of the SVI model, a model in which internal and external evaluation are balanced. The model consists of three phases: school self-evaluation, visitation and inspection. Under the guidance of school consultants, 27 Dutch primary schools have built up two years of experience with the SVI…

Current educational reforms encompass increasing freedom of parental choice. Parental choice is seen as a stimulus for school improvement and school quality control. One of the central thoughts behind freedom of parental choice is that the quality of education will increase when the educational system has to act using market mechanisms, in which…

Examines the pros and cons of variety in Dutch schools, noting possible consequences for educational quality and accessibility and the impact on social cohesion. The paper asserts that variety is extremely desirably in general and should be encouraged to promote innovation, cautioning that differences between schools should be tolerated as long as…

Quality control policies towards Dutch vocational schools have changed dramatically because the government questioned examination quality. Schools must now demonstrate assessment quality to a new Examination Quality Center. Since teachers often design assessments, they must be involved in quality issues. This study therefore explores teachers'…

Research on school effectiveness has shown that schools differ in regard to outcomes of comparable groups of students. Some schools are found to be more effective than others and these more effective schools have identifiable characteristics that help them excel. Outcomes measured to determine educational effectiveness include basic skills and…

This paper discusses quality as a theme for teacher education in the Netherlands, focusing on definitions of quality, national policies for quality control and quality assessment, the state of the art in educational quality, the future of teaching, and measures to maintain and increase quality. (SM)

With the release of each edition of Education at a Glance, the Office for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) prepares a press briefing to be used for the international press release and which individual countries in preparing their national press releases can also use. Similarly, the European Union prepares a summary, not for use at the…