Basic qualification in education (Basiskwalificatie onderwijs - BKO)

All universities in the Netherlands feel the need to develop a basic qualification education for their teaching staff.
The BKO-project develops for the Open Universiteit Nederland a system and a programme of continuous education for all teaching staff and all educational technologists of the Open Universiteit Nederland that allows them to obtain their basic qualification ánd to continue developing their competences.

The project has:

• identified the competences required for this basic qualification - this was done in collaboration with the other Dutch universities but with special attention for the special requirements of distance teaching. 
• developed and implemented a procedure of Assessment of Prior Learning (APL) to identify the competences a teacher should still acquire
• developed a programme of courses that help teachers to acquire the necessary  competences. Dual mode education, training on the job, community activities, and coaching form an integral part of this programme.
   

By 2008 the APL procedure was operational and all courses were developed. Teaching staff and educational technologists are now going through the procedure and following their personal study programmes.

The aim of this project is that 80% of the teaching staff and the educational technologists at the Open Universiteit will have received the basic qualification education.