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Education in the Netherlands

Subsidized education in the Netherlands consists of the following official categories:

• bo (Basis Onderwijs): elementary education
• vo (Voortgezet Onderwijs): secondary education (in order of increasing theoretical advancedness and decreasing emphasis on manual skills: vmbo, havo, vwo)
• bve (Beroepsonderwijs en Volwasseneneducatie): medium level vocational education (mbo Middelbaar Beroeps Onderwijs) and education for adults
• hbo (Hoger Beroeps Onderwijs): higher vocational education
• wo (Wetenschappelijk Onderwijs): university

General

Education is obligatory between age 6 and 16, and partially between 16 and 18. There are public, special and private schools in the Netherlands. The first two are sponsored by the government. Public schools are also governed by a local government. Special schools get the same financial support as public schools, but are governed by a board. These special schools are based on some kind of ideology, such as a religion, but also educational philosophies, e.g. Montessori. In some instances, the board of a special school can refuse a child as a student, but this does not happen very often. For example, on many catholic school's campuses, muslim children can be found, . Refusal only happens when a child's parents indicate they do not respect the school's moral values. Private schools don't receive governmental aid. All school types are inspected by a governmental agency called Onderwijsinspectie (Education Inspection) and can be closed by this agency.

Elementary education

Between 6 and 12 years old, children are obliged to go to the basisschool (elementary school; lit. "basic school"). This school has eight grades, called groep 1 (group 1) through groep 8. There's an obligation to attend school from group 3 at age six, but almost all children start at age four in group 1. Group 1 and 2 used to be called kleuterschool (kindergarten), and many people still refer to both classes as such. From group 3 on, children will start to learn reading and doing maths. When a child has not advanced enough in a year, he/she has to do the whole year again. Government-sponsored elementary education is officially free of charge, but many schools ask a "parental contribution" from parents.

Secondary education

After attending elementary education, children from 12 years old go to the middelbare school (middle school) which has between four and six grades (depending on the type). VMBO is the least theoretical, followed by HAVO and VWO. The first year of secondary education is called brugklas ("bridge class"), where the school determines what type of secondary education should be followed. In practice, the brugklas is often already divided between VMBO-brugklas, HAVO/VWO-brugklas and gymnasium-brugklas (gymnasium is part of the VWO). Some secondary schools offer all three types of education, others are only specialised in one or two types.

• The VMBO (Voorbereidend Middelbaar Beroepsonderwijs, "Preparing Medium level vocational education") has four grades and is attended from age 12 to 16.
• The HAVO (Hoger Algemeen Voortgezet Onderwijs, "Higher general secondary education") has five grades and is attended from age 12 to 17.
• The VWO (Voorbereidend Wetenschappelijk Onderwijs, "Preparing Scientific Education") has six grades and is attended from age 12 to 18. Atheneum refers to the VWO course where neither Latin or Greek is taken; Gymnasium has compulsory Latin and Greek until the third year, after which the student can decide to take either, or both, or quit with the Gymnasium altogether and proceed with Atheneum instead. Not all schools give the classic languages during the 3 first years. In an example, Latin only starts in the 2nd year, while Greek starts only in the third.

History of the Educational System

Compulsory education for children was inplemented in the Netherlands in 1900. The main purpose of the law was to counter child labour. The original law only affected children aged 6 to 12, but in 1969 the law was expanded to 9 years of compulsory education, and in 1975 it became 10 years.

Universities

• • Delft University of Technology (TU Delft, Delft)
  • Erasmus University Rotterdam (Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, Rotterdam)
  • Leiden University (Universiteit Leiden, Leiden)
  • Open University of the Netherlands (Open Universiteit Nederland, Heerlen)
  • Eindhoven University of Technology (Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Eindhoven)
  • Radboud University Nijmegen (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, Nijmegen)
  • Tilburg University (Katholieke Universiteit Brabant, Tilburg)
  • Universiteit Maastricht (Universiteit Maastricht) (Maastricht)
  • Universiteit van Amsterdam (Universiteit van Amsterdam) (Amsterdam)
  • University of Groningen (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Groningen)
  • University of Twente (Universiteit Twente, Enschede)
  • Utrecht University (Universiteit Utrecht, Utrecht)
  • Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Amsterdam)
  • Wageningen University (Wageningen Universiteit, Wageningen)