Report of the 15th law congress.

Report of the 15th law congress.

Last week, the annual law congress took place. Law stands for the law. Onderwijsgeschillen organized the congress for the 15th time in cooperation with stakeholders in education, including Ouders & Onderwijs. Advisors Arline Spierenburg and Sjoerd van Geffen attended and wrote a report.

The congress was completely online, which met the needs of more than 250 participants for this year’s slogan: “Agile participation.” Special attention was given to the position of participation in the National Program Education, equal opportunities, ethical choices, and inclusivity. The opening was done by Cécile de Vos, director of Onderwijsgeschillen. She spoke with Ellen Vas, member of the National ThinkTank, and Robert Hommen, project leader of Strong Participation, about the events of the past year. After that, Minchenu Maduro called in her keynote to put participation in motion and push boundaries. From her background in pedagogy and drama, she viewed learning together and connecting from an inspiring vision.

Workshops

We spoke on behalf of Ouders & Onderwijs with participants about participation and the implementation of the National Program Education. From earlier research, it was already clear that half of the parents said they did not have enough information to talk well about the implementation of the National Program Education. In the workshop, this was also confirmed by some attendees. It was also mentioned that the school paid more attention to accounting for the funds of the National Program Education than to real concrete steps to support students in, for example, the (pre-)exam classes extra. A parent from this school said the results of the first test week were dramatic. ‘It seems they only now realize how bad things are.’

panic football

Several participants said they had seen plans, but there was too little time to discuss them well together. ‘Now there is finally money and we have to make choices too quickly in a kind of panic football,’ was a concern that was expressed, for example. Participants also mentioned the growing unrest in schools with rising infection rates. They see that teachers are asked a lot and wonder if they can still cope. Ouders & Onderwijs will bring forward the input from the participants at the consultation table about the National Program Education.

If you want to watch interviews again with those involved (including Arline Spierenburg), you can watch a special vlog.