Education and Training Monitor

1. Learning for sustainability

Schools can decide for themselves how they integrate learning for sustainability (LfS) into their curriculum. As in other domains, the national government’s role in LfS is limited to determining the related learning goals in primary and first-cycle secondary education. For example, learning goal 39 for primary education states that pupils must learn to ‘care for the environment’ (OCW, 2006). Schools are responsible for integrating these into the curriculum and into pedagogical approaches (Wet PO, 2024). Their work is supported by a wide range of civil initiatives such as the Learning for Sustainable Development platform (lvdo.nl), which offers educational materials for secondary schools, vocational education and training (VET) and higher education institutions, or Teachers for Climate (teachersforclimate.nl), a grassroot organisation of education professionals committed to integrating sustainability into the curriculum, the pedagogy, and the learning environment. In May 2024, the Ministry for Infrastructure and Water Management announced an implementation plan for LfS (IenV, 2024).

Despite a broad willingness, schools face various challenges in implementing LfS. Schools report difficulties in finding appropriate teaching materials and good examples of collaboration with organisations around the school (Leren voor Morgen, 2022). Schools focus primarily on the parts of the curriculum that are included in the national standardised tests whereas testing of LfS is in early stage of development. Schools can access various support, advice, and educational materials; however, they have difficulties in identifying those of good quality. There are no policies or financial incentives for schools to embed LfS in their vision, strategies and practices. According to the 2022 International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) (Schultz et al., 2023), only 19% of schools surveyed provided all their 8th-grade students with opportunities to take part in activities related to environmental sustainability (EU-17: 48%). In the ICCS study, Dutch students scored around the EU‑17 average level for knowledge of sustainable development.

The state of LfS has been assessed by various non-governmental organisations. The first assessment of schools’ activities regarding LfS was made in 2015 (Het Groene Brein, 2015). This was followed by a study conducted by a group of organisations in 2022 (Leren voor Morgen, 2022), whose main conclusion was that schools take many initiatives, and a wide range of learning materials is available. Still, most activities are ad hoc and not embedded in a whole-school approach. Recently, the same network released its first ‘State of Sustainable Education’, in which they assessed the extent to which schools are engaged in LfS (Leren voor Morgen, 2024). The report finds that while LfS is a topic on the agenda of various ministries, school boards and schools, it has not yet been integrated into the education system across the board.

Several initiatives promote LfS in VET and higher education. There is a website listing all education programmes, subsidiary subjects and courses related to LfS (duurzamestudies.nl) in higher education. The website is managed by Students for Tomorrow, a national network of student organisations concerned with sustainability. It is funded by the Leren voor Morgen (learning for tomorrow) network and Het Groene Brein (the green brain), a network of scientists. A recent study tracing how learning for the energy transition and circular economy finds its way to VET and higher education curricula found that although the number of related courses is rising, most are optional (Het Groene Brein, 2021).

A voluntary assessment mechanism exists in higher education. The SustainaBul programme, launched in 2012, aims to stimulate and support higher education institutions to make their education sustainable. It stands for both a network and a benchmark. SustainaBul is an initiative of Students for Tomorrow, funded by the Goldschmeding Foundation, and organised by the network Learning for Tomorrow, to share knowledge and good practice. The benchmark is based on a survey in which every participating institution makes an evidence‑based self-assessment, which is then assessed by a peer institution. The survey and the assessment cover four themes: education, research, building management and operations, and best practice. The benchmark is produced yearly, and awards are given at yearly conferences. There are awards for ‘top performers’, ‘top newcomers’ and ‘top climbers’ (acknowledging the greatest progress). In 2024, almost all public higher education institutions participated in the benchmark (Studenten voor Morgen, 2024).

2. Early childhood education and care

Participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) from age 3 is higher than the EU average. Of all children in the Netherlands, 93.0% participate in ECEC, above the EU average (92.5%) but below the EU‑level target for 2030 (96%). In 2023, participation in formal ECEC of children under the age of 3 was high (73.3%, against an EU average of 37.4%), but only 17% attended ECEC for more than 25 hours a week (EU: 26.8%). A special form of ECEC is the early childhood education scheme for disadvantaged children (voorschoolse educatie). It aims to help children aged 2.5-4 who may risk a developmental delay, so that they can have a good start at primary school. A recent study indicates that 30% of the facilities offering this scheme face staff shortages, corresponding on average to 25% of their total staff (Bakker et al., 2023). At national level, shortages are estimated to further increase to 7 700 people by 2031, five times higher than the current level. To address current and future shortages, the responsible Minister of Social Affairs announced a number of measures, including introducing a new type of position for unqualified people in combination with career development, and stimulating qualified employees to work more hours (SZW, 2024).

3. School education

The share of underachieving students rose dramatically in all three domains tested in the 2022 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey, compared with both 2012 and 2018. While in 2012, the share was below the EU 2030 target (15%) and well below the EU average in all three domains, by 2022, it had almost doubled in mathematics and in science and it was 2.5 times higher in reading than in 2012. In mathematics, most of the increases occurred between 2018 and 2022 (+11.6 percentage points (pps)). In reading and science, there was a considerable increase both between 2012 and 2018 (+10.1 pps in reading; +6.9 pps in science) and between 2018 and 2022 (+10.5 pps and +7.3 pps, respectively). The underachievement rate only remains below the EU average in mathematics, also following an increase in the EU average. Concerning gender differences, the only significant gap is in reading, with 9.7 pps more boys among low-achieving students. Almost half of foreign-born students underachieve in mathematics (48.5%), while for native-born students with foreign-born parents, the underachievement rate is considerably lower (37.9%). Over a 10-year period, average performance in reading and mathematics declined stronger than on average in the EU (Figure 1). The performance decline varies substantially between different tracks in secondary education, with students in the lowest tracks showing the greatest decline in test scores (Meelissen et al., 2023).

Figure 1: Trends in performance in reading, mathematics and science, PISA mean scores, 2003-2022

Since 2018, underachievement has increased in all quarters of the socio-economic distribution, but especially among disadvantaged students. While in 2018, only 26.1% of students from the bottom quarter lacked basic competencies in mathematics against 5.3% of advantaged students, the rates have increased by 16 pps and 4.6 pps, standing at 42% and 9.9%, respectively. The socio-economic gap has grown by 11.3 pps, reaching 32.1 pps, still below the EU average (37.2 pps). In its 2024 country-specific recommendations, the Council of the EU recommended that the Netherlands takes measures to improve basic skills, including by addressing teacher shortages and providing tailored support to disadvantaged schools (EU Council, 2024).

The shares of top performers in mathematics and science are among the highest in the EU. Countries with a lower underachievement rate tend to have a higher top performance rate, too. The Netherlands appears as an outlier, as it combines the highest top performance rate in mathematics with only a close-to-average underachievement rate (European Commission, 2024). Even if the share of top performers has decreased significantly in maths (-3 pps) since 2018, it was almost twice as high as the EU average in 2022 (15.4% versus 7.9%). In science, the share remained stable, and it is now one of the highest rates in the EU with 10.5% (EU: 6.9%). In reading the share has decreased by 2.1 pps since 2018, but it remains above the EU average (7.0%; EU: 6.5%). On gender differences among top achievers, the Netherlands follows the EU trends: the share of boys is 4.4 pps and 2.1 pps higher in mathematics and science, respectively, while in reading, there are 2.3 pps more girls among top achievers. The top performance rate is the highest in the EU, both among disadvantaged students (5.7%; EU:1.8%) and among advantaged students (30.7%; EU: 18.4%).

Early tracking may increase inequalities. Dutch children are streamed into different secondary education tracks by performance-based selection at age 12. This can lead to inequalities as pupils with the same cognitive capacities, but different backgrounds, may end up at different educational levels (Education Council, 2021). In 2021, the Education Council published an opinion on later selection in response to a request from the government. It recommended abolishing the end-of-primary test and postponing the time of selection until after the first 3 years of secondary school to make education more accessible.

Declining PISA results may be linked to a strong focus on national exams in education. At the end of primary school, all students take a test that is used to advise which secondary education track is suitable for them. Also at the end of secondary education, students sit standardised central exams. While the 2018 PISA survey showed a significant decline in student performance, the results in the national central tests at the end of secondary school remained stable. A special commission was installed to interpret these seemingly opposing trends (Commissie Steur, 2019). The commission observed that PISA and the national tests measure different aspects. While the national tests assess students’ mastery of the curriculum, PISA measures how well students can apply their skills and knowledge to real-life problems. Students’ motivation also differs: while PISA tests are voluntary and ‘low stake’ for students, their successful completion of the mandatory national exams grants them a diploma. The commission concluded that over the years, schools, students and parents had attached increasing importance to national exams, which had resulted in narrowing education and giving too much emphasis to good test results, ‘teaching to the test’. This led to improving results in national exams and declining performance in international tests that measure broader skills.

Student well-being has a large impact on student performance. Some 7 in 10 students feel like they belong at school, corresponding to the EU average. Sense of belonging is associated with a 16 score-point increase in students’ mathematics performance (EU: 11) in PISA. 12.9% of participating students reported that they were bullied at least a few times a month, which is the lowest rate among Member States (EU: 19.3%). Frequent bullying is associated with a 22-score-point drop in students’ mathematics performance (EU: 16).

Teacher shortages are a pressing concern. To estimate the real size of teacher shortages, data on vacant positions and ‘hidden vacancies’ are combined, i.e. when a teaching position is not filled in the regular way. According to these estimations, shortages have increased further compared to the previous year. In the 2022/2023 school year, there was a teacher shortage of 9.7% and a school-head shortage of 15.1% in primary education (OCW, 2023c). Shortages differ considerably by the share of disadvantaged pupils in the school and between regions. The largest shortages are faced by primary schools in the five biggest cities (18%, against 8% outside these cities) and primary schools for students with special needs (12.1%, against 9.4% in regular schools) (Centerdata, 2024). In secondary education, the shortage is somewhat lower, at 5.8% on average. There is an increasing number of teachers who continue teaching after having reached the retirement age. The employment of teacher trainees is also becoming more common: 28% of primary education and 20% of secondary education teacher trainees were in employment in 2022/2023. The number of initial teacher education (ITE) scholarships for people coming from other jobs reached a historic high of over 2 000 in the same year. These scholarships cover the tuition fees for the 2-year special study programme for teacher candidates, who at the same time give lessons at a school. However, the number of applicants to ITE has dropped by ~3% (Government, 2023a). In the Education Agreement of April 2022, the government committed itself to a yearly investment of EUR 1.5 billion in the salaries of teachers and other teaching staff.

A subsidy was created to address staff shortages at regional level. In 2020, the government launched the Regional Approach to Staff Shortages in Education scheme to encourage regional cooperation between the parties involved in the initial education and continuing professional development of teachers, i.e. schools, school boards, teacher training institutions, trade unions and municipalities. They are invited to form ‘educational regions’, i.e. partnerships that work together on common solutions. To be eligible for a subsidy, partnerships need to actively involve at least 50% of the school boards, representing at least one third of the total staff of the region and include at least one teacher training institution. The plan is that educational regions will cover the whole country by end-2024 (Government, 2024).

The rate of early school leavers is below the EU average but increased slightly in 2023. At 6.2%, the Netherlands is well below the EU-level target (less than 9%) for early leavers from education and training, but this is higher than the historic low of 2021 (5.1%). National data on the number of young people dropping out of school each year without obtaining a basic qualification indicate an increasing trend since the 2017/2018 school year, only briefly broken during the years of the pandemic. The related target set in the regional strategy for early school leaving for 2020-2024 is to reduce the number of dropouts to below 20 000 in a school year. In 2023/2024, their number reached 30 246, around the same as in the previous year, representing 2.4% of all pupils up to age 23. At 6.5%, the share is much higher in VET than in general upper-secondary education (0.5%). Based on the recent increase, the government initiated new measures to reduce the number of early school leavers in 2023 (OCW, 2023d).

4. Vocational education and training

The Netherlands strives to make its VET inclusive, labour-market-relevant, future-ready and flexible. In 2022, the proportion of students at medium-level education attending programmes with a vocational orientation was significantly higher than the EU average (69.7%, EU: 52.4%)¹. In 2023, exposure of VET graduates to work-based learning was well above the EU average (94.9%; EU: 64.5%). Also in 2023, recent VET graduates had a high employment rate (91.6%; EU: 81.0%)². In 2024, the Netherlands brought its national implementation plan (NIP) (Government, 2022) in line with the ‘Working together on talent’ agenda for VET for 2023-2027 (Government, 2023b). The updated NIP focuses on the following four priorities: (i) promoting equal opportunities in VET and making it more inclusive; (ii) strengthening links between VET and the labour market; (iii) ensuring a high-quality, future-ready VET through research and innovation; and (iv) improving flexibility and promoting a lifelong learning culture in VET. Specific measures targeting VET students focus on numeracy, Dutch literacy, and citizenship competencies, and are offered as mandatory courses.

Additional measures will support the adaptation of VET to the current and future dynamics of the labour market. The Netherlands is adapting its VET programmes and apprenticeships to meet the demands of the green transition. Numerous secondary vocational education certificates are offered in relation to climate, energy and housing, and are accessible through the school-based track or apprenticeships (European Qualifications Framework levels 2, 3, 4). Apprenticeship courses are offered on installing charging stations and solar panels and on reducing the use of gas (Van Wezel, 2023).

5. Higher education

The tertiary attainment rate is among the highest in the EU. Of the population aged 25-34, 54.5% holds a tertiary degree (EU: 43.1%). Tertiary attainment is also relatively high among the non-EU-born population (46.9%, EU: 37.1%). In 2023, the employment rate of recent tertiary graduates was very high, at 95.2% (EU average 87.7%). This rate is high also for recent secondary VET graduates (91.6%; EU: 81.0%).

Dutch universities are highly attractive to international students. In 2022, 13.1% of Dutch higher education graduates had a learning mobility experience abroad³, above the EU average of 10.9%, but far from the EU target of 23%. However, the share of graduates obtaining their degree abroad is only 3% (EU: 4.3%). In 2022, 24.4% of higher education graduates in the Netherlands were inward degree mobile (graduates from abroad coming to study in the Netherlands) (EU: 8.7%), the third-highest share of inward mobile graduates in the EU. Most of them (61.9%) came from other EU countries, whereas the EU average share of inward mobile graduates was 30.0%.

The Netherlands tries to control internationalisation in higher education. The Netherlands is faced with increasing internationalisation in terms of study programmes offered partly or fully in English and a high influx of international students. Over the past 10 years, the number of international students has more than doubled at Master’s level, representing 27% of all Master’s students in 2024 (Figure 2). This has raised concerns about students’ proficiency level in Dutch and the accessibility of housing and higher education for Dutch students. The latest Eurostudent study shows that housing overburden⁴ in the Netherlands is around the average of the European Higher Education Area. However, commuting time of students who live with their parents is by far the longest (60 minutes, compared to an average of 45 minutes), suggesting that Dutch students may have difficulties finding satisfactory accommodation close to their place of study. In November 2023, the Minister for Higher Education requested the respective umbrella organisations for universities of applied sciences and universities to devise ‘self-management’ plans. In February 2024, universities presented these plans to reduce the number of international students (UNL, 2024). They committed themselves to increasing the number of Bachelor’s programmes in Dutch and limiting the number of new Bachelor’s programmes in English; reflecting on which programmes currently provided in English could be fully converted into Dutch programmes; and limiting recruiting activities at international fairs. In March 2024, a similar plan was presented by the universities of applied sciences (VH, 2024). They committed themselves to limiting the enrolment of international students in economic programmes to the average level of the last 3 years, limiting recruiting activities at international fairs, and improving Dutch literacy for students and teachers.

Figure 2: The number of Master's students by origin between 2011-2024

Newly started selection procedures raise concerns of inequality. An increasing number of higher education programmes and institutions – including medicine, psychology, honours programmes, and liberal arts colleges – do not admit all applicants but use selection procedures. The Inspectorate of Education (Inspectorate, 2023b) has warned that this may lead to inequality. Based on a retrospective cohort study using microdata of over 85 000 applicants from two successive academic years, researchers have shown that students with a migration background have a reduced chance of being admitted to a higher education programme that uses selection procedures (Mulder et al., 2023). In a written response (OCW, 2024b), the outgoing minister underscored the importance of equitable selection processes in higher education. He left it to the new government to decide how to balance students’ interest in being able to enrol in a programme of their choice, on the one hand, and maintaining the quality of higher education, on the other hand.

6. Adult learning

The Netherlands has one of the highest participation rates in adult learning in the EU. In 2022, 56.1% of the population aged 25-64 participated in formal or non-formal training⁵, the second-highest rate in the EU and well above the EU average (39.5%) and the EU-level target for 2025 (47%). This participation rate represents a slight increase from 2016, when it was 64.1%. In relation to the EU targets for 2030, the Netherlands is scoring well overall. Nevertheless, the Netherlands continues to grapple with four persistent challenges: increasing participation rates; promoting workplace learning; expanding access to learning opportunities; and nurturing a culture of lifelong learning. These challenges touch especially the groups who would benefit the most from lifelong learning, such as unemployed people, people with lower levels of education and skills, and those working on flexible contracts.

Another challenge is the deterioration of basic skills, which hampers skills development, labour productivity and competitiveness. Specific action on basic skills and for low-educated adults is included in the ‘Count on Skills’ (Tel mee met taal) programme launched in 2021, offering subsidies for education providers, libraries and employers to combat low literacy. In addition, with support from the National Growth Fund (Nationaal Groeifonds), investments are made in improving the regional infrastructure and education offer for low-educated people. In June 2024, a new law was adopted (Wet NLQF, 2024), setting out the Netherlands Qualification Framework, which should make it possible to better assess the level of training, qualifications and competencies of workers, job seekers and students. Thus, it should make the range of courses and training on offer, including those via non-formal education, more transparent. This should facilitate mobility and lifelong learning, and as such help people choose the right course or training.