There are so many children of expats and 'knowledge migrants' attending Dutch schools in Amstelveen that 'soon there will be hardly any Dutch-speaking children in the class', the Parool reported on Monday. The paper says in 2008, 500 newcomers moved to the Amsterdam metropolitan region, but this has now soared to 13,000 a year. And the popularity of Amstelveen as a place to live means that local schools are being overwhelmed with expat children. Today's expats, the paper states, do not earn enough to send their children to expensive private schools, and that means relying on the state system. The paper quoted Frans Cornet, head of the Amstelwijs school group in Amstelveen who told online magazine Naar School: 'We are doing our best to absorb these children but we don't have the resources... but we need to have a teaching assistant to help the children, who often don't speak Dutch and sometimes not even English.' Money Although the city council has made money available to give the children of newcomers a year's intensive language lessons, this is not enough to meet demand, so children from India, Japan and the US are being put in regular classes, the Parool said. Amstelveen council is now holding meetings with local schools every two months to try to solve the problems. There are also plans to set up a state-funded international school in Amstelveen in 2019. Research by the International Community Advisory Panel last year found that over seven in 10 expats moving to the Amsterdam area get no help with paying for their children to attend international schools, where the fees are upwards of €15,000 a year. Quality Around half the parents in the ICAP survey send their children to Dutch schools and seven in 10 parents are happy or very happy with the quality of their children’s education. Dutch government policy currently focuses on investing in creating additional international school places in Amsterdam and The Hague but moves are also being made to make Dutch schools more ‘international’ as well. ‘While the decision-makers at multinationals will benefit from spending on international schools, we also believe there are enormous gains to be made if the government invested properly in helping the children of new arrivals integrate into the Dutch school system,’ said Deborah Valentine, director of voluntary organisation ACCESS and a member of the ICAP board. Frans Cornet declined to comment to DutchNews.nl. Update, April 20: A spokeswoman for Amstelveen city council told DutchNews.nl officials were very surprised by the Parool story. There are no classes with just one or two native Dutch children, she said, and although Amstelveen has a relatively large proportion of international children, officials are working hard to find a solution. The council has now doubled the number of special classes for newcomers from three to six and teachers are being given extra help to deal with non-Dutch speaking children and cultural differences.  More >

The quality of Dutch primary and secondary schools has been declining steadily for 20 years, school inspectors warn in a new report on the state of the educational system. 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, the inspectors say. While there are clear differences in results at schools with a high proportion of ethnic minority children and those with predominantly native Dutch pupils, there are also sharp differences between schools with a similar pupil make-up, the inspectors say. And at the same time, inequality of opportunity is rising as the gap between schools in rich and poorer areas increases and social and economic segregation intensifies. In particular, parents who themselves went to university are steering their children into schools where the children have similar backgrounds and which offer a particular type of education, or into private schools. Ethnic segregation, the report says, is declining overall but is also being stimulated by the rise in small religious schools. This means the educational system in the Netherlands is strongly segregated when compared to other countries. The Netherlands, the report states, is home to 'bubbles of like-mindedness', where children are stuck and which have negative effects on the educational opportunities of children with parents who are not college or university educated. Pressures National and local government, the inspectors say, should make it far clearer what they expect schools to do, because of the pressures they are facing. 'Every pupil should be given the best possible basis for their future,' the inspectors say. Positive developments highlighted by the inspectorate include improvements in the way pupils are streamed according to ability at the age of 12. More children are also being given the option of two types of secondary school and it has become easier for pupils to progress from vocational schools to colleges and universities. Education ministers Arie Slob and Ingrid van Engelshoven said in a response to the report that they are concerned about the quality differences between schools. A spokesman for the AOB teaching union said the shortage of teachers is having an impact on standards. 'The shortage is worsening and that, as the inspectors say, is increasing pressure on staff,' a spokesman said. 'The increase in pressure is then impacting on the quality of education.'  More >

Many primary school children in the Netherlands are not cycling enough and this is turning them into clumsy, unsafe cyclists, road safety experts said on Thursday. Traffic safety organisation Veilig Verkeer Nederland (VVN) says many parents prefer to take their children to school or after-school clubs by car, leaving their bikes at home. ‘School runs are always busy, with lots of cars. Parents think this makes it too dangerous to go by bike. It’s understandable but at the same time it’s creating a vicious circle. The more people come by car, the more dangerous the situation around the school,’ VVN spokesperson José De Jong told broadcaster NOS. De Jong says teachers notice the consequences of the children’s lack of experience  on bike trips when children get their handle bars tangled up or brake too abruptly causing others to bump into them. Insight ‘Cycling gives you an insight into how traffic works but for this insight to develop you have to start children early, before the age of 12. Otherwise they won’t have it when they start secondary school,’ NOS quotes De Jong as saying. VVN does not have concrete figures about the size of the problem but is investigating why more parents are taking the car. The organisation also wants to encourage schools to teach actual cycling skills in the playground in addition to the traffic rule lessons and cycling exams it already organises.  Some 200,000 children in their last two years of primary school will take the theoretical cycling test on Thursday. Some 90% of primary schools are involved in the theoretical tests but only 80% carry out the practical exams and that, says VVN, is too few.  More >

A sect similar to Scientology is infiltrating the Dutch school system and may run as many as six private schools in the Netherlands, according to research by the NRC and current affairs show De Monitor. They claim several so-called ‘democratic schools’, including the Guus Kieft School in Amstelveen, are run om Avatar principles. The schools are privately funded and often take in pupils who, for one reason or another, fail to thrive in the regular school system. Avatar is similar to Scientology, which has been accused of brainwashing and manipulation. Invented in the USA by former Scientology member Harry Palmer, the members of the sect adhere to a mixture of Scientology, Hinduism and New Age, and believe the earth was colonised by aliens. However, the NRC writes, Avatar also advocates such controversial techniques as exorcism to cure cancer and ADHD. De Monitor said the management board of the oldest and largest Dutch democratic school, De Ruimte in Soest, includes six Avatars and parents are encouraged to do Avatar training courses. ‘Our experience is that Avatar brainwashing is very evident there,’ one mother who took her children out of the school is quoted as saying. The school has denied the accusation. Wizards Earlier this month the NRC revealed that three local councillors, who have the status of Wizard in the organisation have been promoting Avatar by sending civil servants on Avatar courses. According to the paper there are some 1,600 Avatar trainers in the Netherlands. The local council footed the bill which may be as high as €15,000, the paper said. Sektesignaal, an organisation set up by the justice ministry to monitor sectarian activity, has asked the education minister to look into the matter. The De Monitor report will be broadcast on Tuesday evening.  More >