Schools that provide special education will continue to exist, State Secretary Judith Tielen (Education, VVD) has said. She was responding to a survey by the General Education Union, which found that more than half of teachers are opposed to merging regular and special education.
According to Tielen, the survey reflects a misunderstanding about how far the cabinet intends to go with integrating education types.
The cabinet plans to make schools inclusive by 2035. This would allow all pupils, including those who currently attend special education, to enrol in mainstream schools. However, Tielen stressed that this does not mean special education will disappear. “As far as I am concerned, special education will continue to exist for those students who need it,” she said.
A spokesperson for Tielen said it is not yet clear how many special education schools will remain. Data from Statistics Netherlands (CBS) shows that more than 107,000 pupils are currently in special education. Around 1.3 million children attend regular primary schools, while nearly 920,000 students are in mainstream secondary education.
@anp | NEWS BRAINPORT
