ARHIVSKI VJESNIK 40. (ZAGREB, 1997.)

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T. Thomassen, A Small Country in the World of Archival Education: the Dutch Case, Arh. vjesn., god. 40(1997) str. 95-104 6. they get control of the entrance to the profession by acquiring public recognition for their diploma's and by reserving professional posts for those who possess these diploma's. Archival education in the process of professionalisation In this process of professionalisation, archival education is a key instrument of the archival profession to maintain the profession's exchange value. It is aimed at increasing the professional competence of the archivists by transmitting the discipline of archival science. It is also aimed at strengthening group conscience among archivists by transmitting the professional image and the values of the profession. And finally it is aimed at protecting the profession from intruders by drawing a line between professionals and incompetents. Like all other steps in the professionalisation process, the educational efforts of the profession have a twofold function. Archival education can be a means of the profession for increasing the competence of the professionals, but at the same time an instrument for strengthening the position of the profession as a whole. It is a means to transmit the own definition of professional reality to the new professionals as well as to impose this definition on the rest of society. In the early stages of professionalisation the advantages of this twofold function are obvious: professional competence - the scientific discipline monopolized by the profession - can be sold at the highest prize. In the later stages, however, disciplining professionals by tying them to common concepts, to a common language and to common attitudes, can easily stimulate self-sufficiency and conservatism. Every profession tries to extend its power and the level of knowledge at the same time, but if the choice must be made, power will gain priority over knowledge, and the need to speak with one mouth will gain over the intellectual demand to disagree. A strong profession can produce a system of archival education behaving like a challenging agent of continuous change. It can also produce a system of archival education aimed at simply duplicating the existing professional image. The Dutch Archive School in the process of professionalisation My thesis so far has been, that the organisation of an establishment for archival education and the structure and contents of its curricula depend to a high degree from the orientation; the scope and the level of archival practice, the status and application of archival science and the strength and influence of the archival profession. The development of archival education in the Netherlands can provide this thesis with an appropriate historical illustration. I will give you a short description of this development, in which the process of professionalisation will be the focus. 99