Sitter problem surprised AOb did not
Regulate by law which basic facilities for support must be provided by schools. That proposal makes AObchairman Liesbeth Verheggen in a letter sent to the House of Representatives today.
Yesterday Marc Dullaert, former Ombudsman for Children, said de Volkskrant that thousands of children are still unnecessarily at home because schools and municipalities cannot find suitable educational places. Dullaert has studied the home sitting problem in recent years. In the Netherlands there are about ten thousand students who are at home. Municipalities, schools and ministries signed the Thuiszitterspact to combat this problem. In some municipalities, the number of home-sitters has been halved, according to Dullaert, but in other municipalities things are less successful.
When the Appropriate Education Act was introduced in 2014, the AOb already before establishing the required basic support at each school. We are convinced that this will provide more clarity for students, parents and teaching staff AObchairman Verheggen. "The discussion is no longer about whether extra support can be offered, but how."
Clarity
Setting up basic support also provides insight: it then becomes clear how many students need extra support. In the letter to the House, Verheggen points out that with the Thuiszitterspact the educational staff has been sidelined because it is an agreement of educational employers, the ministry and municipalities. According to Verheggen, the Ministry of Education has a 'rich tradition' in skipping teaching staff, while the agreements do have a lot of influence on daily practice.
