Civic integration policy is being overhauled
Municipalities will again have more to say about the language courses that newcomers follow and the language requirement will increase from final level of primary school to mbo level.
Picture: Type tank
The way in which the integration courses are given and the way in which the language level is tested will be reviewed. This is evident from the coalition agreement that VVD, CDA, D66 and CU concluded at the beginning of October. 'Public broadcasting can play a role in this,' says the agreement. But the coalition partners do not say a word about the legal position of teachers of Dutch as a Second Language (NT2) who have to take integration to a higher level.
De AOb objects to the fact that the language requirement will be increased from A2 to B1. Marianne Bauman, of the NT2 Committee, thinks it is a good thing that the language requirement is increased. “Now almost all newcomers are stuck at A2 level (final level of primary school) and you can't really do anything with that. If you want to follow a course, you need at least B1 level (MBO level). ”
Now almost all newcomers get stuck at the final level of primary school and you can't really do anything with that
Raising the level requires a significant improvement in quality, because now only one in three newcomers passes the A2 exam in the three preceding years. The market forces that were introduced in 2013 have ensured that hardly any quality requirements are set for the more than two hundred commercial providers who are active in the integration market. 'There needs to be more control over that', says the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG).
The NT2 Committee points out that market forces also have disastrous consequences for job security for integration teachers. They work on temporary contracts, with a zero-hour contract, as a self-employed person or as a payroller and are forced to roam from one language agency to another. The lack of continuity contributes to the poor results in integration, argues the committee of NT2 teachers. In September, teachers presented a petition to the House of Representatives in which 699 signatories asked for permanent contracts and decent pay.
The only bright spot in the coalition agreement is that the Work and Security Act will be amended so that temporary employees can remain employed for three years before they have to be permanently appointed, Bauman believes. “We can therefore continue to work at the same language agency for three years instead of two years. But that does not necessarily improve the legal position of NT2 teachers. ”
