Teaching time & school time.

Education time is the number of hours that students get education. This is not only the lessons on the schedule. Project weeks, sports days, mentor lessons and social internships also count. Students have the right to enough hours of good quality education. The government has set hourly standards for primary education and secondary education. Education time is calculated in clock hours. A clock hour is 60 minutes.

School time

School time is the time a student must be at school. Schools can set school times themselves. The parent group of the school participation council in primary education has the right to agree on the set education time. In secondary education the school participation council has the right to advise on the timetable.

Primary education and special primary education

Students in primary education and special primary education must get 7,520 hours of education over 8 school years. These are clock hours, not lesson hours.

Secondary education

For students in secondary education, the required education hours are set per type of education:

• vmbo (4 years): 3,700 hours
• havo (5 years): 4,700 hours
• vwo (6 years): 5,700 hours

There is a minimum of 189 school days per year.

Special primary and secondary education

For students in special primary education the hourly standard from primary education applies. At a school for deaf and hard of hearing children younger than 4 years, there is a minimum of 880 hours of education per school year.

For different exit profiles in secondary special education, the education hours are as follows:

• exit profile further education: the same number of hours as in regular secondary education per course
• exit profile labor market oriented: 1,000 hours of education per school year
• exit profile day care: 1,000 hours of education per school year