Creating a niche in the education market: the rise of internationalised secondary education in the Netherlands

Abstract

The past decades saw a rise in internationalised education in Europe. Based on case studies at Dutch schools, I argue that the introduction of this type of education can be understood by the increased need for schools to adapt to the social reproduction strategies of privileged social classes. School managers regard internationalised streams as a way to counter a decline of pupils or as a strategy to improve an already secure position. In both cases, they resisted protesting staff in their efforts to establish an exclusive image of their internationalised stream. I argue that school managers’ inclination to emphasise the exclusive and ‘high‐quality’ profile of their internationalised streams and their propensity to celebrate the abilities of their pupils stem from their competitive engagement with local education markets.

Keywords:

• sociology of education
• internationalisation of education
• education markets
• school managers