2. Policy developments
2.1. Objectives and priorities
During the early 1990s, the need arose to make education and training more integrated and
national. Important factors were decentralisation, integration of different education and
training structures into one national qualification structure and the creation of regional
knowledge centres instead of a huge number of small schools. These priorities were
implemented through the Act on Vocational and Adult Education (Wet educatie en
beroepsonderwijs, WEB) (see Section 3.2). From 1999 to 2001, a two-year evaluation of the
1996 Act has been carried out, as prescribed in the Act.
The central themes of the study are the responsiveness of the system, flexibility, the quality of
teaching and learning processes, regulation of output and the quality of self-regulated
institutions. Although a great deal of autonomy and responsibility is given to the players in the
field to build a VET system that has optimal flexibility and effectiveness, the reality is rather
different (Nijhof and Van Esch (eds), 2004).
In spite of budget cuts in other areas, an additional budget will (provisionally) be available for
education and training in the coming years. VET priorities include giving greater autonomy to
schools and reducing the administrative load and the number of approved qualifications.
Counteracting the shortage of teachers, particularly through action at regional level is an
important issue. In December 2002, the Minister of Education sent a Labour market and
personnel policy action plan to the Second Chamber, including proposals for function
differentiation, better career perspectives for teachers and attracting people from other sectors
(see Section 6.1). Further priorities will be streamlining the system to make vertical transfers
within VET easier, modernising teaching and learning environments, and emphasising the
centrality of the role of the learner (see Section 2.2).
A new cabinet, which was installed in 2003, added two more priorities for their pe