Evidence-based education policy in practice: The case of the Netherlands

While evidence-based policy and practice have been on the rise for some time now, this does not apply to education. Evidence-based education (EBE) can be defined as the principle that education practices should be based on rigorously established objective evidence, preferably on randomized controlled trials. In this country-specific case study, the focus is on the Netherlands and, more specifically, developments regarding the educational disadvantage policy. Whereas the Ministry of Education propagates the use of EBE, researchers seem to be rather reluctant. The main research question is how many of the ministry’s policy measures have actually been grounded in the principles of evidence-based education? To answer this question, three review studies covering the period 1985–2023 were critically examined. The results can be called shocking: hardly any of the ministry’s policy measures have been based upon hard scientific evidence—neither in the past nor in recent years. Explanations for this finding are given, and recommendations are presented.