Netherlands
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The educational system in the Netherlands is administered at a national level by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sciences. Although we have quite a history of segregated special education there is no separate department for special needs education. The government launched three policy programmes, all aimed at stimulating the integration of pupils with special needs.
In 1990, a new government policy document, 'Together to School Again' (the so-called WSNS policy), intended to make a fresh start in integrating pupils with special needs. Under this policy, all primary schools and the special schools for learning disabled and mild mentally retarded pupils have been grouped into regional clusters. It resulted in mainstream and special schools working together; special needs co-ordinators appointed in every mainstream school, launching of training programmes, passing new legislation, and in drawing up new regulations for funding of mainstream and special schools.
In 1995, parliament decided to change the funding system drastically: each of the 300 school clusters was to be funded equally, based on the total enrolment in primary education. Regions had to adapt their special education provision to the new funding structure. Some regions may have had to close special schools, especially in areas where there was a high degree of segregated provision compared to other regions, while other areas received additional funds as a reward for a regional effective integration policy.
For secondary schools offering education for pupils with learning difficulties and mild mentally retarded, a restructuring of mainstream secondary education and secondary special education has been proposed in 1995. The idea is to rearrange the lower forms of mainstream secondary education and secondary special education into four types of instructional programmes. Next to these four programmes an individual support structure will be developed. This can be seen as the individual variant of each of the four programmes, using a methodology, didactic and pedagogical approach more suited to the individual needs of pupils.
The plan is to change the legal status of parts of secondary special education. Secondary special education for pupils with learning difficulties and mild mentally retarded will no longer be part of a separate special education law, but will become an integral part of the new secondary education law.
In line with the integration policy for the elementary special schools - the WSNS policy - schools for secondary education and schools for secondary special education have to work together in school clusters. The funding for the clusters will be based on the currently available budget for the schools in the cluster. In the near future, however, the clusters will be funded equally, based on the total enrolment in this section of secondary education.
For the education of the other types of special needs (pupils with sensory, physical, or mental disabilities or behavioural problems) a separate line of policy development has recently been started. Until now, these pupils can only receive the support they need after admittance to a full-time special school. Recent government reports propose that the financing mechanism (funding special schools on the basis of the number of children that are placed) should be stopped in favour of linking financing of special services to the pupil involved, regardless of the type of schooling. The idea is to change from a supply-oriented financing to a demand-oriented financing. If a pupil meets the criteria for this so-called 'pupil-bound budget', parents and pupils can choose a school, special or mainstream, and take part in decision making on the best way to use the funds in order to meet the pupil's special needs.
The new policies are being implemented right now. Dutch special needs education is changing daily and almost all the organisations mentioned in the National Pages are involved.