Page 68 - Guiding-at-risk-youth-through-learning-to-work-Lessons-from-across-Europe

Guiding at-risk youth through learning to work
Lessons from across Europe

• municipal agreements: one of the flagship initiatives is the establishment of agreements
(‘covenants’) with municipalities to reduce school drop-out. Through the agreements, any
school that reduces its drop-out rate receives EUR 2 000 for each young person they have
encouraged to stay in education compared to the previous year. Schools are free to choose
their own method of reducing the number of early school leavers but partnership working,
career guidance and one-to-one support are at the heart of most agreements;

• reinforced guidance and counselling: the programme emphasises the importance of career
guidance. In the past, school guidance systems have let certain groups of young people
down, particularly those who do not want to follow traditional paths and those studying in
vocational schools. The programme is working to change this. Good practices are being
collected and disseminated about effective ways of delivering career guidance and the sector
is undergoing a period of change towards greater professionalisation.

New funds have ensured that upper secondary VET students benefit from similar support to
VET students at the lower secondary level; they are also supported at the transition point and
followedup afterwards. Further, experimental vocational pathways have been piloted since
2008, offering a continuous, seamless education programme, as opposed to the two-tier VET
programme provided by the current system.

The number of special needs advisory teams has been increased and the government intends
to have a special needs advisory team in every school by 2011. These teams comprise a range
of different professionals, including youth services, social workers, the police and judicial
authorities. The teams aim to identify at-risk young people and offer them timely support: too
often the problems of young people are detected too late. Today, every ninth general secondary
school has a team in place and around 70 % of upper secondary VET schools have established
one. The advisory teams have proved particularly effective in vocational schools.

• Validation opportunities for employed early school leavers: the availability of work-based,
vocational training places is being expanded with thousands of new places for under 23-year-
olds from disadvantaged backgrounds. The aim is to ensure that 20 000 early school leavers
aged 18-23 have the opportunity to have the skills, experiences and competences they have
gained at work validated. It is achieved through agreements with large employers (such the
Ministry of Defence) who will provide training programmes for these young people, together
with opportunities to achieve accreditation.

Evidence indicates that the measures have been successful in reducing the level of early school
leaving in the country: there was a reduction of 22 200 drop-outs between 2002 and 2008 (down
from 71 000 to 48 800). The trend has continued since the introduction of the new programmes.
In the past year, since the implementation of the municipal agreements (covenants), the number
dropped from 53 100 to 48 800. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science reviews the
effectiveness of the policies in schools and municipalities at the end of the programme period,
with a view to promoting the most successful policies and discouraging the least effective.

Based on information from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science
(http://www.voortijdigschoolverlaten.nl/), Cinop (http://www.cinop.nl) and the Social and Cultural Planning Office of
the Netherlands.

Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis carried out one study which
forecast that the cost of the programme will be covered by expected reductions in
crime, social security payments, etc. (Cinop, www.cinop.nl, 2008).
The Dutch policy approach represents good practice in the way it promotes
collaboration between key players and supporting local solutions under the
national framework policy. Dissemination of good practices across the country
can be challenging and it is good to see that these efforts are made possible by

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