Wet Voorschriften vrijstelling leerplicht bij richtingbezwaren

Reactie

Vraag1

Thank you for the opportunity to provide comment regarding the proposed 'home' education bill. While all children have a right to a high quality education, that maintain high quality Dutch standards, the bill in its current form is a step backwards when compared to what is already in place today -- it appears to even more bureaucratic as it places a higher and unfair administrative burden on bespoke educators (primary caregivers/parents) without providing directly measurable educational benefits or tangible outcomes. The bill should be withdrawn as it appears to assume a rather a dated 'geographic' view of where education should principally take place. -- the home. As we are likely to be living with COVID-19, it should be noted that education in many countries has moved 'online' to cater to potentially 'lockdown' scenarios -- with subject matter delivery done digitally, remotely and often asynchronously. Rather than using the principle perspective of where education takes place (the 'home') and who is accountable for its delivery (i.e. the principal caregiver), there is now the opportunity to shelve this bill and craft a more forward looking digital delivery mechanisms that supplements well known Dutch tertiary i.e. university standards -- all should be seen on the continuum of livelong learning. The opportunity here is to work together with existing Dutch 'home schooling community' such as NVvTO - www.thuisonderwijs.nl - to craft a practical online delivery methodology for the Netherlands ... in a 'living with COVID-19' world. The bill as drafted, appears to be solving a political accountability problem, and doesn't solve the practical problems that all Dutch parents are now realizing they may be facing -- how not to interrupt education despite widespread disease. From this wider perspective, the status quo should be extended as we are potentially 'all homesschoolers now' -- with a wider view that the Netherlands is the 'home'. It is strongly recommended that the geographic view be replaced with a temporal view (synchronous vs asynchronous) -- should the bill proceed in its current form it risks solving the wrong problem at the wrong time. There's still time to pivot and deliver continuous digital education in the Netherlands that exploits its excellent Internet infrastructure -- one that is a better fit for a educationally disrupted, global warming world where diseases such as COVID-19 may be, unfortunately, more common.