Searching For Educational Quality

Abstract

Over the past few years the government has instigated measures aimed at a better match between secondary vocational education and the demands posed by society. This is the perception of quality adopted here. The basic policy ideas can be outlined as follows.

A process of institutional reorganisation has resulted in a system comprising a relatively few but large institutions which, in principle, are able to offer a comprehensive range of training courses. This sector used to comprise of a loose collection of small schools offering training for a variety of specific occupations. Comprehensive means all types of training varying in content, level and duration, which are required to satisfy the demand from students and clients in the vicinity. These new institutions are called Regional Training Centres (Regionale Opleidingen Centra, ROCs). The institutional integration of training courses is aimed at a closer integration of the training offered (internal adaptation and co-ordination), optimal planning of training courses, increased transparency for the benefit of external parties, increased capacity for policy decisions at institutional level and the introduction of innovation in education.