Regional differences split appropriate education

Tekst arno kersten - redactie onderwijsblad - 9 maart 2023 - 10 Minuten om te lezen

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“All groups are full, we even have a waiting list,” says Martine Dirkse, teacher at Olivine, a school for special education in Almere. Last summer, she made the transition from a regular primary school to this cluster 3 school: pupils with a mental or physical disability and pupils with very difficult learning difficulties. Together with a teaching assistant, she is in a group of ten.

“I was ready for a new challenge and I got it,” she laughs. The support needs of the students are complex and behavioral problems have increased, but the shortage of staff is also taking its toll. “Something has to be moved almost every day. Yesterday I had two more children, so that is a really tough day.”

In the elevator

In Almere and the surrounding area, the number of pupils in special education has grown. It is a national development that has already taken shape in recent years. After an initial decline following the introduction of appropriate education in 2014, special education (so) and secondary special education (vso) are once again on the rise. This trend is continuing in the current school year, according to provisional student figures published by the executive organization duo*. A small tour of partnerships confirms this picture.

Source: DUO, counting date 1 October

* 2022 provisional figures

Teachers talk about increased pressure on both special and regular education. Dirkse can talk about it. Before she switched to SO, she worked for years at a primary school in Nijkerk. “Large groups of about 32 students, three or four of whom have additional educational needs. You want to serve them all, but that is not really possible.”

Hans Keijzers, teacher at De Vlieger, a school for special primary education (sbo) in Leiden: “I see remarkably often students who come to us after a few weeks and make huge progress again. Then I think: that was already there, only they did not get the attention they needed at primary school.”

You always have a number of students that you really need to sit down with. Teachers just don't have that time

It is not a reproach to primary schools, emphasizes Keijzers, an old hand with thirty years of experience in the classroom. “If you have three levels in a group of 25 to 30 students, that is almost impossible. You always have a number of students that you really need to sit down with. Teachers just don't have that time.”

Keijzers signals more “multi-problems”. In addition to socio-economic problems in the home situation, such as poverty and crime, there are more behavioral problems. “We see many students who get stuck on behavior,” says Evelien de Klein, a teacher at the Meentschool, an institution for SO and VSO in Winschoten. “These behavioral problems are partly due to the fact that students have to keep trying for too long in regular education. If you keep running into the fact that you can't do something and the rest of the class has already moved on, it's incredibly frustrating.”

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Tax

Behind the national picture lie large regional differences. It Education magazine analyzed the student numbers on 1 October 2021 of all 151 partnerships in primary and secondary education. The participation percentages in SO varied from 0,59 to 3,57 last school year. Regions with few SO students often have proportionally more students in SBO. But if you add up the SO and SBO participations together, the percentages still vary from 2 to 7. In other words: in one region 1 in 50 pupils attend a special education facility, in another 1 in 14.

“Of course we really want to know: what makes the referral percentages here so terribly high? That is why we are having it investigated”, says Yony Smulders, director of the Central Limburg partnership in Heythuysen. The schools for special education in her region are fully taxed. “Yes, no more students can join.”

Of course we really want to know: what makes the referral percentages here so incredibly high?

It is well known but still striking that Limburg is overrepresented at the top. Regions around Kerkrade, Geleen and Maastricht also have relatively many pupils in special education settings. The province, with its history of Catholic institutions, has traditionally had a tradition in this regard. “Parents are also used to it, so they feel much less of a barrier than elsewhere,” says Smulders. “But of course that should not be a reason for those high referral percentages. We want to move towards more inclusive education and offer more students a suitable place in regular schools with support.”

Contrast

It makes a lot of difference to a student where he goes to school. The contrast is great with the Gorinchem region, just under an hour and a half's drive away. This region has one of the lowest percentages of pupils in special education. “And we also have virtually no students who are at home,” says director Henric Bezemer of the partnership for primary education Driegang. “Here, schools have been working on more inclusive education for twenty years, long before it was a national theme.”

It starts with, says Bezemer, that teachers want it and welcome every student. In addition, the educational institutions together, through the partnership, invest a lot of energy and capacity in extra support by teaching assistants and ambulant supervisors at regular schools. And although percentages are not an end in themselves according to Bezemer, he firmly believes in the positive effects of more inclusive education. “It means quite a lot to a student if he has to go to school by bus. Some of the students lose social contacts in the neighborhood where they live.”

I think that there are many pupils in regular schools who are referred to special education in other regions

Participation percentages also vary considerably in VSO, from 1,2 to 5,9. Despite a recent increase, the Groningen City secondary education partnership has relatively few VSO students. “I think there are many pupils in regular schools who are referred to special education in other regions. That is a compliment to our schools, which have traditionally been used to a lot of tailor-made solutions,” says director Jan Houwing.

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“It is important that there is a suitable place for every student to develop,” says Renate Schenk, director of the North and Central Drenthe partnership in Assen. “Parents often hesitate to let their child make the switch, but afterwards they say: we should have done that earlier, our child has blossomed again.” Less visible factors can also contribute to a growth in special education: more former home sitters or students with an exemption statement who know how to find the class, or students who used to be in residential, closed places.

In the Voorne-Putten-Rozenburg region, a sudden growth in VSO schools is partly due to a large cohort of SO students who have moved on, says director Dennis Gerits. Some of the students also stayed longer in VSO. As in Assen, the vso participation percentage is now just above the national average. The growth is worrying, because schools are at their capacity. It also comes with a price tag. “The financial consequences are huge, things are suddenly going very fast. There is therefore less left for support at regular schools.”

Invade

Regular and special education are communicating vessels. Simply put: with few students in special education, you have more money left over for support at regular schools. “The advantage of the head start”, Bezemer calls it. “Everything is paid for from the same pot.”

These 'head start' regions with a low share of special education have also received extra money since 2014, at the expense of other regions. Money that they could also invest in more support for regular education. With the introduction of appropriate education, national politicians decided to distribute the support money evenly across the country. There would be no valid reasons for such large differences. Something that met with fierce criticism here and there, such as in the Eindhoven tech region.

With the introduction of appropriate education, national politicians decided to distribute the support money evenly across the country

As a result of this so-called 'equalization', regions with a relatively large number of special education pupils, such as those in Limburg, saw their support budget gradually shrink. And partnerships with few SO and VSO students, such as those in Gorinchem and Groningen city, received additional funding. The assumption was that with this financial incentive the regions would gradually grow closer together.

That did not happen, according to a comparison that it Education magazine made on the basis of the SO student percentages in 2014 and 2021. The regional differences have actually increased since the introduction of appropriate education: the extremes have grown further apart.

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Basic support

National agreements on basic support have so far been lacking. Despite years of calls from the AOb and part of the House of Representatives did not want the cabinet to do that for a long time. That would go against the autonomy of school boards. The minimum support that can be expected from schools was allowed to be determined by the regions. Ultimately, after persistent criticism, the previous education minister Arie Slob promised that standard with his large-scale repair package for appropriate education at the end of 2020. Remarkable: the ministry outsourced the job to consultancy firm BMC, which has focused on appropriate education. After more than two years, the standard would finally go to the House of Representatives last February; it was not there yet at the time of writing this article.

"I've been waiting for this for a while," says director-manager Smulders of the Central Limburg partnership. Even though she has her own 'support profile' for primary schools, she still hopes that national agreements will give her region a boost. “I expect this will set something in motion.”

You want to be able to rely on a system that is the same for everyone, that is why we are a public sector

“It shouldn't matter which region you grow up in, which partnership you happen to fall under. As a school and as a student you should not be at the mercy of arbitrariness. You want to be able to rely on a system that is the same for everyone, that is why we are a public sector,” responds AObdirector Thijs Roovers. “Teachers have been asking for clarity for years: when can we call in which help? This exacerbates the already high workload among the staff. Make clear, national agreements so that parents, teachers, partnerships, but especially students know much faster where they stand."

Meanwhile, the road to inclusive education across the country seems longer than ever. “I do understand that people are in favor of inclusive education: the idea that all students go to school close to home. But it's a utopia. Some students will always be better off in SBO or special education. Even if that means they have to come by van,” says sbo teacher Keijzers. “Every measure that is devised to keep more students in regular education leads to growth,” says SO and VSO teacher De Klein in Winschoten. “We have never been as big as now.”

*In this story, special education refers to clusters 3 and 4. Clusters 1 (pupils with a visual impairment) and 2 (pupils with a hearing impairment) are organized nationally and fall outside the regional partnerships.

Every year the Education magazine maps out the piggy banks of partnerships. Check the financial reserves: How rich is my partnership.