In the Netherlands, the different levels for Dutch are the six levels from the Common European Framework Reference (CEFR). The levels are:
A1 and A2: basic user
B1 and B2: independent user
C1 and C2: proficient user
For a more detailed description of every level, please look at www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/table-1-cefr-3.3-common-reference-levels-global-scale
Because of the stage of their brain development, children usually find it easier to learn a new language than adults. However, there is a misconception that children will effortlessly pick up a new language. Developing the linguistic skills of their parent’s mother tongue and simultaneously learning a new language, such as Dutch, requires the conscious effort, reinforcement, and support of the parents, teachers, and family members.
There are several ways to enable your children to learn Dutch:
If you want your child to attend a Dutch school, some of them offer special courses for newly-arrived foreign children who speak very little or no Dutch. Find more information about opvangscholen (reception schools) in the Education FAQs section.
Most of the international schools in the Netherlands now have learning Dutch as part of their course curriculum. As there is often a wide spectrum of abilities in speaking Dutch in these schools, the approach that is sometimes taken is to arrange classes for the children by proficiency rather than age, or for older children by their ability level within a year grouping.
For EU/EEA or Switzerland and non-EU citizens
When you first arrived in the Netherlands, you were obliged to register with the Basisregistratie Personen (BRP) ( municipality’s personal records database) of your city or town of residence. Similarly, when you leave the Netherlands, you must deregister. This is important as the gemeente (municipality) will need to remove your personal details at the same location. The municipality will also be obliged to inform other government authorities of your departure.
The first step is to report your intended departure to the stadhuis (town hall). You are advised to check with your municipality about the required notice period for notifying them that you intend to leave the country. The notice period may vary from one municipality to another.
The deregistration process may vary slightly from one municipality to another. Some municipalities may ask you to complete a form notifying them of your imminent departure prior to visiting the town hall.
If all family members are leaving the country, you may have the option to inform the hall town in writing. For the Den Haag municipality, a letter can be sent which contains the following information:
Once you have deregistered from the BRP as a resident, your personal data will move to the non-residents part of the BRP, the Non-residents Records Database (RNI). This is for people who do not live in the Netherlands anymore, or who live in the Netherlands for less than 4 months. You can ask for a proof that you deregistered. You can apply for this proof from one of the following RNI-municipalities with a Non-residents Records Database:
• Alkmaar
• Almelo
• Amsterdam
• Breda
• Doetinchem
• Eindhoven
• Goes
• Groningen
• The Hague
• Heerlen
• Leeuwarden
• Leiden
• Nijmegen
• Rotterdam
• Terneuzen
• Utrecht
• Venlo
• Westland
• Zwolle
The international extract is available in Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Turkish, French, German and English.
If you have a Dutch residence permit and are leaving the country on a permanent basis, then you must return your residence permit as follows:
Note that the residence permit is state property and thus it is your personal responsibility to ensure that it is returned as part of the deregistration process. Find the address of return and more information about this matter here.
It is advised that when returning your residence permit by post, you send it with a short accompanying letter and make a copy of both the front and back of the card for your future reference.
When you deregister with the municipality they will notify all the other governmental institutions like the UWV, SVB, kinderbijslag, etc.
For commercial services such as utilities, you will need to notify them. If you cancel your parking permit before the end of its validity period, you could be eligible to claim some money back, for this you need to cancel the parking yourself. Keep in mind it can take up to six weeks before you get your money back, so you may need to keep a bank account open for this period.
Diplomats, consular officials and employees of an international organisation
At the start of your assignment, you will have been registered with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken – BZ). Similarly, on departure you must deregister with the Protocol Department. When the posting of a privileged person comes to an end, the employer (embassy or international organisation) should send a ‘note verbale’ to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, informing them that the posting of the person and/or of members of his family has come to an end. The ‘note verbale’ also informs the Ministry of Foreign Affair whether or not the person(s) is(are) departing from the Netherlands. The BZ ID card(s) should also be returned with the ‘note verbale’.
The DigiD is linked to the government database; therefore they should get a notification from the municipality about your deregistration. However, you will still be in the records database because this is a unique login connected to your social security number in the Netherlands. The DigiD will expire after three years if it has not been used. If you choose to come back to the Netherlands after that time, you will need to reactivate it.
In order to claim back employment tax after leaving the Netherlands, you will need to keep your DigiD activated. Take into account that you cannot activate a new DigiD account from abroad unless you are a Dutch citizen or the nationality of an EEA country (EU plus Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland).
Some programme/diploma/exam options are international in nature. Others are more closely aligned to a particular country. In certain instances, students may opt for two diplomas (the school’s diploma and an external diploma). Many options may qualify students to pursue tertiary education in the Netherlands or abroad (The IB diplomas – IBDP and IBCP – are globally recognised as providing the student with a well-balanced pre-university education). At the age of 16, students can be admitted onto the following options:
In general, most international schools teach in English, but there are also schools that teach children in their native language, e.g. the German, French, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean schools.
During the final year of primary school, Dutch children take a mandatory test. The aim of this test is to assess the extent to which a child has progressed in his or her proficiency of the Dutch language and in mathematics. The results of the test, together with the teacher’s assessment over the preceding years, will determine which type of secondary education would be most appropriate for the pupil. The secondary and higher education options are:
VMBO (preparatory secondary vocational education)
The VMBO (voorbereidend middelbaar beroepsonderwijs) prepares its students for a more vocationally based secondary education at a MBO (middelbaar beroepsonderwijs) senior school or, in some cases, a more general secondary education at a HAVO (hoger algemeen voortgezet onderwijs) senior school. A pupil will spend four years in VMBO education and whilst in their second year choose their preferred vocational direction. At the MBO they will be taught subjects that will prepare them for various occupations ranging from shop manager to mechanic or nursing assistant.
Pupils who successfully complete the theoretical, combined or middle-management vocational programme at the VMBO level can enrol in professional and middle-management training. Holders of a middle-management MBO certificate may go on to study at the HBO level (higher professional education).
HAVO (senior general secondary education)
A HAVO (hoger algemeen voortgezet onderwijs) education takes five years and prepares students for a professional education (hoger beroepsonderwijs – HBO).
VWO (pre-university education)
A VWO (voorbereidend wetenschappelijk onderwijs) education takes six years and prepares students for a research university education . In the first two years, students follow a common curriculum. All students at a VWO school must study three languages (French, German and English), in addition to Dutch, up to the end of their third year. At the end of the third year, the students choose an academic ‘profile’ package, which includes both compulsory and optional subjects.
Find more information about foreign education systems and international baccalaureate as well as overviews of foreign diplomas in comparison with Dutch diplomas on: www.nuffic.nl.
In the Netherlands, all children aged 5-18 are required to attend school. Hence, ‘home schooling’ is not allowed. There are, however, a few situations in which an exception can be made. If you have objections to the view of life (e.g. religion) of every school in your area, you need to give a declaration to your municipality about this. You can contact your municipality for more information about the content of the declaration.
If your child is physically and/or mentally unable to attend school, you need permission for home schooling from your municipality.
Nederlandse Vereniging voor Thuisonderwijs – NVvTO is the Netherlands home schooling association. It is an organisation of parents (and other adults who function as such) who wish to home school their children whilst in the Netherlands and have done so in the past, or plan to do so in the future. More information regarding this can be found on Thuisonderwijs.nl/english.
The leerplichtambtenaar is an official in charge of checking that the rules regarding leerplichtwet (compulsory educational law) are followed.
According to Dutch law, schools are responsible for monitoring and controlling all absences of their children from school. They are legally required to inform the leerplichtambtenaar (official in charge) when any child misses more than sixteen hours of school over a period of four weeks. The school may also inform the leerplichtambtenaar if a child has been late twelve times for school.
Once the leerplichtambtenaar has received such information from the school, he/she will contact the parents to determine what action may be taken.
Only in a few specific circumstances can schools grant permission for children to miss school during the school year.
Schools may grant permission for a child to be absent from school for events such as weddings, funerals, religious holidays and moving house. For every other absence, it is compulsory for the parent to ask for permission from the head of school in advance.
School attendance records are regularly inspected by a leerplichtambtenaar, who tends to also check for pupil absentees right at the beginning or end of the school term, as they are regarded as very suspicious periods.
There are special needs schools throughout the Netherlands. Regional centres of expertise (regionale expertisecentra, REC) have been set up to cater for children with special needs. If you are unsure of what kind of support is needed for your child, a good place to start is your huisarts (GP). They will be able to provide you with an assessment. Please note that a letter from the GP will be helpful to find the appropriate support. The same applies if you have a child with a diagnostic already settled in a certified institution abroad.
Children who are physically healthy but have learning difficulties or exhibit mild behavioural problems will normally begin their schooling in a mainstream primary school. This is in line with the Dutch national education law that children with special needs (kinderen met rugzakje) must be given a place at a school that suits their abilities and potential, even if they need additional support. Meaning that a child with special needs cannot be refused at a regular school unless there is a severe physical disability, chronic illness or serious behavioural problems. The school will have up to six weeks to evaluate if the child can be admitted. Only in the case that the school cannot provide with the appropriate support, you will then be referred to another regular or special school. You can find further information about this topic at the government’s website (in Dutch only): www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/passend-onderwijs/vraag-en-antwoord/hoe-krijgt-mijn-kind-passend-onderwijs
Special schools are funded by the Dutch government in a similar manner to the mainstream schools. The municipality is given responsibility for providing places at these special schools. There are two types of special schools:
An organisation called MEE can help you find, among other things, an appropriate school for your child. They specialise in supporting people with learning difficulties or physical handicaps. Their website is Mee.nl (in Dutch only). However we have listed below some of the centres and schools that can provide additional support to children with special needs in case you wish to do your own research:
Dedicated Special Education International School in the Hague (ages 2½-13)
International schools with special education department
Amsterdam area
Rotterdam
Support groups and expert centres
You can find further information about this topic on this article
There is a Dutch website with the list of addresses detailing where you can get additional help for your children. The kindertherapeuten (child therapists) are available all over the Netherlands and you can locate them on the interactive map here (in Dutch only).
ACCESS also has a Counselling Service Network (CSN) which consists of licensed English-speaking professionals with practices all over the Netherlands. Counsellors are men and women who are psychologists, mental health counsellors and social workers from a variety of different cultural backgrounds. All counsellors have a minimum of a Master’s level degree with at least two years supervised work experience. Please visit the ACCESS website for more information.
To get information about additional education in your mother tongue, it is suggested that you contact your embassy. Please visit the website of the Dutch government for a list of embassies and consulates in the Netherlands.
