Primary school Vlaardingen is committed to flexible holidays
At primary school Van Kampen in Vlaardingen, parents can continue to take three weeks of holiday off per year. Education minister Arie Slob said he did not want to make school hours more flexible nationally, but with the three free weeks, the primary school remains within the framework of the law.
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In recent years, a number of primary schools have been given the opportunity to deviate from the standard school holidays. Twelve schools took advantage of this.
However, according to the Education Inspectorate, the flexibilisation turned out to be at the expense of the quality of education. Therefore Slob concluded not to make teaching times more flexible nationally, and schools from the experiment must once again comply with the law.
Summer vacation
Primary school Van Kampen did not participate in the experiment, but does offer parents the opportunity to take three weeks off per year. “We adhere to the holidays that are set by law, such as the Christmas holidays and the summer holidays,” says director Misja van Herp. “That leaves three holiday weeks – such as the autumn break – that parents can use flexibly.”
Once a year, the parents inform the school which weeks their children take off. “About 85 percent of parents stick to the traditional holiday times,” says Van Herp. "The rest opt for flexibility."
Flexibilization is never an end in itself, but arises from a change in your education
The flexibility at Van Herp's school is possible because the school has changed education. “We have switched from traditional teaching methods to personalized learning pathways and working with learning objectives,” says Van Herp. “That's the only way students can just miss a week in between. With a traditional teaching method you immediately fall behind. "
Bycatch
Incidentally, Van Herp regards the flexibilisation as 'by-catch'. “It is never an end in itself, but is the result of the change in your education. If you only want to be flexible to accommodate parents and you don't change education, it has no chance of success. ”
Hans van der Most, director of the Apeldoorn Sterrenschool, who did participate in the experiment, also emphasized yesterday on this site that flexibility is not an end in itself. Because his school can now offer excellent tailor-made education thanks to individual learning pathways. “And there is a need for that. We really do not all have students at home who get a gymnasium advice with two fingers in their nose. ”
Experiment
“The results at the Sterrenschool Apeldoorn were very good”, adds colleague Van Herp from Vlaardingen. According to him, the experiment with flexible school hours is actually not well designed. “There were very small schools, and schools that did not adapt their education. That is the main reason that the results in some schools were disappointing. ”
