Improving access to VET

Implementation continues

Because of the COVID-19 crisis, the registration deadline for the study year 2020/21 was pushed back from 1 April to 1 May.

The second part of the report of the Monitoring and evaluative research programme was published in April 2020. It concluded that the execution of the new legislation was generally going well. In the previous year, students had registered more often before 1 April. Students were mostly satisfied with the information they had received about the study programmes and their introduction into a VET programme. It turned out that students who registered after 1 April were often still granted access to the VET programme they chose. Further, more students were allowed into study programmes who would not have been granted access without the new legislation.

Three points of improvement were put forward:

1. students indicated that their rights concerning study choice information and rights of access had not always been explained to them;
2. there appeared to be confusion about the entry procedures and the fixed maximum number of students allowed into a programme;
3. schools struggled with the implementation of the binding study advice and its effect was still unclear.

The Minister for Education instructed VET schools not to issue any binding study advice this year. This means that first-year students are allowed to continue the programme into the second year, despite possible delays resulting from the COVID-19 crisis; otherwise they would have had to leave the programme.

In 2022, a new report of the Monitoring and evaluative research programme on the right of enrolment in VET for all (Wetsvoorstel aanmelddatum en toelatingsrecht MBO) and the way it is used by VET schools was published. The overall conclusion was that the implementation of the new legislation was generally going well. A new conclusion that can be drawn from this report is that it is not always clear what the earlier registration date means for the students' selection process, since bringing forward the date itself does not change much. It is important to understand what adjustments VET schools make as a result of the earlier registration date. It is also stated that the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic make it not yet possible to draw final conclusions on the legislation, since it had a major impact on VET schools. After the third and last evaluation the minister will, in dialogue with the sector and JOB (the Youth Organisation for VET), use the outcomes to work on better accessible VET in the future.

In a letter to Parliament on improving the binding study advice (BSA) in VET, the Minister of Education outlined measures to enhance the implementation of the BSA) in the Netherlands. This measures were prompted by the observation that, in recent years - particularly during the pandemic - there was limited issuance of negative BSAs, leading to a lack of comprehensive insights into how schools apply the system.

The letter proposed the following measures for improvement:

1. monitoring the binding study advice in VET to gain better insight and control over its implementation;
2. adapting and clarifying the handbook on binding study advice in VET for VET schools;
3. strengthening communication with VET schools regarding the effective implementation of the binding study advice;
4. conducting a study on VET schools' implementation and understanding of policies concerning the binding study advice.

The Ministry of Education has approved a revised guide for the Binding Study Advice (BSA) in VET. The updated guide, shaped by practical feedback and discussions with schools, introduces key changes to enhance clarity and usability. These include:

1. Legal Nuances: Alignment with current laws and educational developments.
2. Simplification: A more concise and user-friendly document.
3. Visual Support: Addition of a detailed flowchart to clarify the BSA process.

The guide is seen as an important tool to streamline the BSA process and make it more transparent for both educational institutions and students. With the validation by the education ministry schools can confidently apply the guide in practice.