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RE in the Netherlands

Background

The Dutch educational system is hard to explain to foreigners.

The background lies in Dutch history of the 19th and 20th century. The character of the system is dual. There are schools run by the public-authorities (the responsible board is a government or municipal body) and there are schools of a private nature, mostly founded on a religious (e.g. Roman Catholic, Protestant or Muslim) or on a pedagogical (e.g. Dalton of Montessori) principle. Both types of school must be recognized and approved of by the Dutch Department of Education. Mostly both types of schools are financed by the government.

Late developments show that the public authority schools are being transformed to an organization governed no longer by a public authority but by a private committee without losing the public character.

Within these diverse types of schools there are three levels of education:

Some secondary schools and most universities are not based on a religious belief.

Religious Education in the curriculum

Religious education (RE) is linked to the Dutch educational system. In all primary schools part of the curriculum is knowledge of religious and ideological beliefs. The aim is to give knowledge of the different beliefs, not to convert. Primary schools of a private nature next to the compulsory RE are allowed to teach their own religious beliefs as a compulsory part of the curriculum. Public authority schools, by request of parents of children, are obliged to give an opportunity to give religious education, which is not compulsory to any pupil.

In secondary schools RE is taught in very different ways. It is sometimes not a compulsory subject. (Of late some secondary school teach RE as part of the examination curriculum). RE is often knowledge of world religions, ethical choices and systems, psychology and philosophy of religion, sometimes knowledge of the Bible or Koran, church or religious history and dogmatics.

At University there sometimes are courses of RE subjects of voluntary nature.

Qualifications of teachers

In primary school the teacher of RE is mostly not a theologian but a teacher with general educational skills and training. In secondary schools most teachers of RE are theologians. At university experts give their courses. All teachers have a university degree.

New in 2008

In Public primary schools there is now a subject called teaching (our) religion. This subject is not obligatory. Teachers are appointed by a church or by an ecumenical board of churches to teach the mostly Protestant religion. Muslims can appoint a Muslim teacher and Humanists can appoint a Humanist teacher. Parents make make a choice for their children based on their preference. The appointed teachers are, mostly, not qualified to the level of a university degree. In 2008 the government decided to supply a substantial amount of money to train teachers and to build a structure for this kind of teaching. The financial support must be used in the school year 2008-2009.

Henk Pol, November 2008

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