Early life After completing her secondary education she trained as a primary school
teacher in
Maastricht. She went on to gain a secondary teaching certificate in English, after which she attended courses in higher management for non-profit organisations at the Institute of Social Sciences and business management at the Open University in
Heerlen. From 1969 she taught at home economics schools and from 1971 at a junior secondary commercial school, where she later became a school counsellor. Until 1987 she was head of the Adult Commercial Vocational Training Centre in
Maastricht, after which she served as the head of the
Limburg Technology Centre until 1991.
Politics , 2009. Van der Hoeven with incumbent Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev, Japanese
PM Taro Aso, and
Prince Andrew. From 1985 to 1991, Van der Hoeven was a member of the municipal council of
Maastricht. From 1991 to 2002,
Member of the House of Representatives and
Minister of Education, Culture and Science from 2002 to 2007. In 2005, she caused an uproar in a debate about the teaching of
Intelligent Design in the country's schools. Van der Hoeven said that Charles Darwin's theories were incomplete and that new things had been discovered by proponents of intelligent design. The then Dutch Minister of Education later announced that she did not intend to introduce the creationist ideas into the school curricula but only wanted to confront their adherents with the supporters of the theory of evolution.
Minister of Economic Affairs from 2007 to 2010, she has held a variety of social and cultural posts, including membership of the governing board of the Domstad Primary Teacher Training College in
Utrecht and the Southern Dutch Opera Association, and membership of the ‘’t Vervolg’ theatre group. On 11 March 2011, Van der Hoeven was appointed Executive Director of the International Energy Agency. Her opponents have voiced concerns that she lacks expertise on energy matters, while her supporters point out that her work as Minister of Economic Affairs included many energy issues, and that she has extensive contacts with major
OPEC members. She took over from
Nobuo Tanaka on 1 September 2011. On 1 September 2015, she was succeeded by
Fatih Birol. ==Later career==