The Bridge between Vocational and General Education in

The Bridge between Vocational and General Education in the Netherlands Presentation ECER Vienna 30 September 2009 Wil van Esch & Jan Neuvel Expertisecenter Vocational and Adult education (ECBO) Den Bosch/Amsterdam-The Netherlands wil. vanesch@ecbo. nl

Pre-vocational secondary education (vmbo) • Lasts 4 years • Not intended as terminal education, but a basis for further education • Vmbo caters for pupils between 12 and 16 • Vmbo has 4 learning pathways: basic vocational programme (BL), middle-management vocational programme (KL), the combined programma (GL) and theoretical programme (TL) • BL and KL are intended for the more practically oriented pupils, GL and TL for the more theoretically oriented pupils

Senior general secondary education (havo) • Pupils with a certificate vmbo GL and TL are allowed to enter the 4 th year of havo • All pupils entering the 4 th year havo have to choose one of the following profiles: Culture&society, economics&society, science&health, science&technology

Conceptual framework • Early tracking is feature of Dutch education system: at the age of 12 pupils have to choose between vocational en academic tracks • Early tracking has been critisized, for instance by OECD: ‘In the end, postponement of the present early tracking regime seems inevitable, although this is a major change in the way Dutch society thinks of itself’ • Change of the tracking system is not an issue • More room for storage • Storage is called the Dutch dream. In principle it is possible to start at prevocational secondary education and to end as a professor. Compare: from paper boy to president • Vmbo-TL-havo route is the main connection route between vocational en academic tracks

Research questions 1. What is the extent of the transition from vmbo to havo 4? 2. How successful are vmbo students in havo? 3. Do students coming from vmbo differ from students that continued havo according their future after finishing havo? 4. What policy do havo-schools have concerning the transition of vmbo pupils to havo? 5. What do havo-schools do for vmbo pupils when they are at the havo-school?

Research design Two directions: • Analysis of Cfi-data (1 st three questions) • Questionnaire for a sample of havoschools (question 4 en 5)

1. Extent • What is the extent of the transition from vmbo to havo 4?

Transition of pupils from vmbo-GL and TL to havo as percentage of the total amount of students with a certificate 30 25 20. 8 20 17. 9 15 15. 5 16. 6 10 7. 4 5 3. 9 4. 7 5. 7 theor. comb. 0 % total cohort 2 cohort 3 cohort 4 cohort 5

Transition of boys and girls as percentage of the total amount of pupils with a certificate 30 25 20 15 man theor 10 man com woman th 5 woman com 0 % cohort 2 cohort 3 cohort 4 cohort 5

Transition of native and migrant students as percentage of the amount of students with a certificate in each group 30 25 20 15 10 native theor native comb 5 migrant theor migrant comb 0 % cohort 2 cohort 3 cohort 4 cohort 5

2. Success • How successful are vmbo students in havo?

Havo certificate in 2 or 3 years 100 80 66. 2 60 66. 8 67. 6 60. 7 61. 5 Track 2 years sen. gen. 40 2 years pre-voc 20. 3 20. 1 20, 4 (estimation) 20 3 years sen. gen. 13. 8 12. 6 12, 5 (estimation) 0 % cohort 2 cohort 3 cohort 4 3 years pre-voc

3. Future after havo • Do students coming from vmbo differ from students that continued havo according to their future after finishing havo?

School career havo students, comparison senior general sec. ed. vs. pre-vocational sec. ed.

4. What policy do havo-schools have concerning the transition of vmbo pupils to havo? - 4 Out of 10 havo schools are neutral, 6 out of 10 are positive as regards vmbo students - 1 Out of 9 enrolled students are refused - Three quarters of havo schools has an information policy - Intake interviews are widespread - Nearly all havo schools make use of additional admission requisites

5. What do havo-schools do for vmbo pupils when they are at the havo-school? - 20% gives structural support, 16% ocassionally and less than two thirds gives no extra support former vmbo students - Estimation of havo schools: mastery of subjects by vmbo students less than former havo students, motivation to learn, dedication and extent of independent learning are almost the same. To some degree this was surprising.

Additional admission requisites 2008 vs. 2007

Overview of main results • The route vmbo-havo is becoming more and more important • Relatively more for migrant workers • Former havo 3 pupils are more successful than former vmbo pupils. Understandable? • Most students with a havo certificate (80%) continue their career in higher professional education, former havo students more than former vmbo students • Majority of havo schools sympathetic to the transition of vmbo students • A vmbo-certificate is in itself not sufficient, there are extra admission requisites

Overview of main results ctd • Three quarters of havo schools organize information activities (f. e. for deans and/or students/parents), most of the havo schools hold intake interviews • Schools organise not much systematic support for vmbo students , seems in contradiction with the result that vmbo students stay behind as regards subject material • As regards motivation to learn, dedication and independent learning there are nof differnces. Remarkable.

Conclusions - The vmbo-havo route builds an important bridge betwwen vocational and general education. - Havo schools spend as regards vmbo students much energy on the front side (extra admissions requisites, vmbo students are not allowed to repeat the 4 th year) - When vmbo students are at the havo school there is hardly any structural support, despite of the perception of havo schools that they stay behind as regards subject material - By balancing the efforts as regards to vmbo students havo schools can contribute to a more successful school career of vmbo students at havo - Particularly since vmbo students are faced with a change of school and therefore a culture change and vmbo students relatively more belong to migrant students.