Basic quality standards for special care in the dutch caribbean education
All schools must comply with the education acts that apply to the Dutch Caribbean islands: for primary education this is the Primary Education Act (WPO BES), for secondary education the Secondary Education Act (WVO BES), for secondary vocational education the Adult and Vocational Education Act (WEB BES) and for the former Mandatory Social Training Act (SVP) the act for Social Opportunity Projects for the Young (SKJ). These acts state, for example, that teaching must comply with attainment targets and compulsory teaching time. The acts do not state how the school should teach; a school can decide this for itself. Each school does so in its own way.
The government does, however, impose conditions on teaching and special care. After all, our education is funded by tax payers’ money. For this reason, schools must comply with acts and regulations known as Statutory Regulations. Compliance with these regulations is a prerequisite for government funding. Operating within the perimeters set by these acts and regulations, schools may decide for themselves how they choose to teach or shape their care.
The same constitutional law also lays down that teaching must be inspected. The Inspection of Teaching fulfills two important tasks, i.e. to assess 1) compliance with the previously mentioned Statutory Regulations and 2) the quality of teaching. To a large extent the quality of teaching is secured by the statutory regulations, but also by the extent to which schools use their discretionary freedom in shaping their educational program. To evaluate this, the inspectorate has set a number of minimum quality criteria which the quality of teaching must fulfill. These Basic Quality Standards are founded on the Education Inspection Act (WOT), which also applies to the Dutch Caribbean. In some cases, they correspond with to the statutory regulations from sectoral legislation.
Even if they attend classes at the EOZ, special needs pupils/participants remain enrolled in their own school/institution. Hence, the school/institution remains responsible for the education and related (care) facilities. The Inspectorate of Education assesses teaching that goes on within the walls of the EOZ on this basis.
There is a difference between complying with statutory regulations and complying with basic quality standards.
Because schools and school boards in the Dutch Caribbean have limited experience with a care structure, inspections in the first two years will focus on monitoring the set-up and development of an adequate care structure. This publication on basic quality standards describes the basic quality expected of the care structure. The document also forms the inspectorate’s guideline for monitoring progress on the establishment of a care structure and for reporting in terms of satisfactory or unsatisfactory progress. The inspectorate’s basic assumption is that both schools and the EOZ will meet the basic quality standards as described in this document by 1 August 2013 at the latest.
For the above reasons, this document indicates for each basic quality standard whether it is also a statutory regulation. These are highlighted in red. In addition, the effective date for each basic quality standard is indicated. As of that date, they are subject to inspection.
The document concludes with an overview of the statutory regulations related to care which are based on various sectoral legislation acts. Schools are expected to give high priority to correct implementation of these regulations, and the Inspectorate of Education gives similar corresponding priority to the implementation of these statutory regulations.