Five thousand students in the Eindhoven region will start secondary school after the summer. Since last year, this has been done with a lottery system. This year, this means that 21 students cannot go to a school of their choice: they are not placed at any of the three schools listed.
The lottery system was introduced last year due to the tight capacity of schools and the large number of students. Students can choose three different schools, and within those schools different streams. So if a student has been advised to go to MAVO/HAVO* the student can register twice at a school that offers both directions. In that case, there can even be six options for a student. “A notary draws lots in six rounds”, Rutger van Deursen, director of RSV PVO, the partnership of all secondary schools in the region, says. “And after those six rounds, we hope that everyone is in a preferred place. That worked for almost 5,000 students, but unfortunately not for 21 students”.
System
“That is frustrating for those students. But it is the best possible system to place as many students as possible in a school of their preference”.
The system is used in Eindhoven, Waalre, Veldhoven, Valkenswaard, Son en Breugel, Oirschot, Best, Heeze-Leende and Nuenen, Reusel-De Mierden, Bladel, Eersel and Bergeijk. Many schools in Eindhoven have a maximum number of places for new students. However, Van Deursen is not afraid that the number of students who miss out will increase in the coming years, despite the growth of the region. “We are not seeing that growth yet”, he says. “But even if that growth does increase, this system is even more necessary because the schools are becoming even more crowded”.
Bigger list
Now students give a top three of preferred schools. Van Deursen is not yet keen on making that list of preferences longer in the future. “In Amsterdam, students have to list 15 schools. Is that where you want to go?”, the director wonders. “Now students simply have the freedom to choose outside the three schools they were rejected from. And we look together with them and their parents to find a school for them that they are happy with”.
*For more info on Dutch secondary educationhttps://www.nuffic.nl/en/subjects/study-in-nl/education-in-the-netherlands
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
