Education minister Wiersma wants to curb the tutoring industry
Education Minister Dennis Wiersma wants schools to discourage private tutoring, final test and exam training and homework guidance, instead of promoting it as is now regularly done. It will no longer be allowed to advertise private supplementary education through the school. Wiersma: 'Paid additional education leads to inequality of opportunity and should not be necessary.'
Picture: Type tank
Private supplementary education has been growing rapidly in the Netherlands for years. A report from SEO Economic Research from 2019 shows that more than a quarter of students in primary and secondary schools use paid shadow education. The Education Council be a half year ago on the risks and pushed for legislation to better protect public education. Wiersma is now taking the first steps in that direction.
During the letter to the House of Representatives writes the minister that many schools make a good decision about the use of private agencies, but he also knows examples of schools that use their website or open day to advertise extra lessons, homework supervision, or final test or final exam training: 'Situations like this are undesirable.'
Wiersma believes that every student should have access to good education. 'Paid supplementary education, as described above, leads to inequality of opportunity and should not be necessary,' he writes.
Advertising for shadow education in schools 'creates the impression that tutoring or homework assistance is necessary or self-evident'
With this, the minister is implementing, among other things, the motion adopted by SP MP Peter Kwint and GroenLinks MP Lisa Westerveld from 2020 against advertising for shadow education through schools. Wiersma: 'It creates the impression for parents that tutoring or homework assistance is necessary or self-evident. And it also blurs the boundary between private and public offerings in education.'
Wallet
The editors of the Education magazine signaled early this year that the tutoring industry has grown enormously as a result of the 8 billion euros for the National Education Programme. Thijs Roovers, director for the AOb: "How good education you receive as a child increasingly depends on how big your parents' wallets are. We are pleased that the minister has spoken out, but we would even rather see this kind of commercial practice disappear completely. The people who support this private companies are welcome to become teachers or school leaders. We will welcome them with open arms."
Wiersma is going to investigate a quality mark for private supplementary education and wants to make the Certificate of Good Conduct (VOG) mandatory for staff of private education providers. This autumn, the House of Representatives will be informed of the results of discussions between the minister and the school boards in primary and secondary education, the Primary and Secondary Education Councils. Municipalities are also involved in discussions to curb the tutoring industry. In the autumn there should also be more clarity about what legislation and standards could look like.
At the beginning of 2023, Wiersma expects new research into the forms of supplementary education, developments in the market and the relationship between private providers and government-funded schools.
