Subject renewal
Subject renewal is one of our classic tasks, which we conducted to a different extent over many years. It is our ambition to be involved in curriculum development for all subjects, not as an exclusive actor, but in a coordinating role and in collaboration with relevant and expert partners. Main objectives are both coherence between areas and professional improvement of the development work.
Core tasks concerning subject renewal are:

• the design of core objectives and examination programs,
• the design of examples of curricular strands, and
• the design of exemplary educational materials 

Curricular strands
Continuity in learning and teaching is a crucial requisite for education to be efficient and effective. Through curriculum development we offer teachers and schools possibilities to align educational aims and content. We do so through analysis, design and adjustment of educational content in view of a truly longitudinal curriculum, from preschool to higher education. It concerns the planning and alignment of requirements for educational programmes, e.g. by means of core objectives, attainment levels, examination programmes, qualification frameworks, or examination requirements. Futhermore, we develop tools that support teachers in putting series of educational aims and content in teaching and learning activities.

Coherence across the curriculum
All educational sectors seek to realise more adjustment and cohesion in the curriculum at school level, in order to reduce overloading and fragmentation of the curriculum.
Core themes are:

• horizontal coherence within a subject and alignment between subjects and within subject-transcending themes
• alignment between learning inside and outside school
• core curricula that assist schools and teachers with coherent design of their learning arrangements
• sustainable embedding of social themes within the curriculum.

Diversity in the curriculum
The increasing diversity in education puts high requirements on education. Teachers and schools are supposed to provide tailor-made approaches for a wide variety of students. The aim is to enlarge knowledge of curricular interventions that enable schools to meet the diversity in pupil population within the common curricular frames.  Core themes are:

• inclusive education
• promotion of giftedness
• differentiation
• early intervention
• social development and identity

Educational materials
Our Knowledge Centre for Educational Materials aims at the development of knowlegde about the design and use of educational materials, e.g. by yearly trend studies of educational materials. The website www.leermiddelenplein.nl offers a great deal of information on educational materials. Core themes are:

• to support teachers and schools when chosing educational materials that fit their needs
• to support teachers and schools in making learning arrangements
• examplary educational materials within curriculum development.

Curricular professional development
Schools and teacher face great challenges as a result of the large curricular autonomy Dutch schools have. We examine and contribute to such processes of site-specific curriculum development, including a more prominent role for teachers and schools.  
This theme aims at an increase of curricular competences of teachers and school leaders in various fields of education, starting from a coherent framework and by means of a variation of professional activities. This should lead to effective strategies for site-specific curriculum development, increase of curricular leadership within schools and to  more successful implementation of educational innovation.