Schools should scrap "theory" programmes 04/06/2007 00:00

4 June 2007

AMSTERDAM – Schools that offer vocational training (MBO and VMBO) should stop offering programmes that do not hold out much promise of a job after graduation. Hans Nieukerke, chairman of the MO group, the sector organisation for businesses in youth welfare and childcare, said this in an interview with the AD on Monday.

Many students currently choose the theoretical track, while the demand on the labour market is for workers with practical training. Nieukerke thinks that schools, municipalities and employers should meet to decide which programmes are needed.

"At the moment municipalities are given very little input into the curriculum. But they are being saddled with thousands of young people who leave school with a useless diploma, or no diploma at all," Nieukerke says.

He says that graduates would have a better chance of finding a job if they were trained in a "real trade," like welding, masonry, or roof-laying.

Municipalities should be given more of a chance to steer schools. "Municipalities are sitting on the sidelines at the moment, they have very little influence. While a city like Rotterdam has to deal with ten thousand drop outs a year," the head of the MO group said.

The Netherlands Association of Vocational Education and Training Colleges said in a reaction that the programmes at schools are coordinated to meet demand on the labour market.

[Copyright Expatica News 2007]

Subject: Dutch news