OECD education report: Dutch system puts premium on quality standards For science and mathematics there is a long tradition of innovation in the Netherlands that helps too. Alongside strict quality control, allowing government inspectors to take over failing schools, is a willingness in the Dutch educational establishment to learn from past mistakes such as the recent vogue for "self-regulated learning," which allowed pupils to play a big role in setting the pace of their leaning. We forgot the teachers. In the end if you look at all the educational variables the teacher is the most important one. If you improve the general level of teaching you improve the general level of education," said Prof. van Tartwijk. So now in the Netherlands there is quite a lot of emphasis in reform to the professional development of teachers, with a focus on content, keeping them up-to-date with the subject and its pedagogy. When Maria van der Hoeven, the Dutch education minister from 2002 to 2007, became concerned about declining interest in maths and science, she made it the centre of teaching-based education reforms that, a decade later, have been translated in results. We gave it a lot of attention. She was an educator herself, teaching mathematics at a higher level. She started that process with a focus on training teachers. That investment is now bearing fruit," said Willemijn van Open, of Educaide, a Dutch education consultancy. One of the innovations introduced into Dutch primary schools was the "Ontdekkasteel" or Discovery Castle containing practical experiments for junior or more senior pupils, ranging from building a house to exercises with batteries to show children the basic principles of circuitry and electricity. In the Netherlands, most children attend eight years of primary school between the ages of four and 12, with compulsory schooling beginning no later than the first day of the month after their fifth birthday. About two thirds of primary schoolchildren in the Netherlands attend religious schools, most of which are Protestant or Roman Catholic but also include Jewish and Muslim schools establishments. There are also government-funded schools based on educational approaches such as the Montessori Method and the Jena Plan. Annebet van Mameren, a Dutch woman married to an American, with two children, runs an advisory service, New2NL.com for people moving to the Netherlands. She suggests that the diversity of the Dutch educational system is one of its strengths. The Dutch system is based on a lot of different philosophies and that is different to most other countries. I think that really helps education because children can learn in their own way with what style fits them best. Children can get the education that best suits their learning skills," she said. Julia Zijvold, a Dutch woman married to an Irish man, with two children, aged nine and 14, has noticed that the primary school day is longer than in other countries. "If I look at their Irish cousins then they are longer in school, they finish at 2pm here it's after 3pm and they start at 8.30am," she said. At the end of primary education, aged 12, most pupils sit the Citotoets or Cito test. The test is broken down into four different themes: language, arithmetics, world orientation and study skill. The results of this exam, along with the advice of their teachers, are used to determine which stream of secondary education they will enter. Dutch secondary education is divided into three streams: vocational education (VMBO), accounting for 60 per cent of pupils, senior general secondary education (HAVO) and, the highest level, preparatory scientific education (VWO). While secondary pupils study a broadly similar curriculum for the first three years, education becomes more specialised with an emphasis on vocational or higher education teaching. All state education is publicly funded until the age of 16, after then parents must pay an annual tuition fee, in the region of €950. Rob Boos, a manager at the International School of Amsterdam, had found that parents are happy to pay for extra tuition. "People are study minded," he said. There is a big increase in homework companies where people can get support after school. People see education as more and more important. Everyone wants their child to do well in school.