Dutch primary school education includes both general education, as well as special education for children with learning and behavioural difficulties.

Compulsory education under Dutch law applies to children of all nationalities from the age of five to the age of eighteen, but often public schools start at the age of four.

Pupils generally progress through eight grades, primarily based on age groups. But some schools also group children of different ages and of different learning levels together.

Obligatory subjects are: sensory co-ordination, Dutch, arithmetic, English, art and music, geography, history, science and nature, social structures, and religious and ideological movements.

Schools are required to not only teach but also impart social skills and insights. Attention is also given to the fact the Netherlands is comprised of different ethnic groups.

Select Dutch secondary schools offer a bi-lingual programme (mainly English and Dutch, but also Dutch in combination with French, German and Spanish), based on the Dutch HAVO and VWO-curricula. In this programme non– language subjects as Sciences, Humanities, Art and PE are taught through the non-Dutch language

Some two-thirds of all Dutch children attend private schools, the majority of which are Roman Catholic or Protestant, but there are also a good selection of Jewish, Islamic, Hindu and non-denominational private schools.

Some schools use various methods such as the Montessori, Jena Plan, Dalton or Freinet systems of education. The child's capabilities and an examination in the last year of primary school (around age 11), called the Cito test (Cito toets), will help decide which secondary school he or she will attend.

Primary schools are government-funded and are thus paid for via taxes, but parents will be requested to pay a set fee per year for "extras".

Secondary Education

There are four streams of secondary education.

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