Arts and Cultural Education at School in Europe. Netherlands 2007/08

Overview & Synopsis

This paper focuses on the Netherland's arts and cultural education. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science is responsible for setting the aims for cultural and creative dimensions of formal education. Decisions related to the implementation of arts curriculum are made at school level. The cultural and creative aims of the whole curriculum are defined as follows: "Primary education aims to broadly educate children. The education addresses their emotional and intellectual development, the development of their creativity, and their acquisition of social, cultural and physical skills...". This paper contains the following sections: (1) Responsibility and purpose; (2) Organisation and aims of arts education; (3) Special provision with a focus on art education; (4) Assessment of pupils' progress and monitoring of standards in the arts; (5) Teacher education in the arts; (6) Initiatives; (7) Ongoing reforms and proposals; and (8) Existing national surveys and reports on practices. (Contains 2 footnotes.)