Special Initiatives in Mathematics and Science Education
The Platform Bèta Techniek is an important initiative that encourages students to pursue a technical or science-related career, and involves schools, universities, businesses, ministries, municipalities, and regions.20 Their vision is that 40 percent of all students in general and vocational education will have completed their education with a technical or science-related diploma. The initiative serves as a platform for the development of stimulation programs for primary, secondary, and tertiary education.
Partly as a result of the outcomes of PIRLS 2011 and TIMSS 2011 in the Netherlands, the focus of policymakers on high achieving students has increased in the last few years. A number of educational institutions and schools received financial support for their plans to improve the education of talented students or to stimulate talent among students. The website www.talentstimuleren.nl initiated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science is a platform where schools, teachers, parents, students, experts, and policy makers can find and share information about stimulating talent and high achieving students in primary, secondary, and tertiary education, and includes learning materials.21