The most important task of Ons Middelbaar Onderwijs – Our Secondary Education – and its schools is to bear collective responsibility for high quality education, in preparation for further education as well as a place in society. In other words, education in the interest of our students, parents and tomorrow’s world, irrespective of talent en social background.

 
OMO is a Dutch school board with a number of schools under its jurisdiction. For the most part, these schools are located in the province of Noord-Brabant. The majority bear a catholic signature and offer secondary education with an innovative approach across a broad spectrum of programmes, from pre-vocational secondary (vmbo) to pre-university education (athenaeum) that may include Latin en Greek (gymnasium). In addition, the vmbo offered by the OMO-schools also provides learning support and practice-based education.

 
Within OMO the advantages of being a large-scale organization are fully utilized. The Board of Governors of OMO creates the right conditions through vigorous personnel management and through providing plenty of facilities for innovative developments.

History

 
OMO’s starting mission in 1916 was the emancipation of Catholics in Noord-Brabant. Since education is an important tool for emancipation, (secular) catholic schools were founded.

 
At a later stage the emphasis came to lie on socio-cultural objectives: to ensure that children from all social backgrounds would be able to enjoy secondary education at a short distance from their place of residence. 

 
This period was followed by a time of renewal, professionalization, and a new mission that formulated the proactive and innovating ambition with respect to the educational programmes and the supporting processes.

 
The fact that OMO seeks to be in step with social and educational developments appears, among other things, from the structural change put into effect in the summer of 2001. The far-reaching change from a sectional board structure to a sectional management structure made the organization more orderly and more decisive.

Education

 
As a board OMO operates schools, whereas the schools themselves deliver education. In other words, all OMO-schools have their won identity but do strive for a common goal. The programmes that the OMO-schools have to offer are strongly student-orientated. OMO wants to offer its 62,000 students the right guidance and to prepare them well to operate independently in a multiform society. For the most part the educational programmes are engrafted on social developments and, what’s more, are characterized by a close collaboration with parents/guardians. What schools have even more in common is the open catholic nature, which finds its expression in standards and values, in style en etiquette, and in social interaction.

Personnel

 
With 7,000 employees OMO is the largest employer in secondary education in the Netherlands. OMO wants to give its students the best education there is to offer by being, among other things, the best employer. The best education is still delivered by people who feel appreciated and valued and who can do their job under optimal conditions. Having its own collective bargaining agreement is testimony to this ambition, as well as the unique career prospect that OMO offers its teachers, a prospect that focuses on the talents, wishes, ambitions en circumstances of the employees. Professionalism, open lines of communication, and the welfare of our employees determine the work atmosphere to a considerable extent.

Innovation

 
Through the years, the Board of Governors of OMO initiated various projects for educational reform through intensive cooperation with partners from the education sector, government, the social services sector and welfare. The Fund for Educational Innovation and Schooling (Fonds Onderwijs Innovatie en Scholing) and the OMO Knowledge Centre (OMO-Kenniscentrum) play an important role in this. With this centre, OMO-schools can submit applications for projects in the area of innovation. These projects are judged on the basis of their innovative merit and their transferability to other schools. What is unique about these projects is that teachers and other employees of OMO carry them out.