Professor Anne Bamford launched her national evaluation report on Arts and Cultural Education in The Netherlands. Minister for Culture and Education, Ronald Plasterk officially accepted the report – Netwerken en verbindingen: Arts and cultural education in The Netherlands and emphasized the need to work on teacher education in arts and design and to connect arts learning across educational sectors.

Based on a six months study of arts and cultural education in The Netherlands, this report assesses the current state of these two subjects in the region. It identifies the short comings and the strengths of the current provisions and their implementation and proposes how best-practice models can be transferred from the pre-eminent performers and educators to those at the other end of the performance scale.

The Netherlands has a high level of education. The level of cultural education is also of a comparatively high international standard as is arts education. Consistent with international experiences and recommendations, the arts are being used as catalysts for improving education in other subjects. Moreover parental involvement is considerable.

There is an extensive use of cultural vouchers in Dutch secondary school arts education. These vouchers allow subsidised access to arts and cultural performances, exhibitions, workshops and other opportunities. In addition to the primary school allocation of tied funds for cultural education and secondary school vouchers, a number of schemes operate to provide project funding for arts and cultural education.

Agencies have a very strong role as intermediaries in ensuring the quality of arts education.

Cultural and arts networks are the real success stories in Dutch arts education. A strong connection between education and culture ensures a smooth transition between in-school and out of school provisions. Local support centres provide assistance to schools at the municipal level and make sure there is a good geographical reach of services across the country.

For further information contact:
Professor Anne Bamford