Seminar: Opportunities for every child!

The Youth Education Fund, the City of Amsterdam, the Rotterdam South programme, Education Lab and the ABN AMRO Foundation organized an inspiring webinar on 23 September with a positive message. Education Lab provided a research report.

Equal opportunities are under pressure

Education is very decisive for the later success of students. Today’s society is a diploma society, the educational results and the diploma obtained largely determine what kind of work people get later and what they are going to earn. Internationally, too, we see a strong correlation between educational results and economic performance. In the Netherlands, we see that the educational results have become more uneven in the last 10 years; the diploma and income of the parents has become more decisive for the chances of students. The increased educational inequality is expected to put pressure on future income equality. 

The COVID-19 crisis has recently come on top of this, with school closures and distance learning for students. This is expected to lead to a further decline in equal opportunities in education, with especially vulnerable groups of students falling behind and their talents remaining underutilized.

We can do something about it!

The seminar focuses on five effective interventions to promote equal opportunities and eliminate disadvantage among students:

1. The best teacher for the class

2. Offering extra hours of education to students 

3. Involving parents

4. Connecting education with care partners

5. Widening the horizon  

In addition, Education Lab conducted a study in which the effectiveness of these five interventions was explored, and teachers were asked how these interventions are used in schools in the Netherlands. 

Interested? The webinar can be watched here.

Download the research report here.