Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.6 The Dutch Context .1 Country Profile
2.6.3 Mildly Mentally Impaired Students in Dutch Secondary Education
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2.6.3 Mildly Mentally Impaired Students in Dutch Secondary Education
History of special education
There is a long history of separate special education schools in the Netherlands with a school for the deaf founded by a pastor in 1790 (van Rijswijk & Kool, 1999). When
compulsory education began in 1901, regular schools were faced with a group of „irregular‟
children who until then only received education for a very limited amount of time or received no education at all. The government soon realized that this group of children should not only have to rely on private education. In 1923, separate (both public and private) schools for students with disabilities were teaching students who were deaf or blind, and also children with (significant) learning difficulties (mentally impaired). Special education was included into the Primary Education Act of 1920, but not until 1985 was the first separate Special Education Interim Act for primary and secondary education put into effect (Eurydice, 2009).
During the decision making process of the planned reforms for special secondary education in 1967, there was an almost unanimous belief that separate special education schools were much better equipped to provide for the educational needs of students with disabilities than regular education. Not until 1970 were questions raised about the steady growth of special education which, for a part, contributed to the implementation of the new Law on Secondary Education in 1998. Under this law, special secondary education schools for mildly mentally impaired students, known in the Netherlands as Children with Learning Difficulties (Moeilijk Lerende Kinderen / MLK), together with Students with Learning and Behavioural Difficulties (Kinderen met Leer- en Opvoedingsmoeilijkheden / LOM) were integrated into mainstream education. However, the Netherlands still has more types of special education schools than any other country (van Rijswijk & Kool, 1999). The 1996 Together to School Again (WSNS) initiative has been implemented by the government to
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applies to schools which fall under the Primary Education Act. Under this policy, students are not automatically referred to special schools. Parents can choose if they want to send their special needs students to a special school or a regular school. Special education schools are only meant for children who cannot cope in mainstream schools, even with extra assistance.
At the primary education level, mainstreamed students can be divided into autistic children, children suffering from ADHD, dyslexic children, and gifted children (Eurydice, 2009).
Special education
Mildly mentally impaired primary students (MLK) together with students with Learning and Behavioural Difficulties (LOM), and Preschool Children with Developmental Difficulties (In hun Ontwikkeling Bedreigde Kleuters / IOBK), receive education in special primary schools. Moderately to profoundly mentally impaired receive education in special schools for Children with Severe Learning Difficulties (Zeer Moeilijk Lerende Kinderen / ZMLK).
The two main objectives of the Together to School Again initiative are: preventing social stigma of special education and stabilising the number of students for special education (van der Leij & van der Linde-Kaan, 2003). Research shows that the reason parents choose regular education for their special needs children is that they want their children to go to the same school as others in the neighbourhood as this increases the opportunity to learn how to handle social situations, make friends and become integrated in the local community (Koster, Pijl, van Houten, & Nakken, 2007). Some parents also hope that this will eventually lead to positive long-term effects on attitudes towards special needs students.
To ensure that regular education schools can provide extra services for special needs students a funding policy directly linked to the special needs students themselves has been implemented. This is the so-called „backpack‟ policy. Regardless of where the student is
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taught, in regular schools or special schools, extra funding is available. However, schools are not required to accept all the special needs children who apply although they need to clearly state how they are incapable of appropriate provision if placement is denied (Norwich, 2008).
The member countries of the European Union have established the European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education. It is an independent platform that acts as a collaboration mechanism regarding the development of provision for learners with special educational needs. The agency is maintained by the Ministries of Education of the European Union members, as well non-members Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.
The Netherlands has signed several international agreements regarding inclusive education (Thijs et al., 2009). Among these are the 1990 Council Resolution for integration of children and young people with disabilities into ordinary systems of education, the 1994 Salamanca Statement, and the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities. Eventually this has led to the fact that although “[t]he Dutch education system was originally probably one of the most clear-cut dual systems…the current integration policy fits in with a general trend to work towards greater integration and more inclusive education” (Karsten, Peetsma, Roeleveld, & Vergeer, 2001).
Mentally impaired individuals are referred to as people with an intellectual restriction (mensen met een verstandelijke beperking). Even though the mildly mentally impaired are recognized as special needs students, they are considered to be part of mainstream education when they reach the secondary education level. Here they are part of the mainstream
education track serving students with the lowest learning ability: Practical Training (Praktijkonderwijs / PrO). This secondary education program was previously a special
program, just as it is in primary education, for Children with Learning Difficulties (MLK). As mentioned before, in 1998, the government initiated the integration of special secondary
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education. Practical Training was the eventual result in 2002 (Ministerie van Onderwijs Cultuur en Wetenschappen, 2006).
Schools which now provide education at the Practical Training level need to cooperate regionally with regular secondary education schools (Pre-Vocational Secondary Education) in, so-called, regional cooperatives (SWV) which makes both Practical Training and regular education schools jointly responsible for these special needs students (Reulen & Rosmalen, 2003). This is in line with the government Together to School Again (WSNS) initiative of 1996. The regional cooperatives have the following three tasks: joint care for sufficient organizational and professional support for students who need an didactic and ortho-pedagogical approach, the formulation of a „care plan‟ (zorgplan), and the establishment of a Permanent Commission Student Care (PCL) (Harskamp & Slof, 2006).
As was mentioned in the previous section, students for who is determined that they cannot get a qualification at the basic vocational learning pathway while also receiving learning support, are referred to the Practical Training track. In other words, Practical Training is specifically aimed at students with mild mental impairment. Although students attending Practical Training could possibly have multiple disorders, the main indicator for admittance is mild mental impairment. Students with moderate mental impairment and higher are intended to attend Secondary Special Education-Children with Significant Learning Difficulties (VSO-ZMLK).
Definition of mildly mentally impaired students in secondary education
Practical Training is aimed at students who (a) mainly need an ortho-pedagogical and ortho-didactic approach, and (b) cannot, even with learning support, obtain a diploma or certificate for VMBO. Admission to Practical Training, as well as Learning Support, is based
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on uniform nation-wide criteria. The following four criteria are essential for determining placement (Bootsma-Slinkers & de Groot, 1999).:
1. didactic level of reading, spelling, and maths in didactic age equivalents;
2. cognitive capacity;
3. social-emotional developments; and 4. other (external) educational impediments.
Of these criteria, social-emotional functioning is decisive in admitting students to Learning Support (Bootsma-Slinkers & de Groot, 1999) while the criteria of other (external)
educational impediments can also be added to this category. Admittance to Practical Training is primarily based on the first two criteria:
1. Didactic level of knowledge and skills. For students who want to enroll in Practical Training, it needs to be firmly established that they have a learning deficit. Calculation of a student‟s learning deficit is done according to his/her didactic age (Verenigde
Samenwerkende Landelijke Pedagogische Centra, 2000).
From group 3 to group 8 (grade 1 to grade 6) in the primary education stage, students follow a total of ten months of education. Every month of education is considered a measuring unit of didactic age. Therefore the highest unit of didactic age is 60 at the end of group 8. The school year starts in September in the Netherlands. If a student‟s didactic age is tested in October of group 8, his/her didactic age is 52. A student who is attending group 8 for the second time has a didactic age of 60 for the whole year. The level a student has attained at a certain period of time is expressed in didactic age units. This level is measured with the help of tests.
For example, a student has been tested to have 43 didactic age units (November group 7), but has a didactic age of 58 (April group 8). To calculate this student‟s learning deficit,
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we need to subtract 1 from the didactic age units divided by the didactic age (1-43/58).
Therefore the student in this example is considered to have a learning deficit of 0.26.
A student can only be allowed to enroll in Practical Training if he/she has a learning deficit of more than 0.5. Furthermore, of the four domains, reading comprehension, technical reading, spelling and maths, at least two should score a learning deficit of more than 0.5. Of these two domains, at least one should be reading comprehension or maths.
A student with a learning deficit between 0.25 and 0.5 is admitted to Learning Support.
2. Cognitive capacity. A student‟s cognitive capacity is expressed in an Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Here, a distinction is made between verbal and performing intelligence.
The standard IQ for enrolment in Practical Training is a minimum of 60 and a maximum of 75 - 80. Students who have an IQ of between 75 - 80 and 90 should be recommended to Learning Support. When considering students who are in the 75 – 80 IQ range, schools need to explicitly explain why they recommend the student to either Practical Training or Learning Support. They could base their recommendation on age, ethnicity, or IQ profile.
It could be assumed that older students (15+ years) profit more from practical training for employment (Practical Training schools). Immigrant students could be recommended for Learning Support even though their learning deficit is high. Recommendation could also be influenced by either their specific verbal or performing intelligence scores.
There is a further degree of flexibility. A positive recommendation for Practical Training is possible for students within the 55 – 59 IQ range, if according to information about the learning deficit it can be assumed there is a greater learning potential than based on IQ alone (Verenigde Samenwerkende Landelijke Pedagogische Centra, 2000). Or conversely, immigrant students who are in the 50 to 75 IQ range, who have a learning deficit of 3 years or more and have followed less than two years of Dutch education, should be recommended to Learning Support and not Practical Training. In general, when there is a
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conflict between the learning deficit and the IQ score, the school should put more weight on the learning deficit.
Referral to Practical Training is either done upon leaving (special) primary education or when it becomes obvious that a student attending Pre-Vocational Secondary Education with Learning Support still cannot obtain a diploma or certificate.
Mildly mentally impaired student population in secondary education
In the 2007 / 2008 school year, there were 27,260 students attending Practical Training which was 2.9% of the total population of students attending secondary education (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek, 2008b). The total number of special needs students in the Netherlands was 9% in primary education in 2009 (Inspectie van het Onderwijs, 2010). For secondary education this percentage was much higher: 19.6% (including students attending Practical Training). However, the majority of this percentage was students with Learning Support (11.7%).
Secondary education for mildly mentally impaired students
The Law on Secondary Education stipulates that schools for Practical Training schools need to provide modified theoretical education (i.e. modified main objectives of regular education), while trying to attain the main objectives of regular education as much as possible. Practical Training schools, furthermore, need to facilitate personality development as well as the development of social skills, and prepare students for the regional labour market (Ministerie van Onderwijs Cultuur en Wetenschappen, 1998). The intended
employment positions in the regional labour market for Practical Training school leavers are under that of the assistant level (qualification level 1 of the Dutch education system).
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Practical Training is adapted to the regional and local labour market situation (Huisman-Bakker, te Braake-Schakenraad, Klasen, Westening, &van der Gulik, 2004). The ultimate goal is to give the student a good chance to find work in the local region. Interesting is to see that while the initial goal of Practical Training was direct entrance into the regional labour market (van Laarhoven et al., 1999), an increasing number of students are opting to continue their education at a higher level (Heijnens, 2009). Therefore, students in Practical Training are now assumed to have the following three development perspectives (Blockhuis & Berlet, 2006):
1. Students who after leaving school will still need support and who can live (semi-) independently while working in a protected environment.
2. Students who after leaving school can independently take part in the labour market and society.
3. Students who, with learning support, continue their education to attain a level 1 diploma (assistant level) after leaving Practical Training.
The following features are specific to Practical Training (van Laarhoven et al., 1999):
- Individual Learning Paths. The students attending Practical Training are very
heterogeneous in nature. They vary in didactic level, command of language, cognitive ability, social-emotional development, and therefore also in post-education perspective.
The school, with the student‟s own input, composes an individual learning path out of the available curriculum.
- Social and Communicative Skills. These skills are at the core of the curriculum. Apart from the Dutch language course, learning and applying social-communicative skills is part of all courses in Practical Training.
- Labour Market Orientation. Practical Training focuses on students entering the labour market after leaving school. Educational objectives are adjusted to independent
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functioning in society, including recreation. If attainable, objectives are related to regular education‟s „basis development‟.
- Subject Material Organization. In the lower grades, there is a broad offer of subject material but in the higher grades the offer becomes narrower with a focus on labour market entry.
- Ortho-didactic / Ortho-pedagogical Needs. Practical Training is ortho-didactically and ortho-pedagogically adapted to the educational needs of the students. This means e.g.
small and well-ordered learning units, material adapted to a low written language level, a great deal of visual, material and multi-media support, frequent repetition, lots of
attention to transfer, but also a safe and stimulating educational environment.
- Application, Skill, and Relation (ASR). In Dutch called Toepassing, Vaardigheid en Samenhang (TVS), is at the core of regular education‟s „basis development‟ and it is given special attention in Practical Training. This is expressed in the concept of „learning by doing‟ as attention is paid to the actual use of skills in a variety of situations and the relation between the various disciplines.
Additional features of Practical Training are that students work in small groups with adapted programmes and that extra care and support is available for students (Reulen & Rosmalen, 2003).
The courses in Practical Training, compared to regular education, have been
compressed into five specific educational directions: Dutch, Maths, Information Technology, Social and Cultural Orientation, and Career and Practical Orientation (Huisman-Bakker et al., 2004). Besides these core courses, Physical Education and Practical Development are also compulsory while English can be, depending on the school, part of the curriculum. Practical Development is especially aimed at career transition and is offered in five common
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sector, and warehouse sector. Students attending Practical Training are constantly working on their practical, social, communication, and creative competencies. Explicit attention is paid to the meaning of the contents of work, living and recreation of the student after leaving
Practical Training. The organization of time units in daily and weekly planning is not pre-determined, the schools are free to arrange this themselves (Huisman-Bakker et al., 2004).
Practical Training is based on adaptive and student-led learning. This means that the content, pace, and duration of education is determined by the level, interests, learning aptitude, and ability of the individual student (Harskamp & Slof, 2006). Students are in charge of their own learning and this calls for an active construction of knowledge rather than a consumption of knowledge from the teacher.
At Practical Training schools, teachers need to draft a so-called „action plan‟
(handelingsplan). “An action plan is the sum of concrete directives for the education of one or more students based on information of the specific pedagogical-didactic needs of these
students, with which the school aims to reach certain learning and developmental goals within a particular timeframe” (Schröder-Servaes et al., 1999). The action plan was previously the main tool for individualizing education for a student but the Individual Education Plan (Individueel Ontwikkelingsplan) or IEP (IOP) has in recent years been introduced in Practical Training schools as the new tool for individualizing education.
Practical Training IEPs will be covered in more detail in Chapter 4.
The process involving an action plan is cyclical in nature and it can be divided into four phases: registration, intake, action, and completion (Harskamp & Slof, 2006).
1. Registration Phase
The main point of concern in this phase is what the student needs and what is necessary for him / her. Teachers and specialists give their opinion on the information
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provided by initial individual student reports. For instance, a didactic expert looks at a student‟s didactic information, a doctor looks at the student‟s medical data, a social worker views the student‟s home situation, and a behavioural expert observes relevant
psycho-diagnostic information (Huijgens & van de Wiel, 2007). The school reports its findings to the parents and if all parties agree, the school will proceed with the next phase.
2. Intake Phase
An initial action plan, with supplementary information about the student if needed, is established. A description of the educational program and method of educational delivery is contained within this initial plan. The plan is executed and through observations, assignments, and tests an evaluation is performed.
3. Action Phase
If the initial action plan method is satisfactory, all educational objectives are drawn up in this manner. The central question behind every objective is: “Who does what, when, how often and in what way?” The method of achieving the objective is mostly described in a group action plan. If an individual student has difficulties with specific elements of the plan, extra support is offered to him / her. Furthermore, a description is included of the method of evaluation, where the evaluation is performed, by whom, and how often. According to this evaluation, an action plan may be revised. A separate action plan is developed for all educational objectives.
4. Completion Phase
If all objectives are attained, the student aims for completion of the Practical Training
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Figure 2.3 Action plan in Practical Training Source: (Schölvinck & de Vries, 2004)
The most important task regarding the content and subject material for students in Practical Training are a differentiated offer, application, and integration of social and
communicative competencies; and a proper fit for regional job. Practical Training has a very individual approach which means there can be numerous educational routes and no two students receive exactly the same education. Besides this, schools for Practical Training differ too and the way education is offered to students can vary. Still, there are still roughly five common routes a student can take: the basic route, the basic route with post-school support, the route with extras, the extended route, and the continuing route (Huisman-Bakker et al.,
communicative competencies; and a proper fit for regional job. Practical Training has a very individual approach which means there can be numerous educational routes and no two students receive exactly the same education. Besides this, schools for Practical Training differ too and the way education is offered to students can vary. Still, there are still roughly five common routes a student can take: the basic route, the basic route with post-school support, the route with extras, the extended route, and the continuing route (Huisman-Bakker et al.,