Sietske Waslander

Sietske Waslander is a Full Professor of Educational Sociology at TIAS School for Business and Society, Tilburg University, where she has been affiliated since 2007. Her expertise spans multiple domains including Context (Sociology), Health & Education (Education Management, Innovation, Strategy), Management & Organisation (Leadership, Public Policy, Research and Development), Quantitative Methods (Business Research Methods, Economics, Statistics), and Strategy & Innovation (Strategy and Leadership).

Professor Waslander completed her cum laude dissertation on market mechanisms in education. Prior to her position at Tilburg University, she worked at Victoria University of Wellington, the OECD in Paris, a major national consultancy firm, and the University of Groningen.

Her research focuses on steering processes in education at system, organizational, and regional levels. She has extensively studied the evaluation of the "Passend Onderwijs" (Appropriate Education) policy, analyzed debates about appropriate education in media and politics, and researched education policy, equal education opportunities, and the public nature of education. Her work demonstrates consistent attention to how governance, leadership, and policy interact within educational systems, particularly examining tensions between market mechanisms and public values.

Her publication record reveals a research trajectory evolving from examining market mechanisms in education to more nuanced analyses of policy implementation, meta-governance, and regional steering networks. A consistent theme is how theoretical policy intentions translate (or fail to translate) into educational practice within complex, multi-level governance environments.

• Member of the Social and Economic Council of North Netherlands
• Serves on program and assessment committees of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research
• Participates in various advisory committees and sounding boards
• Regularly contributes columns and weblogs to professional publications

Professor Waslander teaches on leadership, governance, policy, strategy, and innovation in the public domain, delivering courses for executives and supervisors in public management and education programs, as well as in TIAS in-company programs.