School participation council: the renewed infothe law website is live.

School participation council: the renewed infothe law website is live.

Within the project Strengthening school participation council II, collaboration took place on the renewed website www.InfoWMS.nl. The website remains the place for information about the law on school participation councils, but has been renewed to better meet the needs of school participation councils, school governing bodies, internal supervisors, parents, students, and staff, framed by a modern look and feel.

On this website, knowledge, practical guides, model documents, training, and other tools come together in one accessible place. Features have also been added, such as a quick scan that helps schools gain insight into the quality of their school participation council. With this renewed website, we want to further strengthen the school participation council in primary and secondary education and better support users in practice. 

 The project Strengthening school participation council II started last year. In this project, made possible by a subsidy from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, we work together with the student organization LAKS, employee organizations AOb, CNV, and FvOv, employer, supervisor, and school leader organizations PO-Raad, VO-raad, VTOI-NVTK, AVS, and the VOO to strengthen the school participation council in schools.

Research into the state of the school participation council  

 An important part of the project is a new national study into the state of the school participation council in the Netherlands. This is a follow-up to research carried out in 2023 on behalf of Ouders & Onderwijs, the VOO, LAKS, and ROV. The aim was at that time to regularly investigate the experiences and needs of school participation council members. The outcomes formed an important basis for further discussions and improvements within the school participation council in schools. 

All schools and school governing bodies in primary, secondary, and special education received the invitation with a link to the online questionnaires, with the request to forward them to the school participation councils and their members (both staff and parents and students) and conversation partners. The results of the ‘state of school participation council 2026’ will be available at the end of August. 

View to the future  

With the new cooperation, the organizations involved want to again gain insight into what is going well and where improvements are needed. This way, the school participation council in schools can be strengthened so that parents, students, and staff can truly participate in discussions and decisions about matters important to them. 

Furthermore, the project will contribute, besides strengthening knowledge and visibility of facilities, to low-threshold access to a place where questions can be asked for and by school participation councils. Keep an eye on the developments on the website for this.