2026

A sustainable future for the school library

Good reading skills are essential for personal development and societal participation. To support this, the government will allocate €50 million annually from 2028 for the Library at School program, ensuring its sustainability and broader impact. This program, a collaboration between libraries and schools, promotes reading enjoyment and literacy. Participating schools provide students with a diverse collection of books, and teachers receive support from library experts to improve reading skills.

The government will convert the temporary €24 million subsidy into structural funding starting in 2027, with €38 million available in that year, rising to €50 million in 2028. These funds will be distributed between schools and libraries. Initially focusing on schools with complex pupil populations, the program will expand in the 2026/2027 school year to include all primary schools. Libraries can also use the funding for collaborations with childcare services (BoekStart), teacher training programmes and vocational education.

Milestone in curriculum review with final core objectives

The core objectives for Dutch, arithmetic and mathematics, citizenship, digital literacy and Dutch sign language have already been published. The core objectives for People and Society, People and Nature, Modern Foreign Languages, Art and Culture, and Movement and Sport have been published. During the conference of the national knowledge centre for the curriculum (SLO), the State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science received the new core objectives. This is a milestone in the revision of the curriculum. The new core objectives provide teachers with much more clarity and direction about what children really need to learn. How this is done exactly is up to the teacher and the school.

The updated core objectives are in line with the latest insights and give teachers much more focus than they currently have on providing good education. Teaching time is limited, which is why tough choices were made when drawing up the core objectives. The curriculum provides a solid foundation for basic skills. 

The Ministry is now laying down the new core objectives in legislation and regulations. The previously tightened core objectives for Dutch, arithmetic and mathematics are expected to come into force on 1 August 2026, and the other subject areas from 1 August 2027. But schools do not have to wait for this. Schools and teachers can already experience the new core objectives and translate them as best they can to the situation in their own classrooms. They will be given the time and space to adapt everything step by step with help from the Ministry, SLO and other educational organisations. By August 2031 at the latest, all schools must have adapted their educational provision to the new core objectives.

Letter to Parliament: sufficient and well-equipped school leaders and teachers remain a priority 

2025

Curriculum update 

The Dutch curriculum has recently been updated, as the core objectives used in education until then dated back to 2006. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) commissioned the Curriculum Development Foundation (SLO) to update the curriculum in collaboration with the education sector. This process led to the development of new core objectives for primary and secondary education, which were presented in April 2025.

These updated core objectives emphasize students' basic skills, with a specific focus on language, arithmetic, mathematics, citizenship, and digital literacy. Although the new core objectives will not be officially incorporated into law until between August 2026 and August 2027, many schools have already begun implementing the updated guidelines in their educational practices.

To support schools in implementing these changes, the government has established two subsidy schemes. These schemes offer schools the opportunity to finance interventions that have been proven to contribute effectively to the improvement of basic skills. The subsidy schemes focus on four key areas:

Subsidy schemes focus on four key areas:

1.    Extra instruction and teaching time for pupils

2.    Professionalization of teaching staff

3.    Improvement of classroom management

4.    Use of effective learning and development tools

These measures are intended to improve the quality of education and better prepare pupils for the challenges of the future.

Bill to strengthen te position of parents and pupils 

On 1 August, the “Strengthening the position of parents and pupils” Act came into force. The aim of this Act is to strengthen the position of parents and pupils in special needs education (type of education in which guidance and support are provided to children and young people within mainstream education)

This means that pupils and parents must have easy access to information about the support offered by the school and have the right to have a say in this. The school board must justify decisions about the development perspective to pupils. In addition, basic and extra support must be included in the school guide

Legislation for Freedom and Safety in Education 

The bill concerns the strengthening of safety policy in schools. The law is expected to come into force on 1 August 2026. In broad terms, it concerns the following issues: 

• The current obligation to report, consult and file a police report (MOA) in cases of suspected sexual offences is being extended. From now on, the reporting and consultation obligation will also apply to possible sexual harassment by someone with a task or function towards a pupil or student.
• For the sake of independence, an external confidential advisor must be appointed in addition to an internal confidential advisor.
• The school must have a complaints procedure and be affiliated with a national complaints committee.
• Schools must appoint a member of staff as safety policy coordinator. This person will also take on the duties of the previously mandatory anti-bullying policy coordinator. This expands the role of the anti-bullying policy coordinator to encompass broader safety policy.
• The school board is required to evaluate the safety policy annually.

Functioning CO2 meter 

From 1 July 2025, all classrooms in primary education must have a functioning CO2 meter. This applies to both existing and new buildings. The CO2 level in the room is an indicator of the degree of air exchange. Good air quality contributes to better learning performance. If the CO2 level is high, intervention by the staff present is required, within the limits of the ventilation system in place. If it appears that the existing system is inadequate, this must be addressed by the employer.

2024

Policy rule on inclusive learning environments

Inclusive education requires changes to legislation and regulations. The policy rule on inclusive learning environments will remain in force until 1 August 2034 and provides guidance on preparing for changes to legislation and regulations. This policy rule allows us to investigate the effect of a particular change in legislation on inclusive education.

The policy rule enables mainstream and special schools to collaborate more intensively, thereby facilitating the transition to inclusive education. Practical education and special primary education can also participate. Practical education can collaborate with special secondary education. Special primary education can collaborate with mainstream education and special education. The policy rule allows all (or some) pupils from a school for (secondary) special education or special primary education to attend a mainstream school full-time. The pupils receive extra support from special education. For example, a support class can be set up at a mainstream school on the basis of special education.

Transfer test 

Since the 2023-2024 school year, pupils in the final year (group 8) of primary education have had a new final test: the transfer test. This test shows the level pupils have achieved in language and arithmetic. This has two objectives for the pupils and the school:

1. The transfer test shows which type of secondary education suits a pupil based on their language and math skills. Together with the school's recommendation, the transfer test forms the pupil's final school recommendation. 

2. The transfer test provides insight into the learning results of the primary school. This provides more insight into the results of the quality of education in the country.

The transfer test ensures that, in addition to the primary school's recommendation for further education, there is a second factor in the school recommendation. It is a reliable additional tool, alongside the school's recommendation. For more than 20 percent of children from disadvantaged families, the school recommendation was adjusted upwards after taking the transfer test. For children from privileged families, this was just under 10 percent. It is not known whether the recommendation was actually adjusted upwards in all cases

New agreements on good education on St Eustatius

News item | 30-01-2024 | 
Source: www.rijksoverheid.nl

In order to better tailor their lessons to the needs of individual students and, for example, to be able to deal well with differences and multilingualism in the classroom, teachers on St. Eustatius will receive support from special coaches. In addition, students who need a helping hand to do well at school will also receive extra help in the coming years. These are some of the agreements that the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education has made with school boards, the Public Entity and Expertise Centre Education (ECE) of St. Eustatius in the Third Education Agenda. These agreements should contribute to the further improvement of primary and secondary education on the island. The agenda was signed during the Minister's visit to the Caribbean Netherlands during a recent visit in January 2024.