In the Netherlands school attendance is compulsory for all children between the ages of 5 and 16. From the age of 16 there is a two-year, part-time compulsory education phase. Children generally attend primary school at the age of 4, until 11 or 12 years of age. In the first grades children receive some 800 hours of education annually, while in the higher grades 1,000 hours of education are given. A week consists of five school days.

The educational system is characterised by homogeneous grouping. Children who do not master the educational matter may have to repeat a year. In this year-group system children have to deal with a set amount of educational material throughout the year. Generally, children (and their parents) receive a progress report several times a year, which may also serve as the basis for the decision for a child to repeat a year.

The end of primary school is marked by tests (national examinations) in which the majority of schools participate. This assessment procedure is important in the process of choosing the best type of secondary education placement. After a relatively short transition period (one or two years) in a secondary school the pupils have to choose between the different types of secondary education. Secondary education in the Netherlands is highly tracked. It comprises:
- pre-university education (VWO; 6 years, age 12-18);
- senior general secondary education (HAVO; 5 years; age 12-17);
- junior general secondary education (MAVO; 4 years, age 12-16);
- pre-vocational education (VBO; 4 years, age 12-16), including an individual track (IVBO);
- special education for learning and/or behavioural problems (VSO-LOM ; 2 years, age 12-13);
- special education for learning difficulties (VSO-MLK; 4 years, age 12-16).

Post secondary Education is provided by MBO (senior secondary vocational education). It provides both full- and part-time vocational education and training in all professions and on several levels. For this overview, the two lower levels are relevant: courses on the assistant level (1 year) and courses in MBO (2 years). Intheory these courses are accessible for everyone who has followed education for 10 years or more. In practice, the technical courses, for instance, require pre-vocational education.

All secondary education pays attention to transition to post compulsory education, e.g. senior secondary vocational education (MBO). Here an important focus is the transition of students to the labour market. The amount of attention for transition to secondary education depends on the type of education and the schools. In pre-vocational education (VBO) pupils choose vocational subjects in their third year when they are 14. Teachers from these schools and from the institutes for senior secondary education give information about further education (and thus about professions and working life).

For detailed information regarding the organisation of mainstream educational services in the Netherlands, please visit for information in English the Eurydice information service at:
http://www.eurydice.org/Eurybase/Files/NLEN/tcNLEN.htm.  See for information in Dutch: http://www.eurydice.org/Eurybase/Files/NLVO/tcNLVO.htm

Special education refers to a separate system of special provision. This includes the  peripatetic supervision of pupils in mainstream education. Separate primary and secondary special education is provided for children for whom it has been established that a special approach is most appropriate.

Special educational provision currently has ten different categories, including: schools for the deaf, the visually impaired, the physically handicapped, the severely mentally retarded and pupils with serious behaviour problems. These ten types of provision are in separate schools. There are also specialist departments located within particular types of special education schools (e.g. a department for children with severe speech disorders in a school for hearing impaired children). The system is now being reorganised into four types of so-called Expertise Centres (see the section on development of integration/inclusion).

Pupils returning from special to mainstream education are entitled to certain facilities, as are pupils with sensory, physical or multiple handicaps, who although they are eligible for special education have not been referred to a special school. These facilities in the form of so-called preventive ambulant teaching are used to an increasing extent. Almost .003 per cent of all pupils receive ambulant teaching in primary and secondary schools.

Contrary to the prevailing practice of referring pupils with special educational needs to special schools is the growing number of pupils with Down's Syndrome in mainstream education. Over the last ten years the number of such pupils in mainstream primary education has risen from a few to over a quarter of the relevant age population. In secondary mainstream education the integration of these pupils is only just starting. The Dutch government has followed this development by ad hoc changes to rules and regulations aimed at providing extra support in mainstream educational settings.

Special primary education caters for the same age group as mainstream primary schools. The age at which pupils are admitted varies: at some schools children may be admitted at the age of 3, whereas the minimum age is 6 at other schools.

Although the law does not set clear guidelines, secondary special education is intended for the same age as mainstream secondary education with an upper age limit of 20. Only in special cases can pupils attend the school over this age.

The participation rate in special education varies according to handicap and age group. Overall, about 1.8 per cent of all children of  primary and secondary school age participate in separate special education. There has been a remarkable growth in pupils attending separate special schools over the past decades. The growth has not been equally evident in each type of school.