Dutch School Leadership Structures

• The Netherlands is participating in the OECD project "Improving School Leadership".
• The Dutch educational system is characterized by diverse management structures with varied roles for school leaders.
• Substantial differences exist in school leaders between sectors
• ROC school leaders have different responsibilities and require other competences than primary school leaders.
• Primary education features deputy directors, directors of one location, and upper school managers in addition to conventional directors.
• Secondary education features different structures with multiple layers of management and traditional schools with single school leaders.
• BVE sector schools function similarly to secondary education schools.
• Differences across different sectors make it hard to summarize tasks and responsibilities of school leaders.
• This report focuses on school leaders responsible for leadership tasks within a school, an institution, or part of one.
• Two key principles explain the government's policy: increasing scale and decentralization.
• Growing scale came into being in secondary education and the BVE sector, and the schools were cretaed for students
• A large scale has consequences for school leaders.
• Specialization occurred, and managers dealt with personnel policy, accommodation, ICT, finance, and accountability.
• In terms of management increases, upper school managers in small schools in primary education are seeing specializations
• Decentralization is a key factor of educational policy.
• Schools have always had some level of style, methods,and content based freedom, but recently, there have been significant changes in finance, personnel, accommodation, and ICT.
• Block rate funding enables schools to make choices regarding financial means.
• Negotiations regarding salaries and labor conditions are mostly decentralized
• For primary education, the minister continues to lead the negotiations.
• Educational legislation does not include regulations about school leaders' duties, functions, authority, qualifications, or quality.
• The BIO Act regulates teachers guidelines
• The NSA and school leaders compiled a professional profile that describes required skills for school principles

Improvement of Learning and Professionalization

• School leaders help students develop better learning habits and accountability.
• The leader accounts for educational institutions/ training yields instead of each class' score.
• School quality assurance systems inform schools about education quality.
• School managements are responsible for coaching new teachers.
• Schools have made gains carrying out job evaluations.
• Assessment interviews tied to salaries/duties are uncommon.
• Progress regarding integration of employee policy is evident in the BVE field.
• BIO act implementations in 2006 highlighted personnel professionalization
• Management is responsible for reporting how it plans to maintain personnel skillsets
• This information creates agreements for expertise enhancement for employers/employees
• Current themes involve education quality and reading improvement
• There has been math competency development that relates to teacher training involving teacher time.

Attractiveness of leadership roles.

• There are not enough school leaders in secondary education, or the BVE sector.
• But there the need is significantly needed in primary education roles
• Most initiatives for recruitment come from teachers being recruited
• The Ministry of Home Affairs and Commonwealth Relations considers salaries for public workers versus the public sector
• Education salaries are behind on market employees
• The OCW ministry displayed great differences between ages, educational personnels, and employment time contracts
• Salary increases with different time contracts and education level
• There are respectable starting salaries from education sectors
• Salaries are limited owing to structures of flat organization (career wise), the amount of quick raises is very low
• Salaries rise with time which makes market changes less of an impact
• Changes apply to school leaders too
• Primary education see salaries lower compared to teachers

Netherlands recruitment for leaders is intended for primary purposes

• Most of leaders are to be recruited from the staff
• One solution for policy is the project "duo-banen" (shared jobs) and “bazen van buiten” (horizontal recruitment).
• The other solution is attention for horizontal jobs so Females can promote leadership from there
• Horizontal leadership recruitment possible since 2002
• A person with no teaching backgrounds can have leadership positions

Training in professional development

• There are educational courses in the Netherlands for the secondary sector.
• Since 1994, schools have been given subsides for leader training
• Courses depend on if their competency needs can be based

Great diversity from institutions for courses

• Higher Vocational Education (HBO)
• AVS group of Schoolleaders are a source too
• CINOP, Trade Unions, and Commercial Institutes too
• From years to an 1 day training is enough for the school leadership

Demand In addition to offered courses is rising

• Training based on requirements for the manager or governing board, and the individual wishes of students for them
• Great extent in self training has been developed in past years for professional development skills
• Competency requirements are not legally needed in the primary sector, but act as a basic standard
• participation in training matters is up to the school board to take.

Academies are involved in schooling and training

• School Leaders Academy is also a large help in this field

• Professionalization indicator has 100 plus institutions and describes over 500 services for this field

• The services are tied to the standards from vocational standards of the NSA.

• The NSA test's quality to manage standards for quality.

• relatively new development: creation of knowledge circles, and knowledge centers that help target groups

• knowledge comes from experience and helps others.

• Finally, an initiative is the "Co-Coaching" of exchanging knowledge. It is also similar to U.K’s “partners in leadership”

• the UK one brings business and manager side together

• couples can also become coaches for effectiveness within goals