Early central regulation, slow financial participation: relations between primary education and the Dutch state from ± 1750–1920

Abstract

The declining economy of the Dutch Republic obliged city governments in the eighteenth century to take measures to undo the effects of the social deterioration. They therefore founded schools for the poor and sometimes gave full financial support. After 1795, the Batavian Revolution proclaimed that primary education was a state affair, but after a contest for hegemony between political elites, funding of schools in particular was left to provinces and communities. The desolate finances of the Batavian Republic made it nearly impossible for the national government to intervene with financial resources. After 1813 the situation did not change much; under King William I the decentralised funding model remained despite his absolutist activity. The constitution from 1848 offered freedom but after the new law of 1857 confessional politicians promoted private education because they found the neutral character of public education unacceptable for their children. Liberals aggravated the demands for primary education and were responsible for the fact that communities received state support to fulfil the demands in the law of 1878. But liberal hegemony broke down and confessional politicians succeeded in gaining state support for private schools in 1889 in exchange for their cooperation with the extension of suffrage. This process was repeated after 1913 when liberals negotiated with Christian politicians concerning general suffrage and equal funding of the private schools. The Dutch state dominated through that result in 1920 primary education but did not gain a monopoly.

Keywords:

• Primary education
• financial resources
• nineteenth century
• Netherlands

Notes

¹ Cousin was a French philosopher, minister, and author of On the State of Education in Holland (1837); De la Sagra was a botanist, politician, and author of Travels in Holland and Belgium, with a View to the State of Elementary Education, the Beneficient Institutions and the Prisons (1838); O'Malley (1796–1877), an Irish Catholic priest, wrote A Sketch of the State of Popular Education in Holland, Prussia, Belgium and France (1840) to promote a system of national education in his country.

² David Mitch, “Centralization versus Decentralization,” in Encyclopedia of Education Economics & Finance, ed. Dominic J. Brewer and Lawrence O. Picus (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2014), 116.

³ Huib Uil, De scholen syn planthoven van de gemeente [The schools are the nurseries of the community] (Bergschenhoek: Marberg Media, 2015), 45–6.

⁴ Ibid., 48, 52.

⁵ Ibid., 67.

⁶ Reglement op het houden van de Duytsche en Fransche schoolen binnen de Stadt Haerlem [Regulations on the keeping of the Dutch and French schools in the city of Haarlem] (Haerlem: Casteleyn, 1675).

⁷ T. W. M. van Gijlswijk, “Education of Poor Children as an Answer to a Social and Economic Crisis: Local Government Policies in the Eighteenth Century,” Paedagogica Historica 47, no. 01–02 (2011): 86.

⁸ Ibid., 85–6.

⁹ David Mitch, “The Economy of History of Education,” in The Routledge Handbook of Modern Economic History, ed. Robert. Whaples and Randall E. Parker (Abingdon: Routledge, 2013), 252–3.

¹⁰ Joost Rosendaal, Staatsregeling voor het Bataafsche Volk 1798: De eerste grondwet van Nederland [National Regulation for the Batavian People 1798: The first national constitution] (Vantilt, 2005), 69.

¹¹ Algemeene Denkbeelden over het Nationaal Onderwijs [General ideas about national education] (Amsterdam: Society for the Benefit of All, 1798), 2.

¹² Memorie van den Agent der Nationale Opvoeding J.H. van der Palm [Memory of the Agent of National Education J.H. van der Palm] (Leiden: Du Mortier, 1854), 5–7.

¹³ Publicatie van het Uitvoerend Bewind der Bataafsche Republiek houdende verordeningen omtrent het Onderwijs in de Lagere Scholen [Publication of the executing regime of the Batavian Republic containing decrees about education in primary schools] (Den Haag: ’s Lands Drukkerye, 1801).

¹⁴ A. van den Ende, Geschiedkundige schets van Neêrlands Schoolwetgeving [Historical outline of Dutch Regulations for schools] (Deventer: De Lange, 1846), 28.

¹⁵ Ibid., 134–5.

¹⁶ Ibid., 50.

¹⁷ Jan Luiten van Zanden and Arthur van Riel, Nederland 1780–1914: Staat, instituties en economische ontwikkeling [The Netherlands 1780–1914: state, institutions and economic development] (Amsterdam: Balans, 2000), 130.

¹⁸ Ibid., 123.

¹⁹ N. C. F. van Sas, De metamorfose van Nederland: Van oude orde naar moderniteit [The transformation of The Netherlands: from old order to modernity], 1790–1900 (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2004), 430–1.

²⁰ J. R. Thorbecke, Over het bestuur van het onderwijs in betrekking tot eene aanstaande wetgeving [About educational administration in regard to forthcoming regulation] (Zutphen: Wansleven, 1829), 10–15, reprinted by Ministry of Education and Sciences, 1979.

²¹ J. Boogman, “De politieke ontwikkeling in Nederland 1840–1862 [Political development in The Netherlands 1840–1862],” in Geschiedenis van het moderne Nederland: Politieke, economische en sociale ontwikkelingen [History of the modern Netherlands: political, economical and social developments], ed. J. C. Boogman (Houten: De Haan, 1988), 134–5.

²² N. C. F. van Sas, De metamorfose, 417.

²³ van den Ende, Geschiedkundige Schets, 137–8.

²⁴ Articles 2 and 3 from “Publicatie van Hun Hoog Mogende, vertegenwoordigende het Bataafsche Gemeenebest, aangaande het Lager Schoolwezen en Onderwijs in de Bataafsche Republiek [Publication of the Honorables, representing the Batavian Commonwelath, concerning Primary Schools and Education in the Batavian Republic],” in H. Scheepstra and W. Walstra, Beknopte geschiedenis van de opvoeding en het onderwijs vooral in Nederland [Concise history of education and instruction especially in The Netherlands] (Groningen: Wolters, 1900), 340.

²⁵ Handboek voor schoolopzieners en onderwijzers der jeugd van de lagere scholen [Manual for school inspectors and teachers of youth from schools for primary education] (Zalt-Bommel: Noman, 1827), 878.

²⁶ Ibid., 746.

²⁷ van den Ende, Geschiedkundige Schets, 155.

²⁸ Th. van Swinderen, Eenige denkbeelden over schoolpligtigheid en kosteloos onderwijs [Some thoughts about compulsory school attendance and free education] (Groningen: Scholtes, 1849), 1–3.

²⁹ van Swinderen, Eenige denkbeelden, 3.

³⁰ Lets over schoolgelden en schoolfondsen (Arnhem: Stenfert Kroese, 1846), 4–28.

³¹ Carl F. Kaestle, Pillars of the Republic; Common Schools and American Society, 1780–1860 (New York: Hill & Wang, 1983), 9, 29.

³² H. Hemkes, Handboek voor schoolopzieners, gemeentebesturen, etc.; bevattende al de wetten, besluiten en verordeningen betrekkelijk het lager onderwijs sedert den jare 1795 [Manual for school inspectors, city administrations, etc; containing al the laws, decisions and decrees about primary education since the year of 1795] (Groningen: Oomkes, 1844), 68, 140.

³³ Verzameling van Besluiten en Verordeningen betrekkelijk het lagere schoolwezen in de provincie Noord-Holland [Collection of decisions and decrees concerning primary education in the province of Northern Holland] (Amsterdam: Schalekamp, van de Grampel en Bakker, 1846), 86.

³⁴ Handboek voor schoolopzieners, 953.

³⁵ Handboek voor schoolopzieners, voor Utrecht, 681, Gelderland, 902.

³⁶ Noord-Hollands Archief, Commissies die toezicht op het onderwijs hebben uitgeoefend in Haarlem 1619–1920, toegangsnr. 3684, invnr. 34, Notulen plaatselijke schoolcommissie 1855–1867 [Archive of North Holland, commissions which monitored education in Haarlem 1619-1920, access number 3684, inventory number 34, Minutes of the local school commission 1855-1867].

³⁷ Dick van Gijlswijk, “De Overheid en het Voortgezet Onderwijs ± 1800–1920 [The National Administration and secondary education 1800-1920]” (PhD diss., Amsterdam University, 2004), 79.

³⁸ van Zanden, Nederland, 1780–1914, 311.

³⁹ A. Postma, “De onderwijskwestie en de wet-Mackay van 8 december 1889 [The educational quarrel and the Mackay law from 8 December 1889],” in Het kabinet Mackay: Opstellen over de eerste christelijke coalitie (1888–1891) [The Mackay administration: articles concerning the first Christian coalition (1888–1891)], ed. Th. B. F. M. Brinkel, J. de Bruijn and A. Postma (Arbor: Baarn, 1990), 156–7.

⁴⁰ Article 54 of the Law on Primary Education from 1889.

⁴¹ Patrick J. McGuinn, No Child Left Behind and the Transformation of Federal Education Policy, 1965–2005 (Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 2006), 17.

⁴² J. T. Minderaa, “De politieke ontwikkeling in Nederland 1887–1914,” in Geschiedenis van het moderne Nederland, ed. J. C. Boogman, 338.

⁴³ van Gijlswijk, “De Overheid,” 79.

⁴⁴ Ibid., 102.

⁴⁵ D.Strong, et al., “Leveraging the State: Private Money and the Development of Public Education for Blacks,” American Sociological Review 65, no. 5 (2000): 660–62.

⁴⁶ R. van der Voort, Overheidsbeleid en overheidsfinanciën in Nederland 1850–1913 [Governmental policy and governmental finance in the Netherlands 1850-1913] (Amsterdam: NEHA, 1994), 92–96, 191.

⁴⁷ Ibid., 96.

⁴⁸ van Gijlswijk, “De Overheid,” 102.

⁴⁹ Carla Aubry, “The ‘Value of Schooling’: Rising Expenditures on Education in Winterthur, 1830–1850,” in History of Schooling: Politics and Local Practice, ed. Carla Aubry and Johannes Westberg (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2012), 96–8.

⁵⁰ Ibid., 95–6.

⁵¹ Huub Spoormans, “Met Uitsluiting van Voorrecht”: Het Ontstaan van de Liberale Democratie in Nederland (Amsterdam: SUA, 1988), 222–3.

⁵² Piet de Rooy, “Een zoekende tijd: De ongemakkelijke democratie 1913–1949 [A questioning time: the uncomfortable democracy 1913–1949]” in Land van kleine gebaren [Country of small gestures, a political history of The Netherlands 1780–1990], ed. Remieg Aerts and Herman de Liagre Böhl (Nijmegen: SUN, 1999), 184.

⁵³ Spoormans, Met uitsluiting, 188–9.

⁵⁴ Ibid., 192–4.

⁵⁵ See, for example, Dirk Bos, Onze Volksopleiding (Groningen: 1898).

⁵⁶ van Gijlswijk, “De Overheid,” 134.