OECD Skills Strategy Diagnostic Report: The Netherlands 2017

The Netherlands today is prosperous, but its future success is not assured. The Netherlands owes its success in no small part to actions it has taken in the past to develop a highly skilled population. Given the profound economic and social transformation that the Netherlands is currently undergoing, skills will be even more important for success in the future. The Dutch education system and the skills of the Dutch population are strong overall. Therefore many of the opportunities for further improving the skills outcomes of the Netherlands are to be found in areas of society where the government has more limited influence, such as the workplace and community. As a consequence, achieving the Netherlands’ skills ambitions will require a whole-of-society approach. The OECD Skills Strategy Diagnostic Report: Netherlands identifies the following three skills priorities for the Netherlands - fostering more equitable skills outcomes, creating skills-intensive workplaces, and promoting a learning culture. These priorities were identified through the analysis of common themes that emerged from stakeholder perspectives on the most important skills challenges facing the Netherlands, and through the OECD’s analysis of the nine skills challenges identified and examined in the report.