Evidence Informed Innovation of Education in the Netherlands: Learning from Reforms

Abstract

In the Netherlands, between 1993 and 2002 the government introduced several reforms in secondary education. In one of these innovations, it was said that the student was at the centre of the teaching and learning process. Several Dutch educational researchers also advocated such approaches under the term “new learning”. In this contribution, we will first describe the Dutch educational system, the reforms and the debates about these reforms. Then we will focus on the problematic relationship between educational research and practice and look at several proposals for improving that relationship. A next step in the collaboration between educational science and practice with the aim to stimulate evidence informed education might be the introduction of academic workplaces. In academic workplaces, schools, institutes for teacher education, and educational scientists work together on research, teacher education, teacher professional development, and educational innovation. In this innovation, Dutch policy makers pursued a better fit of education with the aim to improve social justice through and in education, and by doing so, contribute to the common good. However, they did so without relying on evidence that these innovations might indeed have positive effects on social justice.