Parents as “customers” fuelling school disputes, council says

Parents are falling out with schools and turning to dispute committees to settle grievances, according to the the government’s independent education council. This is happening partly because parents are being turned into “customers” of the education system, where they can publicly compare and select schools.

The council was asked to look into the problem by the former education minister and sent its findings on Thursday.

Tension between parents and schools is usually blamed on social media, polarisation and a more individualistic society, it said, but that explanation leaves out the part played by law and policy in setting the two sides against each other.

Policy changes, such as the 2014 passend onderwijs reform, which leaves parents and schools to agree between themselves when a child qualifies for additional support, have raised tensions. Previously, an outside committee would make these decisions.

Websites allowing parents to compare schools on performance data, such as exam pass rates and the share of pupils recommended for pre-university education, have also created a customer and provider dynamic, the report said.

Disputes taken to the national dispute committees for schools rose steadily until 2024, with a slight dip last year. The number of secondary teachers who say dealing with parents is giving them stress is rising, and in primary schools a third of all teachers say the same.

The council’s two main recommendations are that ministers should consider what a policy will do to the relationship between parents and schools before introducing it, and that parents should be given more say collectively rather than only as individuals with a complaint.