Flexible schools continue during the summer holidays
Ten primary schools were allowed to deviate from the standard school holidays in recent years. The inspectorate was negative, education minister Arie Slob pulled the plug from the experiment, the House of Representatives intervened and the schools are now allowed to continue with it. "It's not about those holidays - it's about tailor-made education."
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It's August and everyone in education is on vacation. Well, almost everyone. Because pupils and teachers of primary schools participating in the 'Flexible teaching times' experiment sometimes continue as usual during the long holidays. They will take a holiday later this year, or did so earlier.
Ten primary schools were allowed to deviate from the statutory school holidays in recent years. According to the Education Inspectorate, which evaluated the experiment, this flexibilisation of school hours turned out to be at the expense of the quality of education. That is why Minister Slob decided the experiment last spring not to continue.
The schools participating in the trial objected that the quality of education had not declined at all schools involved. The quality had decreased in particular in schools that did not adapt their education. And that adaptation is crucial: if children can fly in and out all year round, each child should in fact receive an individual learning pathway.
Roll on
De House of Representatives agrees with the schools, and VVD, CDA and D66 asked the minister to continue to make it possible to make school times more flexible, at least for schools that have their educational quality in order. The minister is doing this now: the current schools may - provided their education is good - continue in a subsequent experiment.
School director Tessa Wessels: 'Fixed school holidays are a remnant from another time: that no longer fits the education of the 21st century'
“Very good news”, says Tessa Wessels, director of the Casaschool in Pijnacker, an experimental school that offers a bilingual all day, all year education concept offers. “Children learn all year round, everywhere. The regular school holidays are a relic of another time: that no longer fits with the education of the 21st century. ”
Fun
Wessels emphasizes that flexible education is ideally suited to match the educational needs of each student with individual learning pathways. “I get annoyed when journalists ask our students again how nice it is to go on holiday outside of the fixed periods. It's not about those holidays: it's about offering tailor-made education. ”
Schools that did not participate in the experiment but still want to start with flexible teaching times can join the 'Space for management' programme. This program gives schools more autonomy to shape their education. However, it will certainly take until this fall – and perhaps longer – before this is formally arranged.
Fifty
And that's bad news for 'A new school': a - indeed - new school that was to start in Berg en Dal and which would be open fifty weeks a year.
The basic idea of the new school is that every child receives exactly the education he or she needs. “If you believe that every child has the right to equal opportunities in education, that every child has the right to appropriate education, then flexibility is part of that,” says initiator Michelle Veugelers.
If you believe that every child has the right to equal opportunities in education, that every child has the right to appropriate education, then flexibility is part of that
Her great example is De School in Zandvoort, which did participate in the experiment with flexible teaching times. “There is enormous peace there, because students organize their teaching time themselves. I saw a girl there with cystic fibrosis who has to rest between noon and two in the afternoon. That is just possible there - and because of her individual learning path she misses nothing. ”
Fought
Veugelers hoped to join the experiment for flexible teaching times with her own new school, but she now has to wait to see if she can participate in the 'Room for direction' programme. “We fought for four years for the start of this school. We have students and parents, we have teachers, we have a building and we were going to start. But that is not happening now.”
Promising
Nevertheless, Veugelers finds the situation 'hopeful' at the moment. "The door is slightly open." Although in her case she is also waiting for permission to be allowed to merge money flows for childcare and education - one of the pillars of her plan. “But I hope that we can still start in the near future. Because with flexible teaching times you can really offer children equal opportunities as a school. That's what it's about, not those holidays outside the high season. ”
