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The teaching of history in the Netherlands

 
 

 

 

 

History in primary education

History is a mandatory subject in primary education, with global attainment targets.

Attainment targets

1. Students learn to utilize simple historical sources and learn how to use indications of time and  chronology (attainment target 51)

2. Students learn about characteristics features of the following eras: 

era of hunters and farmers (up to 3000 BC) / Prehistory
era of Greeks and Romans (3000 BC - 500 AD) / Antiquity
era of monks and knights (500 AD - 1000 AD) / Early Middle Ages

era of cities and states (1000 AD - 1500 AD) / High and Late Middle Ages

era of discoverers and reformers (1500 - 1600 AD) / Renaissance / 16th century
era of regents and princes (1600-1700 AD) / Golden Age / 17th century
era of wigs and revolutions (1700-1800 AD) / Age of Enlightenment / 18th century
era of citizens and steam engines (1800-1900 AD) / Age of Industrialisation / 19th century
era of world wars (1900-1950 AD) / first half of the 20th century
era of television and computer (after 1950 AD) / second half of 20th century

Attainment target 52

3. Students learn about important persons and events from Dutch history and can connect these in an exemplary manner with world history (attainment target 53)

The Canon of Dutch history is mandatory in primary education as a startingpoint for the purpose of illustration.

Characteristic features

These characteristic features might be (not mandatory):

The following characteristics apply for era 1:

  • the way of life of hunters and gatherers.

  • the emergence of agriculture and agricultural communities.

The following characteristics apply for era 2:

  • the confrontation between Greco-Roman culture and the Germanic cultures of North-West-Europe.

  • Christianity in the Roman Empire.

The following characteristics apply for era 3:

  • the spread of Christianity throughout Europe.

  • feudalism.

The following characteristics apply for era 4:

  • the rise of trade and crafts, providing the base for a revival of the urban society.

  • the emergence of an urban citizenry and a growing autonomy of cities.

The following characteristics apply for era 5:

  • the beginnings of European overseas expansion.

  • the conflict in the Netherlands resulting in the founding of a independent Netherlands State.

The following characteristics apply for era 6:

  • the special position of the Netherlands Republic in political respect and the cultural flowering of the Netherlands Republic.

  • world wide trade contacts and the beginnings of a world economy.

The following characteristics apply for era 7:

  • the founding of plantation colonies and the transatlantic slave trade involved, and the emergence of abolitionism.

  • the discussion about fundamental rights and more political influence in the French and Dutch revolutions

The following characteristics apply for era 8:

  • the industrial revolution in the western world, providing the base for an industrial society and the emergence of emancipation movements.

  • ongoing democratisation, more and more men and women taking part in the political process.

The following characteristics apply for era 9:

  • the crisis of world capitalism.

  • racism and discrimination, resulting in genocide, especially directed against the Jews

  • the German occupation of the Netherlands.

The following characteristics apply for era 10:

  • the division of the world into two ideological blocks seized by an arms race and the threat of atomic war resulting from that.

  • the development of multiform and multicultural societies.
Copyright © 2010 Albert van der Kaap