Coalition agreement does not alleviate performance pressure, according to the Netherlands Youth Institute

The pursuit of a sustainable society for future generations takes shape in the coalition agreement through its attention to the climate crisis, education and childcare. There is also greater emphasis on prevention during childhood and adolescence. Climate policy is one of the major priorities, investment in education is substantial, and the goal of halving child poverty within four years is ambitious. In addition, strengthening the safety net for adults will have a positive effect on the opportunities available to children and young people.

Contradiction

The coalition agreement contains an interesting, unspoken contradiction: between the interests of children and young people here and now and as future citizens, and the dominant economic perspective in which they are primarily approached individually as future employees and encouraged to perform to the best of their ability.

Solidarity

The coalition's aim is to ‘enable everyone to participate’ in the context of ‘future prosperity’. Solidarity is cited as a means to achieve this. Precisely for that reason, the contrasts with the approach at an instrumental and individual level stand out. For example, investment is being made in a better start for children who need it, but childcare is only accessible to children of working parents. The same applies to education: its social function is receiving attention, but the main objective remains to bring out the best in every student and ensure that everyone obtains a diploma.

Performance pressure

Because of the emphasis on educational results, what is currently causing so many difficulties for children and young people remains out of sight: performance pressure, competition and a lack of social cohesion. In some areas, the coalition agreement does set a course towards greater solidarity and togetherness, for example by mentioning the rich school day, community service and promoting citizenship as an objective of education. But the pursuit of a stronger ‘village to raise a child’ requires greater cohesion. And the coalition does not exempt young people from participating in the rat race.

Fragile foundation

When it comes to growing older, the coalition parties speak in terms of dignity and compassionate care, but they do not use comparable terms when discussing growing up. The emphasis remains on individual performance, which in recent years has led to increasing pressure on the well-being of children and young people. The substantive development of youth policy towards prevention, stronger citizenship and collective resilience, which is also necessary to ultimately create a financially manageable system, has only just begun. Precisely for that reason, it is striking that the coalition has already chosen to cut the additional budget for youth care. This puts the substantive development of youth policy under pressure. While that development is still just as fragile as the new coalition's vision: ‘looking out for one another, looking ahead to the future’.