Educational innovation project Amsterdam 1971-1978

Abstract

The Innovation Project Amsterdam ( IPA ) was a large scale educational project. The longitudinal project, which lasted from 1971 until 1978, was realised as a cooperation between Amsterdam primary schools, the Advice and Guidance Centre for Education in Amsterdam ( ABC ) and the Research Institute for Applied Psychology of the University of Amsterdam. It's aim was to improve the educational facilities for working-class children in the old districts of Amsterdam, by establishing - among other things - close relationships between school, family and neighbourhood. Based on then popular principles of action-research, the research staff of the project was strongly involved with the actual changes in the field. The project started with some 15 schools and covered some 40 during it's existence. The project yielded many hundreds of raw data-files, some on punched cards and some on magnetic tape. Most of these files contained the results of educational tests and were poorly documented when transferred to the Steinmetz archive. The amount of material and the state it was in, left the archive no other choice than to "keep as is", which in turn has led to serious losses over time, due to deterioration of tapes and cards