education

The Dutch government is implementing a large number of rules, regulations, and law changes at the stroke of midnight on January 1. Below is a summary of changes made in the category Family:

The percentage of female educators in higher education is on the rise, but slowly, according to figures from the Dutch network of female professors LNHV. If this pace continues, the Netherlands will only reach a balance of 50 percent female and 50 percent male professors in 2042, the network said.

Currently 23.1 percent of professors in the Netherlands are women, up from 20.9 percent last year - the biggest increase in Dutch history. On the downside, the percentage of women among associate professors decreased from 28.6 to 28.4 percent.

The 5,400 students of 16 primary schools in Amsterdam Nieuw-West will not be able to attend classes this week, with their school closed for emergency meetings. The schools, part of the Stichting Openbaar Basisonderwijs Westelijke Tuinsteden (STWT) announced in November that it would close the doors to their locations for one week while its teachers, staff, and administrators try to come up with a solution to the worsening teacher shortage in the Netherlands.

Over the past six years, universities in the Netherlands left at least 2 million euros in subsidies intended to promote promising female scientists untouched. A fifth of women eligible for grants through these subsidies did not get them, even though they applied for them, the Volkskrant reports based on its own research.

The school performance of 15-year-olds in the Netherlands is deteriorating. Especially the reading ability of Netherlands' teens is declining compared to other countries, according to the annual PISA survey, in which 77 countries participate, including the 37 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Compared to the rich OECD countries, Dutch teens' reading ability is below average. 

The interest that school pupils in the Netherlands on average have in their school subjects as well as their average grades have fallen over the past years, according to a study among 170 thousand pupils in HAVO and VWO by study platform Qompas. The declining interest likely has to do with traditional lessons finding it increasingly difficult to connect with teenagers' rapidly changing world, Qompas director Boris Eustatia said to NOS.

Multiple Dutch universities are calling their exchange students back from Hong Kong, due to the increasing tensions in the city. The Dutch educational institutions decided to make an active effort to facilitate their exchange students' return to the Netherlands, as a precaution, NU.nl reports.

The University of Amsterdam, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Utrecht University, Leiden University, and TU Delft all confirmed to the newspaper that they are facilitating the return of their students. Radboud University Nijmegen said the same to the Telegraaf.  

The Montessori College in Arnhem fired one of its teachers for having a relationship with one of their pupils, a 17-year-old girl, the school announced in a letter to parents on Monday. "This is not accepted within education and therefore not within our school. In addition to the termination of employment, we reported this event to various authorities", director Sander Luttje wrote, De Gelderlander reports.

With teachers in primary- and secondary education across the Netherlands striking on Wednesday, many a parent will be wondering what to do with their kids on this extra free day. Zoos and amusement parks across the country are there to help, according to a list compiled by newspaper AD.

A number of the larger attractions are opening on Wednesday, even though they're actually already closed or partially closed for the winter. Others are offering discounts.

The Dutch cabinet announced on Friday it had reached an agreement with teachers unions and employers to boost government spending in education by roughly 460 million euros, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in an interview on broadcaster NOS. The deal puts an end to a planned November 6 strike by primary and secondary school teachers and special education instructors teachers union AOb told the broadcaster.

Christine Lagarde, who will soon be president of the European Central Bank (ECB), lashed out at euro countries like the Netherlands and Germany for not spending their budget surplus to stimulate the European economy. "Why not use that budget surplus and invest in infrastructure? Why not invest in education and why not invest in innovation?" she said, according to NU.nl.