Parent involvement in mbo: that can and must improve.

Parent involvement in mbo: that can and must improve.

At the platform day Tailored Education mbo, about 300 mbo professionals came together to look back on five years of improvement agenda Tailored Education mbo 2020-2025 and to look ahead. Ouders & Onderwijs was there and told about the importance of parent involvement in mbo.

Important goals of the improvement agenda

The improvement agenda Tailored Education mbo is about the following goals:

• Improve the intake of students with support needs
• Increase parent involvement
• Strengthen the quality of support by education teams
• Improve cooperation between mbo institutions, municipalities and the social domain
• Better guidance during internships and the first steps towards the labor market

Parent involvement starts with choosing the study

The role of parents with a child in mbo deserves more attention. For mbo students and their parents, guidance does not start when the study starts, but already during choosing it. Research shows that still one in three students misses information about extra support, and only half knows whom to contact with questions.

Parent involvement is also important in mbo

“Parents must be involved from the first moment – at intake, but also through informal contact. Especially if extra support is needed, that is important,” says Patrick Woudstra, theme advisor mbo at Ouders & Onderwijs. “It is strange that parent involvement in havo is obvious, while mbo students of the same age are expected to arrange everything alone.”

The audience during the platform day agreed. During an interactive session, the importance of parent involvement often came up. “There were examples from the audience of schools that do involve parents, both at intake and during school career. The positive effects were discussed in detail,” Patrick says.

Agreements on paper

Mbo schools must record agreements about support in writing, but part of the platform day audience admitted this is not always done. It was also emphasized that mbo often involves external professionals, such as ambulant counselors and social workers, while parents are often forgotten.

“I find it worrying that still one in three students says they missed information about extra support. Also, only half of the students with support needs know who they can ask questions about the support. That can and must improve,” says Patrick.

He adds: “It will not be due to the goodwill of those present at the platform day. But it is important that the sector as a whole understands this. I hope the positive atmosphere during the platform day will spread like wildfire.”