Equality of Opportunity in Education and Training - Programmes under the Ministry of Education - Netherlands

Education Curricula

The following aspects of the curricula in the Netherlands are relevant to women and employment:

1. The subjects of Technology and Information Studies were introduced in the first phase of secondary education in 1993. In addition, the subject of Care was introduced, specifically to arouse more interest among boys for caring and caring responsibilities.
2. The participation of girls and women in technical training courses and adult education is being encouraged in the sector of vocational and adult education. The range of training in higher education is also being organised (in consultation with AXIS, for instance) so that it fits in better with the interests and educational demands of women and girls, in order to encourage them to choose technical training courses.
3. In an effort to widen the educational base of young people, four subject combinations have been introduced in the upper years of senior general secondary and pre-university education. They consist of one art, one social science and two science combinations. All of these subject combinations will include mathematics, the precise content of which will depend largely on the focus of the overall subject combination. The Science and Technology and Science and Health combinations have been introduced to attract more girls to the sciences.

A number of adult education projects have been established for women with a low level of education who may additionally be living on benefit and have children to care for. Vocational colleges for women run practical job-related courses to meet their specific training needs.

Preventing the misuse of power in schools and colleges is one of the spearheads of government policy. In addition to the Elimination of Sexual Abuse and Sexual Harassment in Education Act 1998 there are a number of other measures to prevent sexual harassment in the education system. In its policy document " De veilige schoor' (Safe schools") the Ministry emphasises that children can function well at school only in safe surroundings. Schools must themselves try to create a safe atmosphere and should therefore take measures to prevent the sexual harassment of both boys and girls. A measure to prevent sexual harassment in schools was recently proposed by the Secretary of State for Education to the Lower House of Parliament: this would require every educational establishment that suspects sexual harassment to report this to the police as a "suspicion of a criminal offence". This would supplement the existing measures to prevent sexual harassment. A measure of this kind has, for example, been included in the Working Conditions Act, under which the competent authority (i.e. the municipal authority in the case of municipal schools and the school board in the case of private schools) and the school head are obliged to take measures to protect pupils and staff from sexual harassment and its consequences. Since 1992 every competent authority has also been required to have a scheme to prevent and combat the sexual harassment of teachers. A survey conducted by the Education Inspectorate in 1996 revealed that these complaints schemes are not yet in widespread use in education.

This project was started in the vocational education and adult education sector. As the name suggests, this involves monitoring the progress of women and girls studying technical subjects in order to improve their advancement. Primary schools too are being encouraged to include technology as part of the overall curriculum.