About eX:plain

eX:plain is a foundation that is the Dutch leader in the area of vocational assessment and certification testing for both the industry and education. A professional exam institute that yearly guarantees the quality of the exams and certificates of 400.000 test takers.

History

The origin of eX:plain lies in former Center of Expertise ECABO. This centre stopped its activities in 2015 when the Dutch Secretary of Education put ECABO’s the statutory duties in another organization. The non-statutory duties that ECABO performed were put into a new foundation: eX:plain.

In the same year, eX:plain joined forces with the Dutch Association for Examination, for almost 80 years already one of the largest independent exam institutes in The Netherlands. The process of merging was completed in 2018. You could say that eX:plain has 100 years+ experience in assessment and testing. Complete generation have received certificates from either the Association or eX:plain.

What we offer

The Netherlands is characterized by a broad range of vocational qualifications and certificates on both the lower and higher vocational levels, for many jobs, functions, and tasks. We offer services in the whole process: from training and consultancy to digital learning and test development opportunities. Also, we perform tasks on test security: fraud detection, remote proctoring, and test security trainings.

How we work

In education, we develop assessment programs, exams, and we build support for the exams in the industry. We do this in many different areas, from public security to salary administration.

Besides, we also work in different industry sectors itself. In that case, we work together with different industry associations, for example to develop and new credentialing scheme. Together we determine the focus and shape of examination.

Our clients

Our portfolio is quite broad, and our partners are diverse and active in for example, security, medical professions, debt counseling, or employment. Some exam programs are large, for example the Exam Institute for Surveillance and Enforcement (ExTH), which we carry out commissioned by the Dutch Secretary of Justice and Security. All special criminal investigators in The Netherlands have been assessed at ExTH.

Another large program we carry out is the Safety, Health, and Environment Checklist for Contractors (SCC). The purpose of this checklist is to make sure that everyone works in a safe manner in construction or petrochemical environments. Everybody who works in such an environment, depending on the type of work and the specific environment, is required to have one of many different SCC certificates.

But we are also there for smaller sectors, like the Foundation for Secure Playing and Playgrounds, for which we develop tests for quality and safety inspectors of playgrounds.