CHAPTER 2: Educational Challenges Raised by Refugee and Asylum-Seeking Children and Other Newcomers: The Dutch Response

This chapter examines the situation of refugee and asylum-seeking children in the Netherlands, focusing on the efforts made to adapt educational policies and practices to the needs of these children and thus facilitate their successful integration within the Dutch education system. A steep rise in the numbers of asylum seekers in the late 1990s spurred on the development of ‘good practices’ in this field. After 1999, numbers declined dramatically—but the innovations developed also proved beneficial for other young migrants to the Netherlands, for example from the newly enlarged European Union. The chapter begins by outlining the Dutch asylum system and the provisions for the reception and education of asylum-seeking and refugee children. It then describes the education system itself and goes on to detail the measures adopted to help young ‘newcomers’ of all kinds to learn Dutch and integrate successfully within regular schools. Attention is paid to policy changes in a rapidly shifting political climate and to the efforts of specialized organizations whose aim is to assist schools, professionals, and the children they teach. Finally, provisions for psychosocial care are discussed and the position of second-generation children from ethnic minorities is considered.