The current shift in modern educational approaches towards more flexible curricula is in line with the increasingly amount of (digital) learning materials available (Onderwijsraad, 2008). Learning is influenced by, amongst others, students' characteristics, such as expertise, abilities and attitudes (Zimmerman, 2002) and characteristics of the learning materials that are presented in the learning environment, such as task complexity, amount of learner support and other task features (Lawless & Brown, 1997). Hence, learning materials are an important part of the curriculum and make it possible for teachers to flexibly adapt the curriculum to their students (Blockhuis, Corbalan, ten Voorde, & de Vries, 2011). Additionally,  flexible curricula enhances performance and motivation (Corbalan, Kester, & van Merriënboer, 2008).

Moreover, school teachers in the Netherlands are continuously challenged by the reasonably high amount of freedom in their curricula (Bron & Thijs, 2011; Kuiper, Van den Akker, Letschert & Hooghoff, 2005). This autonomy provides ample room for school teachers to select the learning materials (either self-developed or by others) they want to use besides textbooks, and sequence them in order to set up their own curriculum. Characteristics of the learning materials teachers select or self-develop, greatly influence how students learn and might enlarge individual differences between low and high ability students (Kopcha & Sullivan, 2008). Additionally, the quality of these learning materials greatly influences curriculum’ quality and ultimately students’ learning.

In addition, rapid technological developments in modern society make the development, share and use of digital (either interactive or not) learning materials possible. Prior research showed that 20% of teachers in both primary and secondary education uses digital learning materials during their lessons, and that the free access to these learning materials makes them more attractive to use (De Boer & ten Voorde, 2009). Additionally, respondents reported to foresee an increase in the use of digital learning materials over 5 years.

Hence, given the increase in available (digital) learning materials and the current emphasis on flexible curricula, more research on the development, selection and use of (digital) materials by teachers as well as their needs when developing and using those materials is necessary. This has been investigated in a period of five years and trends have been analysed in an attempt to show a reliable pattern. In short, aim of this study is twofold: (a) to investigate teachers’ needs and selections regarding (digital) learning materials and their role in individualized education; and (b) to investigate teachers' perceptions on the quality of those materials. Both the use and quality of those materials partly determine the quality and thus effectiveness of the (flexible) curriculum.  

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