Requirements of appointment

Primary education

Candidates seeking appointment as head or deputy head of a primary school must hold: ● a certificate of good conduct and ● a higher education certificate.

If the position involves management duties for which standards of competence have been set, candidates must also hold a certificate showing that they satisfy those requirements. If the head or deputy head is to perform teaching duties, he or she must meet the applicable standards of competence. Candidates must not have been banned from teaching by judgment of a court.

Secondary education

Candidates seeking appointment as head or deputy head of a secondary school must hold: ● a certificate of good conduct; ● a teaching certificate qualifying them to teach one of the subjects taught at the school. This requirement does not apply to the chairperson and members of a school’s central management board.

The competent authority of a school without a central management board may depart from this requirement in respect of no more than half of the members of the school’s management team. If the position involves management duties for which standards of competence have been set, candidates must also hold a certificate showing that they satisfy those requirements.

Conditions of service

Day-to-day management of educational institutions

The powers and duties of the management of educational institutions are laid down in various Acts of Parliament. A new Act entered into force in 1997 which is designed to promote the proportional representation of women in management posts in education. The Act applies to all sectors of education. If women are underrepresented in senior posts, school boards are obliged to draw up a document once every four years setting out their policy (complete with target figures and a schedule) and the results achieved. This obligation ceases as soon as women are proportionally represented in management posts.

Day-to-day management of primary schools

The day-to-day running of primary and special schools is the responsibility of the head teacher. Primary schools usually have one or more deputy heads. Apart from the head, the staff consists of teachers and support staff. The competent authority draws up a document describing the duties and powers of the school management. The head teacher is responsible, under the aegis of the competent authority, for: ● the general running of the school; ● assisting in the planning and implementation of policy with regard to teaching, the organisation of the school and internal matters; ● helping to plan and implement the school’s personnel policy; ● helping to plan and implement the school’s financial policy; ● maintaining internal and external contacts regarding the above matters; ● giving lessons insofar as he or she is not exempted from teaching duties; ● other duties arising from the post of head.

Multi-school management, where the same group of persons manages several schools, focusing primarily on preparing and implementing cross-school policy, is becoming increasingly common. At least one head must be attached to each school to take care of educational, organisational and internal matters on behalf of the competent authority.

Day-to-day management of secondary schools

The day-to-day running of secondary schools is the responsibility of the head of the school, who is known in VWO schools as the rector and in other schools as the director. Secondary schools have one or more deputy heads. Together they form the management team. The competent authority draws up a document describing the duties and powers of the school management. The head and deputy heads are responsible, under the aegis of the competent authority, for: ● the general running of the school; ● assisting in the planning and implementation of policy with regard to teaching, the organisation of the school and internal matters; ● helping to plan and implement the school’s personnel policy; ● helping to prepare policy on behalf of the competent authority and preparing meetings of the governing body if asked to do so by the competent authority; ● maintaining internal and external contacts in relation to the above-mentioned tasks; ● giving lessons and performing other teaching duties insofar as the nature and size of the institution warrant it; ● other duties arising from their post.

The introduction of broad-based combined schools has made it possible to set up central management boards in schools providing VMBO/HAVO/VWO courses. Schools can now opt either for an "ordinary" management team (i.e. a head and one or more deputies) or a central management board consisting of up to five people (no more than three full-time equivalents), one of whom is appointed chairperson.

Various new forms of management are increasingly being introduced. Rather than there being a head and several deputies, the school management may consist of the head plus a number of "portfolio managers". Depending on the size of the school, the management team may also include one or more site heads who, as well as helping to shape policy, are responsible for implementing all aspects of policy at their own site.