This report for the Netherlands forms part of the OECD Review on Evaluation and Assessment Frameworks for Improving School Outcomes (see Annex A). The purpose of the Review is to explore how systems of evaluation and assessment can be used to improve the quality, equity and efficiency of school education. The Review looks at pupil assessment, teacher appraisal, school leader appraisal, school evaluation and system evaluation, and how these help to improve pupils’ learning.

Compared internationally, the Dutch education system achieves very good results. It has made progress on many fronts and has a high standing on international assessments. Yet, there is a general appreciation that the system must continue to improve and strive for the next level. The nature of that next level, however, has not yet been specified. According to various groups interviewed by the OECD review team, it could mean further improving the country’s standing on international assessments, with particular focus on increasing the proportions of students in the highest category; or enhancing general academic achievement and responding better to the learning needs of different student groups; or turning attention to “21st century skills” such as creativity, collaboration and ICT literacy. Evaluation and assessment can play an important role in supporting the attainment of whatever educational goals are decided upon.

The Netherlands has one of the OECD’s most devolved education systems, with schools enjoying a high degree of autonomy. School autonomy is grounded in the principle of “freedom of education”, which gives the right to any natural or legal person to set up a school and to organise teaching. This constitutional arrangement puts public and private schools on an equal footing, with all schools receiving public funding, provided that they meet the requirements for schools in their sector. While “freedom of education” implies that schools are free to determine the content and methods of teaching, the central government sets learning objectives and quality standards that apply to both public and private schools. The Inspectorate of Education monitors school quality and compliance with central rules and regulations. Current policy priorities include promoting excellence among students and schools, raising teacher professionalism and enhancing resultsoriented work in schools. Evaluation and assessment are key elements in the drive to achieve these goals, as reflected in recent laws on student assessment making it mandatory for primary schools to implement regular student monitoring systems as well as a standardised end-of-primary test.

Internationally, the Netherlands stands out for its well-developed evaluation and assessment approaches. Central mechanisms for student assessment, school evaluation and education system evaluation have been in place for several decades, along with requirements for schools to assure their own quality. The Dutch evaluation and assessment system combines a high degree of school autonomy with a set of checks and balances that allow for intervention if schools are found to be at risk of underperformance. The Netherlands is characterised by a complex system of governance with multiple actors shaping evaluation and assessment practices. This multi-actor environment has resulted in a comprehensive and balanced approach to evaluation and assessment, which combines school-based and central elements, quantitative and qualitative approaches, improvement and accountability functions, and vertical and horizontal responsibilities of schools. To further consolidate the evaluation and assessment framework, there is room to embed evaluation and assessment approaches with broader education goals, continue to build on teacher professionalism, and build networks and capacity for effective and forward-looking evaluation and assessment, in particular in the areas of classroom-based student assessment, teacher appraisal and school-self-evaluation.

Student assessment in the Netherlands is largely the responsibility of schools and classroom teachers, supported by well-developed standardised assessment tools. The Dutch education system has rich resources and expertise in assessment design, development and administration. There has been strong attention to reaching high quality standards and investing in continuing improvements to central tests. The assessment framework relies on a balance between teacher-based and central assessments, with a recent focus on clarifying reference levels for student learning and strengthening “results-oriented work” in schools. There is an extensive system of formative and summative assessments as well as pockets of promising innovations. To exploit and scale up these innovations, it seems essential to engage a broad-based consultative process to build consensus on the education goals for future generations. It is likely that such a consensus will involve a rethinking of traditional learning goals, as well as the adoption of some of the 21st century skills as important curricular goals. As a consensus on student learning goals begins to emerge, work on a corresponding assessment strategy can begin, including further development of the assessment infrastructure, efforts to strengthen teacher professionalism in assessment and support for innovative assessment practice at the local level. In the short term, there are opportunities to leverage assessment data that is currently being generated and to critically examine current practices that may impede innovation and improvement, with a view to ensuring a balanced use of assessment as, for and of learning.

Teacher appraisal in the Netherlands is under the responsibility of the competent authority of each school. Central regulations specify that schools should have regular performance interviews with all staff, but employing authorities are free to develop their own frameworks for teacher appraisal. Many school boards delegate the responsibility for human resource management, including teacher appraisal, to the school leaders, and practices vary from school to school. On a system-wide basis, a register system and a peer review project for teachers have been launched by the Education Cooperative, a teacher professional organisation created in 2011. Improving teaching quality has been a policy priority in the Netherlands in recent years, as evidenced by the introduction of teacher competency requirements, the obligation for school boards to monitor teacher competencies and the Inspectorate’s increased focus on monitoring teaching quality in schools. Going further, the teaching profession in the Netherlands could benefit from a revised and refined set of teaching standards; strengthened school-based appraisal processes linked to professional learning opportunities, especially for beginning teachers; and an enhanced registration system that could be linked to teacher career development.

School evaluation in the Netherlands comprises internal quality care by schools, systematic external evaluation by the Inspectorate of Education, and the publication of school information through online information systems. The school evaluation system is built on the availability of a rich set of data on individual schools and a highly developed system of collecting, managing and analysing school performance information. There has been considerable investment in building capacity and instruments for school selfevaluation, and the Inspectorate also reviews the approaches to internal quality care implemented by schools. The Inspectorate of Inspection operates a risk-based approach, whereby schools at risk of underperformance are evaluated more frequently and more thoroughly than others. There are indications that the risk-based approach has been successful in reducing the number of schools providing weak or unsatisfactory quality of education. To go further in helping all schools improve, the Inspectorate has launched an internal reflection on new approaches to measure the value-added by schools and to develop differentiated inspections for schools already performing at an acceptable level of quality. In developing these approaches, it will be important to continuously review the impact of school development interventions and to further invest in building the professionalism of teachers, school leadership teams and school board members to collect, analyse and use evaluative information for improvement.

The Dutch approach to evaluation and assessment gives a strategic role to education system evaluation as part of policy planning and development. This is reflected in the establishment of comprehensive information systems, sample-based national assessments, longitudinal surveys and programme evaluations. It is also visible in the transparent reporting of indicators and education outcome measures in online databases and annual publications on the state of the education system. There has been increased attention to disseminating information widely and in different formats and there is wide acceptance of the principle that education policies and programmes should be continuously monitored in order to inform future policy development and educational planning. In addition, education system evaluation could benefit from a clearer and more comprehensive set of educational goals and priorities, which could contribute to reminding all stakeholders of the full spectrum of national priorities, while also communicating that not all of these are currently measured or measurable. Going further, consideration should be given to monitoring a broader range of valued student competencies, devoting more attention to the analysis of learning outcomes across student groups, and incorporating information on school professionals, practices and perceptions into the system evaluation framework.