In order to have a democratic society, equal rights to education are assumed. A democratic society needs citizens who are willing and able to commit themselves to lifelong learning--self-directed individual learning as well as collective learning. Learning in real life, although different for various people, can be seen as encompassing five steps: orienting or preparing, making strategic decisions, executing learning activities, evaluating, and regulating the process of preparing, deciding, executing, and evaluating. The steps are not necessarily linear, however. Learning in school, however, is other-directed, structured, unmotivated, and often does not prepare students for learning in life. In order to prepare students for active and self-directed learning in life, teaching needs to become oriented toward self-management in learning, domain-specific knowledge building, and self-confidence in learning. Control must be shifted from teachers to learners. In the Netherlands, two large-scale innovations are taking place in which secondary schools are expected to increase the opportunities for active learning by students: one in the lower classes concerning a basic curriculum and one in the upper classes--the school as a studyhouse. The goal of these movements is to create more process-oriented instruction directed towards active and self-directed learning. Implementation of such educational reforms means a change in role for teachers and more training and support for teachers to go from "survival" or "content concern" career stages to concerns with how students learn and general pedagogic guidance of children. (Contains 42 references.) (KC)