Teacher Education in the Netherlands: Struggle Over the Curriculum

• In Event: Struggles for Control: International Perspectives on Teacher Education

Abstract

Teacher education in most countries has for decades, if not centuries, been highly politicized, and laws and regulations that influence the curriculum of teacher education at large are often the result of struggles between various religious, social and political groups – and local and national governments (Fraser, 2007; Swennen, 2012). The Dutch government regulates teacher education through laws that provide a general outline for the curriculum of teacher preparation. The government also implements directives in teacher education that it thinks necessary, such as school-based teacher education, through the use of financial incentives. Until recently, the government refrained from prescribing the contents of the actual teaching program for teacher educators in detail, as this was considered to be in conflict with both the freedom of education in the Netherlands and the professional responsibilities of the teacher educators themselves. Teacher educators therefore always had a degree of autonomy over the contents of their own teachings.
During the last twenty years, teacher education in the Netherlands has gone through changes that resemble those in the UK and the US (Ball & Olmedo, 2013; Cochran-Smith & Fries, 2001). Teacher education moved from being situated in relatively small and independent colleges to being part of large Higher Education Institutions. As part of these large institutions, teacher education has had to comply with the embedded educational perspectives of these institutions such as competence-based and problem-based teacher education, practice-based research and national quality assurance programs. At the same time, teacher education in the Netherlands has became increasingly school-based, with schools now taking over part of the responsibilities of the teacher education institutions.
These developments have lead to- real or alleged - concerns about the academic quality of teacher education. The Dutch Ministry of Education’s response to these concerns has been an increase in the control over the contents of the teacher education curriculum and, therefore, over the work of teacher educators—thus reducing the professional autonomy of teacher educators.
In this paper, based on a socio-historical study into primary teacher education, we examine and discuss the several groups who are trying to gain new control (e.g., the higher education institutions) or regain their control (e.g., primary and secondary schools) over the curriculum—and how ultimately the government, who possesses financial power, will attempt to decide the future of teacher education and the work of teacher educators moving forward.

References
Ball, S. J., & Olmedo, A. (2013). Care of the self, resistance and subjectivity under neoliberal governmentalities. Critical Studies in Education, 54(1), 85-96.
Cochran-Smith, M., & Fries, M. K. (2001). Sticks, stones, and ideology: The discourse of reform in teacher education. Educational Researcher, 30(8), 3-15.
Fraser, J. W. (2007). Preparing America's teachers: A history. New York/London: Teachers College/Columbia University.
Swennen, A. (2012). Van oppermeesters tot docenten hoger onderwijs: De ontwikkeling van het beroep en de identiteit van lerarenopleiders [The development of the profession and identity of teacher educators]. Amsterdam: VU University Amsterdam.

Authors

• Anja Swennen, VU University Amsterdam

• Monique L. Volman, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Research Institute Child Development and Education