Chapter 9: Parental Choice and Changing Christian School Identity in the Netherlands

Parental choice in schooling has been possible in the Netherlands since The Education Law of 1806 was passed which encouraged the establishment of primary schools in all municipalities. It also introduced a mandatory curriculum comprising Dutch language, reading, writing, and arithmetic during the French occupation under the responsibility of Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother, Lodewijk Napeleon (Ter Avest, Bakker, Bertram-Troost, & Miedema, 2007). Since the Pacification Act of 1917, which guarantees equal financial treatment for both state schools and faith-based schools, parental choice in schooling has been an accepted and valued practice in the Netherlands. In 1917, Protestant and Catholic schools existed alongside state schools; but later in the century, schools were founded with other religions, worldviews, or pedagogical visions and missions. The general and inclusive term to characterize all these schools next to the state schools is “denominational.”