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Traditionally, the german secondary education consisted of the Gymnasium, the Realschule, and the Hauptschule, which were individual schools that taught students at different levels and preparing them for different jobs and lives later on.
In addition to that, starting in primary education, there were Förderschulen (here called Sonderschulen, an old, politically not correct term any more). These schools taught all children with diagnosed difficulties that made it difficult for them to be taught in regular public schools.

Starting in 2008, when Germany ratified the UN-CRPD, the process of inclusion was legally mandated, but to this day many children are being taught in special Förderschulen.

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Explanation of Dutch Inclusive Education

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Explanation of Dutch Inclusive Education

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Due to the special nature of the initiative for inclusive schools from the UN to the national governments, the realisation of the CRPD varies, even within one nation. Since the German educational system is federally organized, each state has to find individual ways to make inclusive schooling a reality.

Studies have shown that the historically grown federalism in Germany has prevented some states from following through on their responsibility to establish an inclusive school system. The authors conclude that "most german states haven't, on a structural and procedural level, taken sufficient measures to implement article 24 of the CRPD. In some cases they have even done the opposite." (Steinmetz et.al. 243)

Some states such as Bremen have put a strong focus on inclusive schools, which can be seen by the high inclusion rate in their schools in 2020/21 of 90.1%. The inclusion rate is the rate of all students in need of special education who are being taught in regular classes. Other states, such as Bavaria or Baden-Württemberg, have continued on a more traditional path which puts more focus on special education schools and less on inclusion. Their inclusion rates in 2020/21 were at 31.1 and 32.5%. Steinmetz et. al. point out that these states have not implemented structural changes that would transform their school systems according to the UN-CRPD.

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This chart shows the situation of special education in all 16 German states between 2010 and 2020. The two horizontal lines in each state stand for 5 and 10 percent of the overall student population.
The Inklusionsquote is the rate of students in need of special education that are being taught inclusively in regular schools relative to the whole student population. This is represented as the light orange graph.
The Förderschulbesuchsquote is not only a lovely German word, but also the rate of all students visiting special education schools. In the scholarly discourse this is also often called the exclusion rate. This is repsented as the dark orange graph.

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All students should have a place in a school that suits their qualities and abilities. Inclusive education should ensure that every child achieves their full potential. Schools therefore provide extra help to students who need it, such as children with learning or behavioral problems.

With inclusive education, the government aims to achieve the following:

All children receive a place that matches their educational support needs.

A child attends a regular school if possible.

A child attends special education if intensive guidance is needed.

Schools have the capacity for customized educational support.

The child's abilities and educational needs determine their placement, not their limitations.

Children no longer stay at home for extended periods because there is no suitable place to receive education.

Appropriate Placement for Students through Duty of Care
Schools have a duty of care, meaning that they are responsible for providing an appropriate educational placement. This duty helps to achieve the goal of inclusive education.

Schools Provide Basic Support
Schools must at least provide basic support, which is the support offered by all schools in a region. For example, help for students with dyslexia.

Schools Provide Extra Guidance
In addition to basic support, schools offer extra guidance to students. For example, to students with a behavioral disorder. A personal development plan contributes to the quality of this guidance.

Source: Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap. (2021, 22 december). Doelen passend onderwijs. Passend onderwijs | Rijksoverheid.nl. https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/passend-onderwijs/doelen-passend-onderwijs

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The Duty of Care and Collaboration between Schools in Providing Appropriate Education

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The Duty of Care and Collaboration between Schools in Providing Appropriate Education

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In order to provide every child with a suitable education, schools have a duty of care and work together in a region. These collaborative partnerships ensure that there is a suitable place for all students in the area.

Schools' Duty of Care
Schools must ensure that every child gets a suitable education, even if the child needs extra guidance and support. This obligation for schools is called the duty of care. The duty of care applies to children who are already enrolled in school and those who are being registered. The school, in consultation with the parents, seeks a suitable place. The options are:

The child's own school

Another regular school if the school of choice cannot provide the necessary help

A school for (secondary) special education

The government uses the duty of care to prevent children from being sent from school to school, for example because there is no suitable education available for them at their preferred school.

School Support Profile
The school support profile specifies the additional support that the school can provide to students. It also outlines the school's goals for the future. Teachers, management, and the board work together to create the school support profile. Parents can use information about the school support profile to determine if a school is suitable for their child.

Collaborative Partnership between Regular Schools and Special Education Schools
Regular schools and special education schools work together. Within the collaborative partnership, they make agreements about how extra support is arranged in the region. This offering must be comprehensive. This means that all children in the area can receive a suitable education. Together, schools can:

Establish basic support on all schools in the area

Provide every child with a suitable education

Arrange for extra educational support

Provide a place for children who need it in special education

Allocate the budget for additional guidance in schools

The collaborative partnership's agreements are outlined in the support plan.

Monitoring the Schools' Responsibilities
The Education Inspectorate supervises the implementation of the collaborative partnership's tasks. This is to ensure the quality and approach of the collaboration.

The inspectorate checks whether:

The collaborative partnerships are executing their tasks properly

They allocate their budget for additional student support fairly and correctly

They function well organizationally.

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The responsibility of schools in inclusive education

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The responsibility of schools in inclusive education

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Inclusive education places an obligation on schools to provide all students who require additional support with a good educational environment. This means that schools are responsible for offering appropriate educational opportunities to these students. To achieve this, regular and special schools collaborate in partnerships.

Basic support in regular schools
All collaborating regular schools in a region offer the same basic support. The schools work together to determine what falls under basic support, such as:

help for students with dyslexia or dyscalculia;
programs aimed at preventing or addressing behavioral problems;
guidelines for medical procedures.
The support plan of the partnership indicates what constitutes basic support.

Extra support in regular schools
Some schools offer additional guidance to students in addition to basic support, such as a special class for students with behavioral disorders or training in social skills. They sometimes collaborate with institutions for youth care and support. The school indicates what additional support they can provide in their school support profile.

Developmental perspective for students receiving additional support
For all students who receive additional support alongside basic support, the school creates a developmental perspective. In this perspective, the school outlines the educational goals for the student. What level is being pursued? What will the student do after completing the program? It also includes the additional support the school provides. The school consults with the parents about the developmental perspective.

Support from special schools
Students who require special or intensive guidance can attend special education, such as children with physical or intellectual disabilities.

Collaborative problem-solving
If you disagree with the decision regarding your child's admission or have issues with the support provided, the school is always the first point of contact. If you cannot resolve the issue with the school, contact the partnership. If you cannot reach a solution with the school and the partnership, you can use the services of an education (care) consultant at no cost. These consultants operate throughout the country.

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Classification of Students with Special Needs

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Classification of Students with Special Needs

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Generally, students who are in need of special assistance in school are categorized through 7 different criteria. These are called Förderschwerpunkt which translates to the focus of support being given to the child.

The seven categories are distinguished by the area in which the students need additional support:
- Emotional and social development
- Cognitive development
- Hearing and communication
- Bodily and motor development
- Learning
- Seeing
- Language

As you can tell, the focus in the German school system regarding inclusion focusses mostly on those students who have certain disabilities or difficulties. When talking about inclusion it is rarely if ever mentioned that overly gifted children or just simply children who are going through a tough time are being included as well. Inclusion and receiving specific support is a long-term process focussing on including those students into the public schools that before would have visited Förderschulen.

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Approach to tackling early school leaving (ESL)

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Approach to tackling early school leaving (ESL)

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The Dutch government aims to prevent young people aged 12 to 23 from leaving school without a basic qualification (ESL). Without a basic qualification, young people have fewer job opportunities. The government, schools, and municipalities work together to help young people return to school.

Causes of ESL
In the 2020/2021 school year, there were 24,385 early school leavers. An early school leaver is a young person who:

is between the ages of 12 and 23;

is not enrolled in a school;

does not have a basic qualification (a diploma at least at the level of MBO 2, HAVO or VWO);

does not come from practical education or special secondary education.

Young people leave school early for various reasons. Often it is a combination of causes that contribute to dropping out of school, such as:

making the wrong choice of study;

preferring to earn money rather than attend school;

personal and mental problems;

differing expectations about the education between the school and the student.

Young people who start working without a basic qualification have a greater chance of losing their job than an employee with a diploma. They also have more flexible jobs, which means that they have little income as adults.

Measures against early school leaving
The approach consists of three parts. Secondary schools and vocational schools try to prevent early school leaving themselves as much as possible. Municipalities approach young people if they still leave school early or skip classes frequently. Schools and municipalities also collaborate on a regional plan with measures. All regions have such a plan. The national government provides funding for this approach.

Preventing early school leaving in vocational education
Vocational institutions take measures themselves to improve the quality of education and appropriate guidance for students. These are stated in the quality agendas. Vocational schools and the national government have agreed to focus on vulnerable youth and equal opportunities. Vocational institutions decide themselves how to spend the money. An independent commission assesses the plan of each vocational school.

Regional reporting and coordination function of municipalities
Municipalities have a legal obligation to combat early school leaving: the Regional Reporting and Coordination function (RMC function). The people who perform this task are called RMC consultants (advisors). The RMC consultants guide school dropouts back to school. They establish contact by, for example, visiting, calling or sending a letter. They encourage young people to obtain their diploma. If this is not feasible, the RMC consultants guide the youth towards work or another daily activity, such as treatment in a care program or volunteering. The consultants also establish contact with young people who frequently skip classes, as truancy is sometimes a warning sign of school dropout.

In addition to working with schools, they collaborate extensively with municipalities and healthcare organizations. The role of healthcare organizations is to guide young people with personal and mental health problems, helping to prevent early school leaving.

Municipalities receive nearly €37 million annually to carry out the RMC function.

Regional cooperation between schools and municipalities
The regional plan outlines the measures that schools and municipalities jointly implement to prevent dropouts.

The most common measures include:

Providing extra support in schools for young people who need more help, for example through teachers, counselors, or youth workers who engage in dialogue with young people to offer advice.

Offering transition coaching to young people who struggle to make a good study choice.

Providing assistance to young people after dropping out of school, for example by conducting research into a new education or work opportunity or helping with personal issues. Regions provide young people with training in self-awareness, behavior, and gaining social experience.

Addressing absenteeism in schools. If a young person is frequently absent or sick, there may be more going on.

Schools, municipalities, counselors, and youth physicians work together to help young people return to school as much as possible.

The Dutch government annually allocates €49.6 million for the regional dropout prevention program, with municipalities receiving €19.2 million and vocational schools €30.4 million. Municipalities and schools jointly create a plan for the use of this money. Currently, the plans run from 2021 to 2024.

Goals of addressing early school leaving
The Dutch government aims to achieve three goals in its effort to address early school leaving:

1. Reduce the number of dropouts. The government aims to have a maximum of 20,000 new early school leavers by 2024, which is over 4,000 fewer than the number of dropouts in the 2020-2021 school year.

2. Guide early school leavers back to school or work.

3. Assist vulnerable young people in transitioning to further education or finding a job.

Sources:
- Ingrado. (2022, September). Infographic Methodische Aanpak Schoolverzuim (MAS). https://ingrado.nl/kennisbank/items/de-mas-actuele-formats-en-bijbehorende-documenten

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Infographic Methodische Aanpak Schoolverzuim (MAS) september 2022

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Compare the two systems with one another, keeping in mind the UN-Convention.
Discuss the benefits and issues with each system in the comments below.