More participation in educational innovations
The Dutch parliament voted in favour of a motion to involve co-determination in educational innovations from the start on 24 October. Then fewer things will go wrong, is the expectation.
The reason for the motion was an issue at the Fontys University of Applied Sciences, where major educational innovations turned out especially badly at the Fontys and Avans University of Applied Sciences in Tilburg. Many first-year students dropped out. The innovation has since been partially reversed.
According to GroenLinks MP Lisa Westerveld, the problems at Fontys would not have gotten so out of hand if the employee participation had intervened, she said in a committee debate this month. Teachers had in fact been criticised for some time, but were sidelined.
In a follow-up debate on 24 October, she tabled a motion to give participation a greater role. “We want the people involved – the teachers and the students of a programme – to be included in educational innovations from the beginning, if they are needed at all, and also to have external control,” Westerveld said. Outgoing education minister Dijkgraaf did not advise against the motion. (HOP, PvT)
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