AI and education in the Netherlands; where are we?

The national desk research of our Dutch partners from the University of Groningen showed the importance of initiatives on AI in education for their country.

There are very few projects on AI education in the Netherlands. One possible reason why this topic is underexplored might be the national curriculum. The current national primary school curriculum is fifteen years old and rather outdated. Luckily, there are currently national initiatives being carried out to renew the national curriculum for primary schools. These initiatives propose nine new learning areas, including ‘digital literacy’. AI tools and AI lessons can be used to teach topics within this learning line to improve students’ digital literacy.

One great example of an AI in education project in the Dutch context is ‘De Nationale AI cursus JUNIOR’. It is a free online course for young learners. In six different lessons and with different themes, AI is introduced. Everyone can follow this course at home. However, based on this free course, LessonUp developed five lesson plans for in the classroom too. These lesson plans include slides, teacher guides, and worksheets and can be downloaded for free.

Based on a literature review, the desk research of our Dutch partners shows the possibilities of AI in education. But the lack of AI in education projects prevents teachers from having the right tools to start implementing AI in school.

Therefore, the desk research concludes that the Netherlands can benefit greatly from more AI lesson plans and professional development training for teachers, just like the GENERATION AI project aims to develop.