Friesland college vavo sws the english vs the dutch school system nynke de zwaan

6 December, 2016

the english versus the dutch school system

Nynke de Zwaan vmbo, vavo friesland college

1

table of contents Introduction ………………………………………………………………

page 3

Chapter 1: Compulsory education through the years ..……..…..…..

page 4

Chapter 2: How are the systems constructed? ………………………

page 6

Chapter 3: How is education financed? ……………………………….

page 10

Chapter 4: Interview with students ……………………………………

page 13

Conclusion …………………………………………………………...….

page 16

References ………………………………………………………………

page 17

Timesheet …..……………………………………………………………

page 19 2

introduction what are the differences and similarities in the english and dutch school systems?

I chose this subject because next year on the 9th of September I’m going to England to study in Sixth Form as an exchange student. I’m really excited about this and can’t wait to get to know the system and culture of English school life better. That’s why I have chosen to write about the differences between the English and the Dutch school systems.

In my first chapter, ‘Compulsory education through the years’, I will show the most important events in the history of compulsory education in each country with a timeline.

The second chapter, ‘How are the systems constructed?’, is about the different stages in the system, what subjects you study there and the ages of the pupils.

The third chapter, ‘How is education financed?’, is about how education is paid for. Does the government pay it all?

Is it expensive?

In the last chapter I interview 14 students: 8 from England and 6 from the Netherlands. I compare their answers with each other and look for any differences and similarities.

In the conclusion I will answer the main question: ‘What are the differences and similarities in the English and Dutch school systems?’

3

Chapter 1: compulsory education through the years england 1880

Education became compulsory for the first time until the age of 10

1891

Elementary education became free

1918

1951

School leaving age raised to 14

First exams were given at primary and secondary schools

1973

School leaving age raised to 16

4

The Netherlands 1806

Schooling became compulsory (mostly writing and learning scriptures)

1820

Corporal punishment is not allowed anymore

1874

Prohibition children below the age of 12 may not do heavy work

1900

Education became compulsory, end of child labour

1985

Children must now attend school from ages 5 til 18

5

Chapter 2: how are the systems constructed? england Compulsory education in England begins from the age of 5 until 18, however schooling is only compulsory until the year they turn 16. This is divided into different ‘key stages’ (1, 2, 3 and 4) or into ‘primary and secondary schools.’

Core subjects you’ll find in every stage are English, mathematics and science.

Primary schools The first key stage, also known as ‘infant school’ is the first school British students attend. At an infant school, children start their first 2 years of primary school. Children range from ages 5 - 7, and the subjects they must complete are English, mathematics, science, art & design, computing, design and technology, geography, history, music, physical education (PE) and religious education.

At the end of this stage (year 2), at age 7 the children take ‘Standard Attainment Tests’ (SATs) which covers the subjects English, maths and science.

Years 3 until 6 are studied in ‘junior school’ and a part of Key stage 2. All pupils in this key stage must follow a program of education in 11 areas. These areas are the same as in infant school plus foreign languages. In year 6, children need to take SATs again to move on to secondary schooling in English and maths in order to move on.

Some school buildings only include infants, or just juniors, but most schools are for infants and juniors to save money.

6

Secondary schools Key stage 3 comprises the years 7 through 9. Children are ages 11 - 14. Most of the time, this is called ‘middle school’ or ‘high school’. Pupils must follow 15 subjects according to the National Curriculum* (all the subjects of primary school in addition to sex and relationship education)

In year 9, when the children have reached the age of 14, they are required to undertake tests for the three core subjects (English, maths and science). The English test includes reading, writing and studying a Shakespearian play.

Years 10 & 11 are part of Key stage 4. These are the last two years that schooling is compulsory and that you study in high school. Subjects students must study are; English , maths science, citizenship, computing and PE.

At the end of year 11, when the pupils are 16 years old, there are General Certificate of Secondary Education exams, also knows as GCSE’s. With these certificates you can go onto further education.

Further Education (FE) As education in England is compulsory until 18, a lot of students between 16 and 18 years old choose to go to the Sixth Form (sometimes referred to as College, post 16 education or Key Stage 5). At the Sixth form, you can deepen your knowledge in 3 or 4 subjects you had in your GCSE’s but you can also choose from subjects such as media or photography. After 2 years, you can get your A-levels and go to university, where you can get a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

*the National Curriculum = a set of subjects that are taught and standards children should reach in a subject, so that they all learn the same things at every school.

7

the netherlands The education system in the Netherlands is quite different from the British and is more complicated in certain ways.

Primary school Education is compulsory from the age of 5, however most parents let their kid attend elementary school at the age of 4. There are eight grades in Dutch elementary school, group 1 until group 8 and ages range from 4 to 12. In the first two years, the children get to play with each other on the computer, with toys, water or with sand, games or reading books. From the 3rd year on, children learn Dutch grammar, Dutch spelling, mathematics, geography, history English and (West) Frisian (only in the province of ‘Friesland’).

Secondary school In group 8 the children have a final test that is designed to recommend what type of secondary school they will qualify for.

There are 3 different types of Dutch secondary schools: VMBO, HAVO and VWO. The biggest differences is the difficulty of the subjects. These 3 different types of schools aren’t always in the same building.

VMBO is the easiest of all and lasts 4 years. 60 % of secondary school students go here. When you finish VMBO, you can get further education at a HAVO or MBO school.

HAVO takes 5 years and is more difficult than VMBO. If you finish HAVO, you can go to VWO or to HBO. VWO lasts 6 years and is the toughest of all. When you graduated you can go to HBO or University.

8

In the Netherlands, education is compulsory from ages 5-16 and requires graduation from a HAVO, at a minimum. If you have not graduated from a HAVO by age 16, you will be required to remain in secondary school until you graduate or until you reach age 23, whichever comes first.

At the secondary schools you choose for a package with subjects in it, you can chose between culture & society, economy & society, nature & health or nature & technology.

Higher Education MBO is something you can compare with English college, you get prepared for higher education.

MBO takes 2 - 4 years. After finishing you can search for a job or continue on a HBO school.

In the Netherlands, higher education is given at a vocational level (HBO) and at an academic level (WO / University). You can get your Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at both institutions, but you can only get a PhD degree at a WO school.

photo: Education in the Netherlands, en.wikipedia.org

9

Chapter 3: how is education financed?

England 93 percent of English school children attend state schooling and sixth form education. These are payed for by taxes.

English state-funded primary schools are almost all local schools with a small catchment area. More than half are owned by the local authority, although many are voluntary controlled or aided.

Schools that receive money from local authorities are required to follow the National Curriculum.

From 1998 there have been four main types of state funded schools in England. ● ● ● ●

community schools foundation schools voluntary aided schools voluntary controlled schools

Community schools are run by local authorities and employ their own school staff and own the land and buildings.

Foundation schools are run by a governing body which employs their staff, but the land are buildings are mostly owned by a charitable foundation.

Voluntary-aided schools are religious or faith schools. The governing body employs the staff, school buildings are owned by a church.

Voluntary-controlled schools are a cross between a community and voluntary-aided school. Just like a community school, the local authority employs the staff, and like a voluntary-aided school the land and buildings are owned by a church.

10

Nearly 90% of state funded secondary schools are specialist schools. They get extra funding to develop 1 or more subjects in which the school specialises in.

A minority of state-funded schools are faith schools.

All state funded schools are regularly inspected by the ‘Office for Standards in Education’, also known as Ofsted. they publish reports about the quality of each particular school.

7% of English children go to private schools. in England, there are 2600 private schools educating 620.000 children. The costs for these schools are high, but the education is very high quality, there are small classes and good care for the children.

11

The Netherlands The Dutch government pays for primary, secondary and further education. The budget of a school is decided based on several factors: ● the amount of pupils ● the ages of pupils ● what kind of education is provided ● the number of schools in the organization. ● the number of graduations Each schooling organisation can decide what they’re going to do with the money they get from the government that year.

The head can decide to economize, spending less on furniture and more on employees. Every year the head needs to explain in a report how, and why they spend the money that way. A special inspection team keeps an eye on it.

Last year, 2016, the government divided 29 billion euros to all organizations. Primary schools got the most, 10 billion, and secondary schools got 8 billion. On average organizations of primary schools get 6500,- euros for each pupil, and secondary schools 7800,- euros. When you reach further education, you get less paid as an organization. Universities, for example, got all together 3 billion euros.

12

Chapter 4: interview with students I spoke to 8 British students (Courtney, Rose, Chelsea, Sarah, Charlotte, Amy, Libby & Mel) from ages 12 to 19. 4 of these students are in high school, one is in sixth form college and 2 are in university. I also spoke to 6 Dutch students (Nikita, Noa, Mandy, Gaby, Esther, Mel) from ages 14-18 going to high school, colleges and university. In these interviews, I looked for differences in their experiences of school life. I asked about several things like the size of their classes, how long lessons take, what they eat in their breaks and if they enjoy their times at school.

I asked about the amount of pupils in their classes, but this varied for everyone depending on the subject. As Sarah says: ‘That really depends on the subject, when I was in geography we only had 10 pupils in our class, but in an average lesson like English language we were with 28 pupils.’ Chelsea who’s in university has even a bigger difference; ‘At high school we had an average of 28 children in each class, but now in university, where we follow several lectures, there are lecture theaters holding hundreds of students.’

Most pupils in the Netherlands I spoke to have the same about of people every class. The number is between 19 and 31 people.

In England classes take 1 hour per subject, however in university they take 2 hours.

In the Netherlands the time varies between 45 min and 1.5 hours and there is no big difference between high schools and universities.

Some people in England have 2 or 3 short breaks, but most have 1 ‘dinner break’ which is one hour long. Other people have the hour divided over the course of the day in short breaks of 15 or 30 minutes.

Most people I spoke with eat sandwiches and crisps and a chocolate bar for lunch. It really depends on what their school cafe has. For example, at Amy’s school: “We have a range of food we can buy including waffles, toast, hash browns, bagels, cheese toast, sausages and bacon sandwiches” but at Rose’s school they don’t have that much choice: “I normally eat a muffin and fruit, sometimes a sandwich because our cafe is small”.

There are also people who take packed lunch to school (so they don’t have to buy food in the cafe) or make use of the program ‘Free school meals’ which Chelsea told me more about: “I was entitled to ‘free school meals’ because I came from a poor area of the country and had a lower income than average.

This meant I could have my school meals for free everyday.”

13

In the Netherlands people have a ‘long’ break of 30 or 45 minutes for lunch and most people have a second shorter break in the afternoon, which lasts around 20 minutes.

Everyone takes their own food from home, mostly sandwiches, biscuits and fruit. However, some schools have small shops where you can buy warm food like paninis, cheese toast or soup.

In primary and high schools in England, it is obligatory to wear a school uniform or have a dress code and not wear too much makeup or have a weird hairstyle. But from the sixth form on the rules get less strict. You are still not allowed to wear ripped jeans, crop tops or clothing with offensive branding, logos or words or revealing outfits.

In the Netherlands this is really different. Everyone can be themselves and wear whatever they want to wear as long as it is appropriate.

I was also wondering if they enjoy their time at school.

The people I talked to in the Netherlands enjoy high school and college, but there are always exceptions. Mel and Mandy do not enjoy their time because they don’t like their classmates and they are not passionate about the things they learn.

What I clearly could see in the answers of the British people is that the children in high school mostly do not enjoy it.

Sarah: ‘Our teachers get paid more if their pupils get high grades, and after all that’s what they care most about.’ while Chelsea adds: ‘There’s a huge pressure brought by it, we need to pass our GCSE’s and to get there we need to learn a lot, with a huge work load.’

Chelsea is now in university, just like Charlotte and they agree on the fact you have more freedom and independent living and that there is less pressure.

Charlotte: ‘I really am enjoying my time at uni now, I’m finally doing something I want to do and am passionate about.’

14

The last questions of the interview were “How do you go to school?” and “How long does it take you to go to school?”. For these two questions I used the answers of 20 people in each country and put the results in pie charts to more clearly visualise the differences The biggest difference between England and the Netherlands are how they travel to school. The majority of people in the Netherlands travel by bike and this can take between 10 and 30 minutes.

However, in England people mostly go to school by bus or by foot and have a trip of 10 30 minutes.

15

conclusion what are the differences and similarities in the english and dutch school systems?

Although only the North Sea is between England and the Netherlands, the school systems are very different.

The ages of compulsory education are quite the same, but the type of education is different. In the Netherlands everything after primary school is divided by the intellectual capacity of the child. When you finish primary school you need to choose between 3 different levels for high school education. This doesn’t happen in England.

Subjects given are the same in the two countries until the age of 16. In England when you reach the sixth form you get 3 or 4 subjects to deepen your knowledge in, and find out if you really like doing that, and maybe want to study something to do with that topic. In the Netherlands, the amount of subjects stays quite large and subjects such as citizenship and PE stay in the program.

In both countries the government pays for most education, but not for private schools.

In England, it’s obligatory to wear school uniforms at primary and high school. In the Netherlands there’s no uniform at all, you can wear anything you want, as long as it’s appropriate.

During Lunch break most English students buy a sandwich, a bag of crisps and a chocolate bar, or if they are from a poor family, they join the program ‘free school meals’.

In the Netherlands almost all pupils take a packed lunch from home, which mostly includes a sandwich, a piece of fruit and/or biscuits and something to drink.

Another difference is found in how pupils go to school. The majority of students in the Netherlands go to school by bike, but in England not even one of the questioned pupils uses a bike to go to school.

16

references people:

sites:

(uk) Chelsea Sellers Sarah Weaver Rose Hutchinson Charlotte Kauczok Amy Taylor Courtney Burgess Libby Morris Mel Bartlett

https://www.justlanded.com/nederlands/Verenigd-Kon inkrijk/Just-Landed-Gids/Onderwijs/Introductie

(nl) Nikita de Jong Melissa van Egmond Mandy Droppert Esther Van Wijnen Gaby Voorbraak Noa Gerrits

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploa ds/attachment_data/file/381344/Master_final_national _curriculum_28_Nov.pdf http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents/subjects_taught / https://eal.britishcouncil.org/learners/how-schools-wor k-england https://www.gov.uk/topic/schools-colleges-childrens-s ervices/school-college-funding-finance http://www.educationuk.org/global/articles/16-and-und er-education-path/

http://www.allaboutschoolleavers.co.uk/articles/artic le/63/what-can-i-do-with-my-gcses https://eal.britishcouncil.org/learners/school-life-eng land http://www.educationengland.org.uk/history/ best-schools.co.uk https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/financieri ng-onderwijs/vraag-en-antwoord/hoe-financiert-de-r ijksoverheid-het-onderwijs http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/sociology/educ ation-and-sociology/history-of-english-education/

17

http://www.expatica.com/nl/education/Education-in-the-Nether lands_100816.html

http://www.easyexpat.com/nl/guides/verenigd-koninkrijk/lo nden/onderwijs/school-systeem.htm

www.gov.uk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_England

http://www.historien.nl/de-geschiedenis-van-het-nederlandseonderwijs/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_the_Netherland s

https://www.historischnieuwsblad.nl/nl/artikel/5953/middelbaar -onderwijs-in-nederland-een-halve-eeuw-strijd-tussen-beleids makers-en-scholen.html http://www.educationengland.org.uk/history/ Education system in The Netherlands - Rijksoverheid.nl

http://forum.scholieren.com/showthread.php?t=852786 https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geschiedenis_van_het_onder wijs_in_Nederland http://always2pretend.jouwweb.nl/verschillen-tussen-het-n ederlands-engels-schoolsysteem/basisschool

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attac hment_data/file/381344/Master_final_national_curriculum_28 _Nov.pdf

18

Timesheet 6 September

1pm - 2.30pm

1,5 hours

13 September

1pm - 2.30pm

1,5 hours

20 September

12pm - 2.30pm

2,5 hours

27 September

1pm - 2.30pm

1,5 hours

28 September

1.30pm - 2.30pm

1 hour

30 September

1.15pm - 1.45pm

30 min

1 October

1.30pm - 3pm

1,5 hours

6.15pm - 7pm

45 min

18 October

11am - 1pm

2 hours

21 October

10am - 1pm

3 hours

3.30 - 5.30

2 hours

total of 17h 45min

19

22 October

10.30am - 11.30am

1 hour

2.30pm - 3.30pm

1 hour

23 October

5.30pm - 6pm

30 min

3 November

1.30pm - 2pm

30 min

6 November

11am - 11.30am

30 min

12pm - 1pm

30 min

1.30pm - 2pm

30 min

11 November

12.50pm - 1pm

10 min

12 November

9.30am - 12pm

2,5 hours

15 November

4pm - 5.30 pm

1,5 hours

17 November

9am - 11.30am

2,5 hours

18 November

11.30am - 1pm

1,5 hours

total of 12h 40min

20

19 November

9.30am - 10am

30 min

11am - 12pm

1 hour

3pm - 5pm

2 hours

10am - 12pm

2 hours

12.30pm - 5pm

4,5 hours

6pm - 9pm

3 hours

22 November

4pm - 5pm

1 hour

23 November

3pm - 6pm

3 hours

29 November

4pm - 6pm

2 hours

30 November

4pm - 6pm

2 hours

2 December

1pm - 1.30pm

30 min

4 December

11am - 5pm

6 hours

total of 34h 30 min

6.30pm - 9.30pm

3 hours

(+17h 45 min +12h 40min) = 64h 55min

20 November

21