Evaluation of the Implementation of Curriculum Materials for Civics in the Netherlands

Our evaluative study, which is reported here, is linked with a civics project initiated by the Dutch National Institute for Curriculum Development (SLO) during the 1980s. The project focused on the education of twelve-to sixteen-year-old students at the lowersecondary level and was executed at request of the Dutch National Association for Social Studies Teachers. At that time, there was much ideo-logical confusion and disagreement about what should be taught under the rubric of civics (a regularly scheduled subject, along with history, geography, and economics) and how it should be taught. The beliefs of teachers, teacher trainers, and subject-matter specialists in The Netherlands reflected uncertainty about the appropriate civics scope and sequence, as well as about the subject's status (cf. Stodolsky 1991; Thornton 1991, 1994). From administrators' and students' perspectives, the status of civics was low. In addition, teacher training was regarded as inadequate, both in content and in pedagogy.