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Eurydice

EACEA National Policies Platform:Eurydice

Netherlands

The organisation of the academic year 2025/2026 in The Netherlands is as follows:

 

National Information

Further readings

National education systems - Netherlands

Regulations about tuition fees are enshrined in the Dutch Legislation, WHW 2008, art. 7.45a - art. 7.46.

Student grants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Footnotes

<p>The percentage of students paying most common fee was calculated by taking the percentage of students paying statutory legal tuition fees.</p><p>The percentage for grant beneficiaries is based on the supplementary grant for both HBO and university students. There is no available data for the different cycles.</p>

An alternative and less common form of childcare is childminder care. For more information, you can visit the subchapter home-based provison about childminders in The Netherlands.

Objectives and accessibility

Both childminder agencies and childminders are inspected (checked) by the GGD. The inspection of a childminder agency is done annually and childminders are inspected randomly. 

All requirements for childminders are set out in the Childcare Act. The Innovation and Quality childcare act (wet IKK) does not apply to childminders.

 

Steering documents

There is no prescribed national curriculum as such in childcare provision, but providers are obliged to draw up policy on child development and learning opportunities, in consultation with parents’ committees. The policy must include a vision on interacting with and caring for children. The various initiatives in the Netherlands concerned with child development policy frameworks aim primarily to supervise the implementation of child development policy plans. These plans set out policy as regards:

Admission requirements

Childcare centres are in principle open to all children between 0 and 4 years of age. Parents can decide if they use childcare services and are free to choose the childcare organization they prefer.

Secondary education

Secondary education succeeds regular and special primary education. It does not include special schools for disabled children (which fall under the Expertise Centres Act, adult and vocational education or higher education. There are three kinds of secondary education:



- pre-vocational secondary education (VMBO) which takes four years to conclude - ISCED 2;



- senior general secondary education (HAVO) which takes five years to conclude - ISCED 3;