Para quienes se interesen en el sistema de educación de los Países Bajos, caracterizado en el nivel escolar por la fuerte presencia de proveedores privados subsidiados por el Estado, dentro de un régimen de sólida supervisión estatal, y por un sistema de educación superior compuesto casi exclusivamente por universidades públicas, respecto del cual el gobierno emplea diversos instrumentos de tipo mercado para mejorar su calidad, efectividad y eficiencia, he aquí una bibliografía mínima con información oficial puesta al día.
Educación escolar
— The Netherland: Education System, Eurydice, The Database on Education Systems in Europe. 3,40 MB
Educación Superior
— Country Background Report preparado por el Gobierno para la Tertiary Education Thematic Review de la OECD. 650 KB
—OECD Review Team Report preparado por Nicola Channon (United Kingdom, Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education), Terttu Luukkonen (Finland, Research Institute of the Finnish Economy), Simon Marginson (Australia, Monash University), rapporteur, Jon Oberg (United States, formerly US Department of Education) y Thomas Weko (OECD), co-ordinator. 480 KB
De interés general
The Netherlands Institute for Social Research/SCP, Social State of the Netherlands 2007 [ver la parte referida educación más abajo]
OECD, Economic Survey of The Netherlands: Policv Brief – 2008 120 KB
UNDP, The Netherlands in the Human Development Report 2007/2008
Sitio del Ministry of Education, Culture and Science

Is Dutch society ‘dumbing down’?
Education is not only important for personal development and the nourishing of talent, but also fulfils a number of essential social functions. Education has the task of transforming young people into sensible and assertive citizens, contributing to the social cohesion of society and ensuring rising skill levels among the workforce in order to strengthen the competitiveness of the Netherlands in Europe and the world. The quality of life of individuals is largely determined by the level of education they achieved in their youth. However, the chances of achieving a college diploma and obtaining an initial qualification are unequally distributed. Individual limitations can play a role here, but social and/or cultural background can also have an influence.
Three developments are particularly noteworthy in this regard. The continuing rise in educational participation means that each birth cohort leaves the initial education system with a higher education level than the previous cohort. Thereafter, each cohort’s education level increases further thanks to participation in adult education, though the effect of this is limited. The result is an ongoing rise in the education level of the adult population.
The educational catching-up exercise by girls is now also reflected in the education level of young adults. The educational disadvantage of women compared with men reduced steadily through the successive cohorts, before eventually turning into a lead. The turning point lies around the cohort born in the period 1970-1974; in the 1975-1979 cohort the percentage of highly educated women was already five percentage points higher than that of men.
Among ethnic minorities, it is above all Turks and Moroccans who have been engaged in a catching up exercise. Their traditional substantial disadvantage compared with the rest of the population has reduced sharply, mainly thanks to a reduction in the number of low-educated members of this group. Despite this, the difference compared with indigenous adults is still wide.
The education level of the population is thus increasing. However, this does not automatically mean that the level of knowledge and skills acquired is rising to the same degree. The knowledge level of the older generations is probably underestimated, because in the past not everyone with the ability had the opportunity to continue studying. Continuing study has by contrast become the norm for younger generations; virtually everyone tries to attain the highest possible qualification.
Concerns have been expressed with increasing frequency recently about the declining knowledge level of the younger generation. Reference is made in particular to the negative effects of a number of recent educational innovations. Parliament has picked up the signal and recently commissioned a parliamentary inquiry into educational innovations in secondary schools.
In addition, the potential shortage of both primary and secondary school teachers, and their falling level of training, poses a threat to the quality of education. Recent concerns expressed by employers as well as by pupil and student associations appear to confirm the concerns about a slide in standards. The Dutch Education Council (Onderwijsraad) recently sounded the alarm, when it became apparent that virtually no national data are available on the standard achieved in the various subject areas. This lack of data is very surprising. Although not everyone in educational circles is yet convinced, there are signs that the situation in primary schools in particular is becoming alarming. Standards of achievement in arithmetic are falling, especially in basic operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Language skills also leave something to be desired, with no fewer than a quarter of primary school pupils leaving school without being able to read properly.
Participation in higher education has risen sharply in recent years and, if present government policy persists, will continue to do so in the future. It is however questionable whether this is a wise policy; reference has already been made to the danger of falling standards and ‘diploma inflation’. In addition, the status of senior secondary vocational education is in danger of being undermined. Already, more than 50% of students in senior secondary vocational education go on directly to a university of professional education; if this percentage increases further, there is a danger that these courses will increasingly develop into no more than preparatory courses for universities of professional education. However, there is a continuing strong need for good skilled workers who are trained to senior secondary vocational level. In short, there are grounds for challenging the need for and desirability of a general increase in participation in higher education.