ACCESS NL > Features > Educational support: Knowing where to turn for help
Educational support: Knowing where to turn for help
2024/06/21 | By Stephanie Baumgarten-Kustner | Photo by Sebastian Pandelache
Even the most seasoned expatriate parent takes a deep breath, crosses their fingers, spits on the ground three times and burns sage when it comes to children who require ‘extra support’ at school.
In the Netherlands, on the one hand, we have private international schools. These schools are entirely funded by the parents or businesses. Examples of private international schools are The British School in the Netherlands, The American School of The Hague, Nord Anglia School Rotterdam, Lycée Français Vincent van Gogh and so forth.
How much and what kind of support -private international schools in the Netherlands offer is based on guidelines by the accreditation body of each given school. For example, the American School of The Hague is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges therefore adheres to the organisation’s guidelines regarding support.
On the other hand, we have subsidised international Dutch schools. These schools, while offering international programmes, are funded by both the Dutch government and parental contributions. Examples here are The International Schools of The Hague or Delft or Haarlem, Elckerlyc International School or the European School of The Hague. These schools’ accreditation is by the Dutch Ministry of Education and often also by the international programmes they follow. This means they must adhere to the codes and guidelines of the Dutch Ministry of Education and whatever international association they belong to.
So, what’s the difference between public and private when it comes to support for children with additional needs?
For our purposes, the difference lies in what a school is required to offer in terms of support according to Dutch law. In August 2013, the Dutch government passed the inclusive education (passend onderwijs) law. All public Dutch schools, international or not, fall under this law. It’s rather long and complicated and I highly recommend reading the actual law for clarity. However, here is a brief summary of the inclusive education law in the Netherlands:
- All children go to a school that suits their needs
- The preference is for children to attend regular schools if they are able to do so
- If kids need extra help at school, schools provide customised support based on the child’s needs as much as they can
- If a child needs more extra help than can be provided within a regular school, there are special schools available
- Regular schools have to help parents with placement in appropriate schools to ensure children can learn according to their needs and not miss out on school for too long.
These rights suggest that it is up to the schools to offer customised individual -support for each child’s needs and if this is not possible to find an appropriate educational placement for the child based on what the child can do, not what the child cannot do. All schools are expected to offer basic support for all of their students. This basic support generally includes common problems children might have at school such as dyslexia. Having said that, it is up to each school to decide what they consider to be basic support.
And here is where things can get kind of fuzzy…
Some schools offer extra assistance to -students within their basic support. For example, a special class for pupils with behavioural disorders or training in social skills such as Rock and Water training (aimed at resilience, (anti-) bullying and dealing with conflict). These schools often work together with external youth care institutions to provide this extra support.
While schools in the Netherlands are expected to offer quite a bit of individual support for students with extra needs, schools always have a support partner to help them. All Dutch schools (including international Dutch schools) fall under a local partnership (samenwerkingsverband)—a sort of umbrella organisation which organises support and help for the schools in the area. This support can be anything from offering expertise for highly gifted children to organising special education schools for children with physical or -mental challenges. These partnerships are also available to the schools in their area for help and advice if a school is having -difficulty meeting a given child’s needs within the school itself. These partnerships are organised by location (The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Maastricht, etc.), and there is a division between primary and secondary. If you are looking for the partnership your child’s school falls under, search ‘samenwerkings-verband’, the name of the school, and ‘PO’ (primary) or ‘VO’ (secondary).
Sometimes children require more than what the school can offer through basic support. In these cases, intensive support (diepteondersteuning) can be offered. This could be placement at a special education school which can better meet the child’s needs. There are a number of different types of special education schools in the Netherlands for children with various -challenges such as serious auditory problems, physical problems, and/or children with behavioural or mental health issues. Placement in special education in the Netherlands is a process which includes cooperation and permission of the parents. Generally, parents, teachers, and a representative of the partnership sit down and look at what the child’s strengths and challenges are, what has already been done by the school to meet these needs and what the child further needs in order to access education and together they come to an agreement.
For international students, this becomes a bit more complicated as currently there is only a single school which can accommodate children requiring intensive support in English in the Netherlands. So, moving to a special education school in the Netherlands almost always means doing this in Dutch.
To help parents pick a school which will meet their child’s needs, Dutch law requires all public schools to create a school support profile (schoolondersteuningsplan or SOP). This profile states what basic and extra support the school can and cannot offer its students. It also states what goals the school has for the future. This is a very helpful document for parents of children with additional needs to see if the school can actually support the needs of their child. If, for example, the school building has multiple levels and there is no elevator in the building, this school would state in their SOP that they cannot support students in wheelchairs. But what if your child is refused admission to school based on his/her extra needs or their problems with supporting your child at school?
The first point of contact is always the school itself and should start with the classroom teacher which parents often forget. If this does not solve the issue, the next step is the team leader or support team and/or school director. If you are unable to reach a solution within the school itself, you can contact the partnership representative the school falls under. Often there are possibilities for support from the partnership which teachers and even school directors are unaware of. This generally involves organising a meeting between parents, teacher and the consultant from the partnership (often referred to as a multidisciplinary consultation or MDO) which can be very helpful in identifying where things are going awry and is very solution focused. Of course, at times parents and schools, even when supported by the local partnership, may still have different ideas about what is necessary for a given child. If parents are unable to find a solution together with the school and the partnership, parents can request the help of an education (care) consultant free of charge. These consultants are active throughout the country. Also remember all schools have both internal and external confidentiality policies and a complaints procedure.
All of these internal and external laws, programmes, contact people and institutions are designed to ensure that all students receive the most optimal education and support at school based on their talents and challenges.
About the author
Stephanie Baumgarten-Kustner studied at the University of Oregon, London University, and the University of Leiden. Establishing her life and professional career in the Netherlands as a fully qualified psychologist, she specialises in working with children and adolescents. She has worked as a school psychologist in both the Dutch special educational system and at Dutch International schools and universities. As a mother of three multilingual/multicultural adult children, Stephanie brings personal insight into the complexities of raising children in diverse linguistic and cultural environments to her private practice Baumgarten Child Psychology.
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