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Vocational education, training and adult education
07-05-2009
Regional training centres
There are 40 regional training centres in the Netherlands. They provide:
Vocational education in three sectors: Engineering and Technology, Economics and Health & Social Care. Vocational education in the sectors agriculture, natural environment and food technology are provided by agricultural training centres, financed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food quality. Vocational education offers participants from the age of 16 a choice of 700 vocational courses, four training levels and two different routes in which courses can be followed. There is a full-time college-based route that includes work placements and there is the part-time work-based route, which combines part-time education with an apprenticeship in a company.
Adult education offers adults courses focusing on social sufficiency and citizenship, and the mastery of Dutch as a second language.
National bodies
The different sectors are represented by national bodies. National bodies are centres of knowledge and expertise. The employers' and employees' organisations from the sector (in a number of cases together with the vocational education bodies relevant to the sector) form the governing boards of the national bodies. The national bodies are:
• the Bve (VET) Council (association of VET-colleges)
• the AOC Council (association of agricultural colleges)
• PAEPON (platform for private teaching institutions) (only in Dutch)
• Colo (association of national bodies for vocational training)
• the JongerenOrganisatie Beroepsonderwijs (association of young people in vocational education) (only in Dutch)
VET and the labour market
The regional training centres and the national bodies are responsible for the learning of a profession in practice. The national bodies ensure that approved learning establishments offer sufficient good quality placements. The colleges are required to offer courses to participants and work practice, and are responsible for counselling the participants. They arrange the rights and obligations of all involved in a practice agreement, drawn up between the parties. The work experience is made compulsory in the Adult and Vocational Education Act to guarantee the relevance of the courses to practice, and thus strengthen the ties between education and the labour market.
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