Education
Education provides job opportunities, broad social connectedness, language learning and cultural exchange and participation. Access to education is therefore an important indicator of integration.
Insights
Few opportunities for education and training in Education Route if you are 30+
The Education Route is part of the compulsory integration. The goal of the education route is to prepare yourself for a full-time study at MBO level 2, 3 or 4, hbo or wo. During the education route you follow a language switching program. You learn the Dutch language at language level B1 or higher and you prepare yourself for further education.
In our studies and projects, we see that for newcomers in the Education Pathway over 30, there are few opportunities for education and training. See, for example:
Young people who take longer to learn the language do not fit into Education Route and thus end up in Z Route.
The Education Route prepares you for full-time study at mbo, hbo or wo through a language switching program.
Young people who could and would prepare themselves for a study, but need a little longer to learn the language, end up in the Z-route. This was evident, for example, in our research on integration in Almere.
Lack of knowledge among parents about the Dutch school system.
Parents have little knowledge about the Dutch school system. This causes them to find it difficult to guide their children within the system and have effective conversations with school to support their children's development.
>> Homeschooling buddies
>> Monitoring and Evaluation Himilo Foundation
There is a lack of information about the Dutch education system.
How it works here, what education levels there are, what the difference is between mbo, hbo and university, what the possibilities for studying are if you are over 30 years old, what DUO is and what study financing is and what organizations there are to support newcomers with these questions. The Dutch education system therefore differs from the education system newcomers know from their country of origin. These differences also require attention.
Newcomers who fall victim to fraudulent language schools often do not know their rights and start paying off their debt.
Through the ELIP scheme, debts can be cancelled in such cases, but key people note that newcomers themselves are often unaware of this.
