Inclusive education for VET

In 2022, the Minister of Education, Culture and Science provided an update on the Improvement agenda. According to the update, progress has been made on the four central points of the agenda, but further steps are still necessary. The progress made on the four central points is described as follows:

1. Improving of learners' admission and parents' involvement: the goal is to gather all relevant information about facilities for students with functional limitations or support needs who want to study MBO on one website. Over the past years, the relevant website with the title mbo accessible, has been improved and a guide for students suffering from a chronic disease has been developed. To improve the involvement of parents a parent network is being established.
2. Improving the quality of support provided by teaching teams: to strengthen the quality of support, institutions organized knowledge sharing sessions and developed practical handouts.
3. Improving cooperation between VET schools, youth care and adult care: in 2022, an inspiration document was developed to provide examples of cooperation between VET schools and stakeholders in the social domain. The document outlines which stakeholders are relevant partners for certain issues.
4. Improving guidance for students with support needs during internships and their first steps on the labour market: a manual on guiding students with extra support needs in internships and on the labour market (BPV-handboek) has been developed. It includes overviews, tips and information for professionals.

In 2023, the Minister of Education provided a further update on the Improvement agenda. While progress has been made on the agenda's four central objectives, further steps are still necessary. The progress made on the four central points is described as follows:

1. improving of learners' admission and parents' involvement:
   First, despite progress, one in three students still reports insufficient information about additional support during the initial phase of their programme, and half of all students remain unaware of where to seek help with support-related questions. To address this, the Expertise Centre for Inclusive Education (Kennispunt MBO Passend Onderwijs) and the Council for Upper Secondary VET Colleges have developed a roadmap for the enrolment process, aimed at providing clearer guidance. Second, with regard to parental involvement, half of VET colleges now implement active policies to engage parents. Examples include inviting parents to meetings and organising dedicated information sessions for them;
   
2. improving the quality of support provided by teaching teams:
   Since 1 August 2023, VET colleges are required to formalise support agreements before a student is enroled. Furthermore, teaching teams were not directly surveyed this year on the progress that has been made. Nevertheless, training managers have sometimes observed a lack of sufficient expertise within their teams highlighting a need for additional professional development to ensure the provision of appropriate education;
   
3. improving cooperation between VET colleges, youth care and adult care:
   The Netherlands Youth Institute (Nederlands Jeugdinstituut) has published a report that provides an overview of issues students may face across various life domains. It also includes several practical examples of successful collaborations;
   
4. improving guidance for students with support needs during internships and their first steps on the labour market:
   Awareness of inclusive education during internships and the transition to the labour market has increased. However, the implementation progress has been limited due to a lack of capacity, knowledge, and expertise within educational institutions and training companies. To address this, the education ministry has launched a training programme titled"Guidance During Internships and Apprenticeships (BPV) and the First Steps on the Labour Market". This programme incorporates best practices from the"Manual for Guiding Students with Support Needs" (BPV-handboek).

In February 2023, the Joint agenda for VET, (werkagenda MBO) was published, a covenant between national VET stakeholders. The ambitions of the Improvement agenda, are also outlined in this working agenda for VET. Signatories have committed to sustained efforts to ensure appropriate education for learners with special educational needs (SEN) in the years ahead.

In June, a new scheme regarding inclusive assessment in VET has been published in the Government Gazette (Staatscourant). This scheme applies, action-oriented working, by examining the barriers a student faces during assessment and removing them. Before this new scheme, it was only explained what special arrangements were possible for certain common disabilities. The terminology used is closely aligned with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Act Equal Treatment, regarding disability or chronic illness. Furthermore, the regulations explicitly state that students with chronic diseases can receive adjustments during assessments even without a statement from an expert.