Coping with Very Weak Primary Schools: Towards Smart Interventions in Dutch Education Policy

This case study looks at the effectiveness of policy instruments aimed at reducing the number ofunderperforming primary schools in a system with a long tradition of school autonomy. It reviews relevantDutch policy developments in education since 1998 and provides an in-depth analysis of five selectedschools and their responsiveness to the policy instruments under study. Interviews with relevantstakeholders explore a key issue: what happens after a reform is introduced, and what are the elements thatmake it successful (or not)? The study suggests that there is not a linear cause and effect driving changes ineducational performance of schools. For example, even the assignment of the label ‘very weak’ can elicit apositive response from one school and a negative response from another, depending on the local context,history and staffing situation at the school. The same intervention can thus create a vicious cycle thattriggers increasing deterioration of schools or a virtuous cycle that improves conditions to an extent thatsurpasses the original goal of the reform. This goes some way to explaining why some reform measuresunintentionally backfire while others quickly (‘virally’) spread over the system and set a virtuous cycle inmotion that engages all parts of the system.