Members of parliament and education: Stephan van Baarle, Nilüfer Gündoğan and Roelof Bisschop.

Members of parliament and education: Stephan van Baarle, Nilüfer Gündoğan and Roelof Bisschop.

Who are involved with education in The Hague? Who fights for better tailored education or worries about the teacher shortage? This week three members of parliament introduce themselves. What are their plans for education in the coming years? Some faces are known, others are new in the House of Representatives. This week: Stephan van Baarle (DENK), Nilüfer Gündoğan (Volt) and Roelof Bisschop (SGP).

Stephan van Baarle (DENK)

Would you briefly introduce yourself?

I am a Rotterdammer who studied sociology and has been active in politics since 2015.

What are your main focus points for education?

I want to work for equal opportunities so every child, regardless of background or wealth, has the chance to develop. I also find attention for inclusion in education and small scale important themes.

What will you improve or do differently for parents and children?

I want to increase parent involvement in education and empower parents to stand up for their child more.

Nilüfer Gündoğan – Volt 

Would you briefly introduce yourself?

Nilüfer Gündoğan, mother of a stubborn 4.5-year-old who enjoys his school. We live in Amsterdam with our dog Ruto. She is an equally stubborn shiba inu. The Gruffalo is a favorite book.

What are your main focus points for education in the coming years?

1. More money for education
2. Tackle the teacher shortage
3. Less tests, more joy in education

What will you improve or do differently for parents and children?

As a progressive liberal, I think education should be the place to give all children a chance, no matter what their parents can or want to offer. Education should be about bildung again. We have focused too much on performance and that has put huge pressure on everyone, child, parent, teacher. Also, inequality of opportunity is really too big.

Roelof Bisschop – SGP

Would you briefly introduce yourself?

My name is Roelof Bisschop. Since 2012 I have been in the House of Representatives for the SGP. Before that, I worked in education for over 34 years. We now have seven grandchildren, five of whom go to school. The youngest two learn a lot every day at home and with grandma and grandpa.

What are your main focus points for education?

The SGP wants to make sure schools have enough space in the coming years to make good choices themselves with all challenges like catching up on setbacks from corona and working on more tailored education. Politics tends to want to decide how schools should work, but that is often not the best for teachers, students, and their parents.

What will you improve or do differently for parents and children?

Parents should be more involved in important choices, for example, how money for the recovery program is spent. Good coordination is also important for things like promoting reading and reducing unequal chances. That can be better.

This is the last episode of a summer series where members of parliament introduce themselves.