On the 2nd of April 2019, Minister Arie Slob announced his decision not to extend the ‘experiment on flexible education time in primary education’ in a letter to the Lower House of Parliament. The participating schools in the pilot must comply with the legislation and regulations again per school year 2020/2021. This poses a direct threat to the overall concept of Casa Bilingual Montessori School in Pijnacker.
Director Tessa Wessels: “Casa is much more than a school, it is a learning environment where children are welcome for 50 weeks each year from 8 AM to 6PM. School and care are fully integrated and the individual learning and development takes place in a continuous manner. Natural moments of rest differ per child. This is why flexible teaching and holiday times are essential. We call this the All Day All Year concept.”
One of our 6 Pillars is "All Day All Year." What this means for us, is that we are open 50 weeks a year, from 8 AM to 6 PM. We have more than a school, we have a "learning environment." We hope to always have this available for our children.
Geplaatst door Casa Bilingual Montessori School op Woensdag 3 april 2019
Casa is one of the schools that is overwhelmingly positive in the report.
Mrs. Wessels explains, “Ending flexible education time would be a step back in the development of innovative education. Besides flexible school hours, our offer consists of international bilingual Montessori education, nature education and food preparation. From home and abroad people come to Casa to experience the concept for themselves and learn from it. We are seen as an example school. If Casa has to return to regular holidays, this is a direct threat to our concept as a whole.”
“It is precisely the positive points of flexible teaching times that are overlooked in the pilot project. As well as other issues that improve the quality of education. That is why we would like to express our opposition. This is endorsed by parents, who see great advantages in this modern and innovative educational concept. Moreover, there is a waiting list of more than 250 interested parties,” Mrs. Wessels emphasises.
Casa therefore advocates tolerance of flexible teaching times in order to be able to continue its overall concept. Casa also recommends the adoption of a single legislation for integrated child centres (ICCs) that combine school and care. Casa therefore calls on politicians to carry out an additional pilot project with modern regulations that offer room for innovative and future-oriented forms of education, such as Casa’s educational concept.
Because the experiment was started when the old assessment frameworks were still in force (before 1 August 2017), the same assessment frameworks were also applied to the final inspection in 2018. The former assessment framework only looks at assessment results when it comes to determining the quality of education. There is now a different view of what quality of education means and how to measure it. The aspects such as a broader view of what the development of a child means, and what skills a 21st century child should have, have not been included in the entire research. These are precisely the elements of quality of education that the schools in the pilot project – which, among other things, advocate personalised learning – have focused on.
For questions you can contact Tessa Wessels via directie@casaschool.nl