The Education Council considers innovation a must from time to time. It is good to keep programmes (in all sectors of education) up to date. But not just for its own sake. Innovations in education can only be rolled out widely once they have proven effective.
This means that we need to combine research know-how with the know-how of teachers, lecturers, pupils and students. In 2008, a parliamentary committee concluded that innovations in the 1990s together with more autonomy for schools did not lead to a higher standard of education. In fact, there was actually a 'worrying downward trend' in terms of reading and arithmetic abilities.
Both the Education Council and the committee found that there is no consistent monitoring of the development of school performance. The introduction of certain innovations could even present a risk, as pupils may face leaving school with insufficient knowledge. Things need to change.
The Education Council's recommendations to the Minister are:
- gather evidence for the effectiveness of new methods
- make better use of the newest resources and insights
- experiment with financial incentives in higher education
- strengthen efforts towards lifelong learning
Gather evidence for the effectiveness of new methods
Develop educational forms in a planned way and test whether they are successful. Introduce new methods on a large scale only once their effect has been proven. Take health care as an example. Research know-how, clinical know-how and patient experiences are combined in a single protocol. Similarly, in education it would be useful to combine research know-how with the know-how and experiences of teachers, pupils and students.
Innovation requires funding. Ensure there is more public and private investment in education. Spend this extra money on measures that give the highest returns and proven effects. Extra public funding should benefit compulsory education, while extra private funding should primarily go towards higher education (non-compulsory).
Responses
The responses to these recommendations—which the Education Council made in 2006—were positive. The Ministry took a large number of measures to integrate the evidence-based approach into education. A lot of attention was also given to the interaction between academic research and teaching practice. This has already had the effect of enshrining the term evidence-based in the education community.
Further reading
- Towards more evidence-based education
- Creation and utilisation of educational knowledge
- Goal-oriented investments in education
Make better use of the newest resources and insights
Make more use of ICT to innovate in education. Ensure schools increasingly work with open digital learning resources: these are resources that are freely available on the internet, not subject to copyright, and which teachers can add to themselves. Digital learning resources make education more appealing and make the teacher's job more interesting. Give schools and teachers a stimulating example by creating an end-to-end course of teaching (from age 3 to age 18) for reading and writing or maths.
Responses
These recommendations receive a lot of coverage in newspapers, journals and on the internet. The responses were positive, sometime even praising, both from the education community and the political community. A single education expert, however, warned that children should not use ICT at school excessively and that other resources could motivate them equally well.
The Minister's response was also positive. He announced that digital school books would be introduced within two to three years, based on internet applications. The Ministry is now providing subsidies for 'Wikiwijs', which encompasses a method to offer all learning materials from primary education to higher education in a digital environment, based on the Wikipedia principle of 'wisdom of crowds'.
Further reading
Experiment with financial incentives in higher education
Experiment with the use of financial incentives for higher education institutions to provide outstanding quality. Gain experience with this. Higher education providers get paid based on the numbers of students and the number of graduates they produce. Outstanding quality is not rewarded. Put extra funding into programmes that perform better than others, for instance, because they have better lecturers or because their students write theses of a better standard.
Assess the additional quality using a simple procedure: measure the quality and the educational attainment of teachers and the standard of graduating students. Design a clear procedure to evaluate the trial.
In addition, reward higher education programmes with low drop-out rates in the first year. Award them completion premiums. Dropout rates among first-year students are too high (25% at research universities, 30% at universities of applied sciences). At the same time, introduce transitional exams in order to maintain quality. Other measures to prevent dropping out include: organising programmes on a smaller scale, co-locating student and teaching accommodation, holding introductory talks with students, geographically spreading facilities for the most talented, and improving transitions from secondary education to higher education.
Responses
The recommendation to conduct experiments that would reward quality with bonuses was well received by the Minister and by the media. The Minister announced a detailed further investigation of the possibilities. And this did happen, although ultimately the Education Council's recommendation was not (yet[C1] ) adopted. The higher education sector was pleased with the focus on quality, but warned that the funding required would be needed in addition to current expenditure.
The proposal for a completion premium at the end of the first year was less enthusiastically received. However, the Minister and the stakeholder organisations in higher education were positive towards most of the other recommendation to combat dropping out in the first-year. Particularly well received were the introductory talks (and more and more study programmes have introduced them), reducing the scale of study programmes, and the co-location of living and learning.
Further reading
Strengthen efforts towards lifelong learning
Citizens and education providers alike must move with the times. Encourage lifelong learning. It gives people the best opportunities in our information society.
Ensure that citizens, business and government all invest in lifelong learning. Business can help fund programmes offered by schools. Citizens returning to work could waive their benefit in exchange for training or work experience places. The government could contribute by funding cross-sector or innovative programmes.
Use the skills and knowledge acquired outside of the education setting. Award certificates to recognise it. Make senior secondary vocational education (MBO) and higher education more appealing for those in work. This would raise the proportion of privately offered programmes. Furthermore, assessment needs to be improved and made more accessible. Finally, ensure that internationalisation becomes part and parcel of lifelong learning.
Responses
In the Netherlands, lifelong learning attracts much attention at the policy level. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Affairs have run a publicity campaign to raise awareness of the recognition of prior[A2] learning among the public. A government committee reporting on the improved functioning of the labour market looked closely at training and knowledge development.
In practical application, however, lifelong learning has yet to get out of the starting blocks. Publicly funded education institutions do not consider lifelong learning to be part of their core business. The private market fills the gap and the offering is therefore incoherent. Universities of applied sciences and the Ministry of Education have now worked together to launch the Associate Degree: two-year programmes of higher professional education that provide people in work with a step up and secondary vocational education graduates with a route to further study.
Further reading