A quarter of parents experience problems because of split may holidays.

A quarter of parents experience problems because of split may holidays.

Almost a quarter of parents experience problems because their children have different weeks of May holiday. This comes from a recent survey by Ouders & Onderwijs among 679 parents. Because schools can choose whether they add a holiday week before or after the national May holiday week, many parents face organizational problems.

The survey shows that 23% of parents deal with an unequal May holiday this school year. These problems mostly happen to parents with children at different schools: they have to switch between children who are on holiday and children who still have to go to school. This often leads to logistical problems.

 Lobke Vlaming, director of Ouders & Onderwijs: ‘Every year we get signals from parents that the May holiday causes problems. Parents with children at different schools sometimes have to arrange care for three weeks while they themselves are not free. We want schools to make better agreements about this. Preferably regionally, but if that does not work, we want a national arrangement.’ 

Parents divided over current flexibility

Although parents have different views about the current flexibility in the May holiday, a large part is critical of how schools can plan the second holiday week themselves. For example, 36 percent of parents think it is (very) bad that schools decide whether they plan a week before or after the national week, while 30 percent are positive about this choice.

Especially parents with children at different schools experience the downsides of the system: 45 percent in this group find the current situation undesirable. They notice that schools make different choices, causing holidays not to overlap and families to be in trouble.

National coordination as an alternative

A possible alternative is for the government to set two weeks of May holiday nationally, so there are no differences between schools. Half of the parents are positive about this. Some parents say they prefer regional coordination, similar to how the summer holiday is arranged, but stress that the current situation with scattered weeks is undesirable.

Statement: The government must require the dates for two weeks of May holiday (instead of one week), so all schools in the Netherlands have May holiday at the same time.

About the research

This survey included 679 parents with children in primary education, secondary education, special education or mbo. This survey is not representative of all parents in the Netherlands.