Education in the Netherlands
Education in the Netherlands is characterized by division: education is oriented toward the needs and background of the pupil. Education is divided over schools for different age groups, some of which are divided in streams for different educational levels. Schools are furthermore divided in public, special (religious), and general-special (neutral) schools,[1] although there are also a few private schools. The Dutch grading scale runs from 1 (very poor) to 10 (outstanding).
Ministry of Education, Culture and Science
€32.1 billion ($42 billion)
Dutch
Bilingual/Trilingual (with English, German, French or West Frisian (only in Friesland))
1968 (Mammoetwet). 1999 (latest revision).
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), coordinated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), ranks the education in the Netherlands as the 16th best in the world as of 2018.[2] The Netherlands' educational standing compared to other nations has been declining since 2006, and is now only slightly above average.[3] School inspectors are warning that reading standards among primary school children are lower than 20 years ago, and the Netherlands has now dropped down the international rankings. A similar trend is seen in writing and reading, maths and science.[3] The country has an on-going teacher shortage and lack of new teachers.[3]
The average OECD performance of Dutch 15-year-olds in science and mathematics has declined, with the share of low performers in reading, mathematics and science developing a sharp upward trend.[4] The share of top performers in mathematics and science has also declined.[4][5]
General overview[edit]
Educational policy is coordinated by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science with municipal governments.
Compulsory education (leerplicht) in the Netherlands starts at the age of five, although in practice, most schools accept children from the age of four. From the age of sixteen there is a partial compulsory education (partiële leerplicht), meaning a pupil must attend some form of education for at least two days a week.[6] Compulsory education ends for pupils aged eighteen and up or when they get a diploma on the VWO, HAVO or MBO-2 level.
Public, special (religious), and general-special (neutral) schools[1] are government-financed, receiving equal financial support from the government if certain criteria are met. Although they are officially free of charge, these schools may ask for a parental contribution (ouderbijdrage). Private schools rely on their own funds, but they are highly uncommon in the Netherlands, to the extent that even the Dutch monarchs have traditionally attended special or public schools. Public schools are controlled by local governments. Special schools are controlled by a school board and are typically based on a particular religion; those that assume equality between religions are known as general-special schools. These differences are present in all levels of education.
As a result, there can be Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim elementary schools, high schools, and universities. A special school can reject applications of pupils whose parents or guardians disagree with the school's educational philosophy, but this is uncommon. In practice, there is little difference between special schools and public schools, except in traditionally religious areas of the Dutch Bible Belt. All school types (public, special and private) are under the jurisdiction of a government body called Inspectie van het Onderwijs (Inspection of Education, also known as Onderwijsinspectie) that can demand a school to change its educational policy and quality at the risk of closure.
In elementary and high schools, pupils are assessed annually by a team of teachers who determine whether they advanced enough to move on to the next grade. Forcing a pupil to retake the year (blijven zitten; literally, "remain seated") has a profound impact on the pupil's life in terms of social contacts and remaining in the educational system longer, but is very common, even in the most academic streams such as Gymnasium. Some schools are more likely to choose this option than others. In some schools mechanisms are in place to avert retaking years, such as remedial teaching and other forms of guidance or making them go to a different type of schooling, such as moving down from HAVO to VMBO. Retaking a year is also common in elementary schools. Gifted children are sometimes granted the opportunity to skip an entire year, yet this happens rarely and usually happens in elementary schools.
Elementary education[edit]
Between the ages of four and twelve, children attend elementary school (basisschool; literally, "foundation school"). This school has eight grades, called groep 1 (group 1) through groep 8 (group 8). School attendance is not necessary until group 2 (at age five), but almost all children commence school at age four (in group 1). Groups 1 and 2 used to be held in a separate institution akin to kindergarten (kleuterschool), until it was merged with elementary schools in 1985. Kindergartens continued to exist however, for children under the age of 5.
From group 3 on, children learn how to read, write and do arithmetic. Most schools teach English in groups 7 and 8, but some start as early as group 1. In group 8 the vast majority of schools administer an aptitude test called the Cito Eindtoets Basisonderwijs (literally, "Cito final test [of] primary education", often abbreviated to Citotoets (Cito test), developed by the Centraal instituut voor toetsontwikkeling[7] (Central Institute for Test Development)), which is designed to recommend the type of secondary education best suited for a pupil. In recent years, this test has gained authority, but the recommendation of the group 8 teacher along with the opinion of the pupil and his/her parents remains the crucial factor in choosing the right form of secondary education.
The Cito test is not mandatory; some schools instead administer the Nederlandse Intelligentietest voor Onderwijsniveau ("Dutch intelligence test for educational level", usually abbreviated to NIO-toets) or the Schooleindonderzoek ("School final test").
A considerable number of elementary schools are mostly based on a particular educational philosophy, for instance the Montessori Method, Pestalozzi Plan, Dalton Plan, Jena Plan, or Freinet.[1] Most of these are public schools, but some special schools also base themselves on one of these educational philosophies.
A national system of education was introduced in the Netherlands around the year 1800. The Maatschappij tot Nut van 't Algemeen ("Society for the Common Good") took advantage of the revolutionary tide in the Batavian Republic to propose a number of educational reforms. The School Act of 1806 encouraged the establishment of primary schools in all municipalities and instated provincial supervision. It also introduced a mandatory curriculum comprising Dutch language, reading, writing, and arithmetics. History, geography, and modern languages such as French, German and English were optional subjects. All newly established schools needed consent from the authorities or would be disbanded as freedom of education was not proclaimed until the Constitutional Reform of 1848. In addition to primary education, gymnasia (or Latin schools) and universities constituted higher education. What could be considered secondary education or vocational training was unregulated.[26]
This situation changed in the second half of the nineteenth century in the wake of social and economic modernisation. In 1857, a Lower Education Act replaced the 1806 act, supplementing the mandatory curriculum with geometry, geography, history, natural sciences, and singing. Modern languages, mathematics, agronomy, gymnastics, drawing and needlework for girls were included as elective subjects. Schools offering one or more of these elective subjects were known as meer uitgebreid lager onderwijs ("more comprehensive lower education") or mulo, which became a new type of secondary education.[27] The Middle Education Act of 1863 introduced more types of secondary education at an intermediary level between mulo and gymnasium: the two-year burgerschool ("civic school"), the three or five-year hogere burgerschool ("higher civic school" or hbs) and the middelbare meisjesschool ("middle girls' school" or mms).[28]
The 1857 Lower Education Act retained the strictly secular nature of public education, but introduced the right of religious communities to establish private schools of an explicitly religious nature. However, these "special schools" received no funding from the government. In 1878, the liberal government introduced a bill that significantly increased the quality of education school were required to offer. While for public schools the accompanying costs were compensated by the government, special schools were still expected to bear the costs themselves, which threatened the continued existence of many special schools. This led the confessionals to start a campaign for the equal funding of special religious education that would become known as the school struggle. Equal funding was achieved in the Pacification of 1917.[29]
What resulted from the 1857 and 1863 acts was a stratified system where school types were grouped into three "layers" intended for different socioeconomic classes and designed around different educational philosophies. Lower education (primary schools, mulo and vocational schools) was designed to prepare children from working class or lower middle class backgrounds for a specific vocation. "Middle" education (mms, hbs and polytechnics) was intended to equip children from middle class backgrounds with general knowledge about modern society with which they could occupy leading positions in areas such as commerce and technology. Finally, higher education (gymnasium and university) was intended for the classical and intellectual education of children from upper middle and upper class backgrounds. This distinction between middle and higher education based on the type of education rather than the students' age would gradually alter in the twentieth century. From 1917 onward, an hbs diploma would grant access to a number of courses at universities, while the lyceum, combining hbs and gymnasium, became an increasingly common type of school.[30]
The introduction of the so-called Kinderwetje (literally "little children's act") by legislator Samuel van Houten in 1874 forbade child labour under the age of 12. An amendment in 1900 led to compulsory education for children aged 6 to 12 in 1901.[31] The introduction of compulsory education, in combination with the increasing complexity of the economy, led to a significant increase in children attending secondary education, especially from the 1920s onward.[30]
Thus, by the 1960s, a range of school types existed:
The different forms of secondary education were streamlined in the Wet op het voortgezet onderwijs (literally "law on secondary education") in 1963 at the initiative of legislator Jo Cals. The law is more widely known as the Mammoetwet (literally, "mammoth act"), a name it got when ARP member of parliament Anton Bernard Roosjen was reported to have said "Let that mammoth remain in fairyland" because he considered the reforms too extensive.[32] The law was enforced in 1968. It introduced four streams of secondary education, depending on the capabilities of the students (lts/vbo, mavo, havo and vwo) and expanded compulsory education to 9 years. In 1975 this was changed to 10 years.
The law created a system of secondary education on which the current secondary school is based albeit with significant adaptations. Reforms in the late 1990s aimed at introducing information management skills, increasing the pupils' autonomy and personal responsibility, and promoting integration between different subjects. Lts/vbo and mavo were fused into vmbo, while the structure of havo and vwo were changed by the introduction of a three-year basisvorming (primary secondary education; literally, "basic forming"), followed by the tweede fase (upper secondary education; literally, second phase"). The basisvorming standardized subjects for the first three years of secondary education and introduced two new compulsory subjects (technical skills and care skills), while the tweede fase allowed for differentiation through profiles.
The influx and emancipation of workers from Islamic countries led to the introduction of Islamic schools. In 2003, in total 35 Islamic schools were in operation.[33]
By 2004, the municipalities of the Netherlands were obliged to activate a regional care structure for individual students dealing with health and social problems. Each school was obliged to activate a care team at least composed by a physician/nurse, a school social worker and the school care coordinator. In the context of the schoolBeat project, each primary and secondary school of the Maastricht region designated a professional advisor who was employed by a drug prevention, welfare or mental health organization closely linked to the regional public health institute.[34]
Terms and school holidays[edit]
In general, all schools in the Netherlands observe a summer holiday, and several weeks of one or two-week holidays during the year. Also schools are closed during public holidays. Academic terms only exist at the tertiary education level. Institutions are free to divide their year, but it is most commonly organized into four quadmesters.
The summer holiday lasts six weeks in elementary school, and starts and ends in different weeks for the northern, middle and southern regions of the country to prevent the national population from all going on vacation simultaneously. For the six-week summer holidays of all high schools, the same system applies. Universities have longer holidays (about two months, but this may include re-examinations) and usually start the year in late August or early September. The summer holiday is followed by a one-week autumn holiday in the second half of October at all levels except for most research universities. At elementary and high school levels, the week depends on the north/middle/south division also used around the summer holidays. There is a two-week Christmas holiday that includes New Year's in the second half of December, and a one-week spring holiday in the second half of February (around Carnival). The last school holiday of the year is a one- or two-week May holiday around 27 April (Kings Day); sometimes including Ascension Day. Easter does not have a week of holiday, schools are only closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday. The summer holiday dates are compulsory, the other dates are government recommendations and can be changed by each school, as long as the right number of weeks is observed.
Criticism[edit]
The Dutch educational system divides children in educational levels around the age of 12.[35] In the last year of primary school, a test, most commonly the "Cito Eindtoets Basisonderwijs", is taken to help choose the appropriate level of secondary education/school type. Although the ensuing recommendation is not binding, it does have great influence on the decision making process. Unless caretakers identify the need,[36] in most cases an IQ test is not given to a child, which may result in some children who for various secondary reasons do not function well at school, but who do have the academic ability to learn at the higher levels, mistakenly being sent to the lower levels of education.[37] Within a few years these children can fall far behind in development compared to their peers who were sent to the higher levels.
It is possible for students to move up (or down) from one level to another level. If there is doubt early on about the level chosen, an orientation year may be offered. However, moving up a level later on may require a lot of extra effort, motivation and time resulting in some students not reaching their full potential.
Research has shown that 30% of gifted children[38] are (mistakenly) advised to attend the VMBO, the lower level to which 60% of twelve-year-olds are initially sent. In this particular group of children there is a higher than normal percentage of drop-outs (leaving school without any diploma) or resorting to buying a degree online.[39]
Although IQ testing may aid to reduce mistakes in choosing levels, research has also shown that IQ is not fixed at the age of 12[40] and may still improve with exposure to the proper educational stimuli, which the current Dutch system by design (early separation into levels) may fail to provide.
Another area of concern is that although parents have the right to have their voice heard in the school's decision making process, not all parents make use of this right equally, resulting in unequal opportunities for children.[41]
A recent study by the University of Groningen has also shown strong correlation between lower parental income and advice given to students to follow lower education
https://kansenkaart.nl/maps/schooladvieslager
https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/is-kansenongelijkheid-in-het-onderwijs-dan-toch-geen-typisch-stadsprobleem~be1c4135/
The Programme for International Student Assessment has found that the Netherlands' educational standing compared to other nations has been declining since 2006, and is now only slightly above average.[42] School inspectors are warning that reading standards among primary school children are lower than 20 years ago, and the Netherlands has now dropped down the international rankings. A similar trend is seen in arithmetic, maths and science.[43]