Learning path support.

Learning path support

Sometimes students start secondary school with a learning delay from primary school. Or they develop a learning delay in the first year of secondary school. These students can use learning path support. Learning path support is made for students who find vmbo hard but can get their diploma with some help. This is only for vmbo students and schools that offer learning path support.

Criteria for learning path support

Each partnership tailored education makes rules for learning path support. These rules are in the support plan and can be different in each region. Each school can also have a different way to give learning path support. Sometimes the school arranges extra lessons or homework help and sometimes there are smaller classes for learning path support students. This is in the school support profile. If the partnership tailored education has no rules, these criteria apply:

• The IQ is between 75 and 90.
• There is a learning delay of one and a half to three years in two of these areas: visual maths, reading comprehension, technical reading, or spelling. Of those two areas, one must be visual maths or reading comprehension.

Or:

• The IQ is between 91 and 120.
• There is a learning delay of one and a half to three years in two of these areas: visual maths, reading comprehension, technical reading, or spelling. One of the two areas is visual maths or reading comprehension.
• There is social problem, like fear of failing, that seriously limits your child’s learning.

Sign up and investigation

If your child needs learning path support, you can sign up at a vmbo school with learning path support. The school admits your child when primary school recommended a vmbo path. The secondary school then checks if your child meets the criteria for learning path support. You can find the exact admission process in the support plan of the partnership tailored education. The school usually does an intelligence test and looks at the child’s behaviour. If the school thinks your child can get learning path support, the secondary school asks the partnership tailored education for learning path support. At first, the partnership tailored education in your town is responsible for giving a learning path support indication.

Two experts

The partnership tailored education checks if a child can get a learning path support indication. Only with this indication can a child follow learning path support. The partnership tailored education usually follows the (mandatory) advice of two experts. The first expert is always an educational psychologist or psychologist. The second expert is a vmbo and practical education track expert, a child or youth psychologist, pedagogue, child psychiatrist, social worker, or doctor.

Learning path support indication

If the partnership tailored education decides learning path support is possible for your child, your child gets a learning path support indication. This can be valid for four years, but one or two years is also possible. The declaration stays valid nationwide, even if you move or your child goes to another school. The responsibility for the indication then goes to the partnership tailored education of the new school. The way learning path support is done can be different there.

Rejected

Not all students get a learning path support indication. If your child is rejected, he or she probably still needs support. The school has a duty of care. First, the school checks if they can provide the needed support themselves, maybe with help from the partnership tailored education. If this does not work, the school must find another suitable place. This can be another vmbo school, the practical education track or special education.

School advice and learning path support

Students who go to secondary school sometimes get a learning path support advice besides the school advice. Learning path support is not part of the official school advice. But it is wise to sign up a child with such advice at a vmbo school that offers learning path support. A regular vmbo school may not just refuse your child. They can only refuse if they prove they cannot meet your child’s support needs. The school also has a duty of care.