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How can schools contribute to the physical and mental health of their pupils? In 'Healthy School, the podcast', journalist and podcast producer Maarten Dallinga conducts research for ten episodes on behalf of Healthy School. He visits schools throughout the Netherlands and speaks with inspiring experts. The first episode was released on Tuesday, 11 January.
When the virus resurges, closing schools should not be an option. Instead, consideration should be given to what is needed to ensure that education for pupils and students can proceed safely and responsibly. This is stated in the first advisory letter from the Youth Perspective Platform.
On Friday, 22 April, the 10th edition of the King's Games will take place. One of the components is the Royal Match, a collaboration between a primary school and a sports provider, with the aim of jointly organising the sporting part of the King's Games.
On 5 April, it is National Outdoor Learning Day. Jantje Beton and IVN Nature Education celebrate the fact that thousands of teachers at schools throughout the Netherlands are increasingly teaching outdoors. Not just on that one day of the year, but all year round. This year, Jantje Beton and IVN Nature Education are putting all these teachers in the spotlight and searching for the best outdoor learning teacher of the year.
One in four primary schools is dealing with the unwanted distribution of students’ digital nude photos, according to research by Pointer and DUO Onderwijsonderzoek & Advies into primary and secondary education. This is despite the fact that schools are currently not required to teach about online shaming.
What can you do as a student if you are being bullied? On the Pestweb website, an initiative of School & Safety, children and young people (primary and secondary education) can find information about bullying at school, as well as tips and advice on how to combat bullying. These tips have now been supplemented with two excellent, informative animations about ‘Asking for help’ and ‘Standing up for yourself’. Watch the videos on the Pestweb website and share them with your students.
Healthy School has recently started providing information and tips about hygiene in special education. This enables special education schools to work structurally on the theme of Hygiene. Information about the Hygiene theme was already available for primary education, secondary education and vocational education.
On Wednesday, 24 November, the Inspectorate of Education published its annual overview of reports received by confidential inspectors. It shows that, just as last year, the number of reports of sexual abuse by education professionals involving underage students is alarming.
The Netherlands Youth Institute (NJi) sees that the coalition parties are paying more attention than before to the society of the future. That is good news for young people, because they benefit from a society based on solidarity. Nevertheless, according to the NJi, there is insufficient attention to the pressure on the well-being of children and young people.
The schools are closed, but even during this period it is important for children to keep moving. A fun option for parents is to take their children to a beautifully illuminated city for a pleasant city walk. Kidsproof has listed seven suggestions.
Fake news, conspiracy theorists, but also wokeness have led to strong opinions both on- and offline over the past year. Under the guise of freedom of expression, people feel free to say anything. For a democratic country, it is crucial that you are allowed to say and write what you think.
Primary schools, secondary schools, senior secondary vocational education schools, universities of applied sciences and universities will all be closed from Monday 20 December. The entire education system will come to a standstill. In doing so, the government is adopting the latest advice from the Outbreak Management Team (OMT). There are serious concerns about the rapid spread of the much more contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus. This situation raises questions among parents. Parents & Education has collected the answers to frequently asked questions by category.
In the coming years, with support from the National Postcode Lottery, IVN Nature Education will be working to promote the nature-rich school day. At present, only 1 percent of lessons for children in primary schools are taught outdoors, in nature. And that is despite the fact that learning in a green environment is so healthy and benefits school performance.
The five nominated primary schools and two nominated special education schools for the election of ‘Most Active Primary School/Special Education School in the Netherlands 2022’ have been announced. The schools competing for the title are exemplary schools for others in the field of developing physical activity policies. They all offer an outstanding 2+1+2 programme. In this way, they encourage their pupils to develop an active and healthy lifestyle. Naturally, the programme is embedded in the school policy.
Teacher training programmes and primary teacher training colleges need to pay more attention to relationship and sexuality education, as well as to ensuring social safety around sexuality and relationships in everyday situations in the classroom and at school. Teachers and lecturers find it difficult to teach relationship and sexuality education, respond adequately to sexual behaviour, or create a safe atmosphere where everyone can be themselves. This is shown by research conducted by Rutgers, the centre of expertise on sexuality, and Stichting School & Veiligheid.
Every year, the School & Safety Foundation organises the ‘With All Due Respect!’ conference for education professionals. During this conference, social safety in and around the school takes centre stage. Each year, the conference has a different theme. For the 2022 edition, on 30 March 2022, School & Safety incorporated a topical theme into the conference: ‘Do you have a clear view of your student?’
Recent research in the United States shows that children's motor development improves when they start using a balance bike. It helps children learn to ride a regular bicycle, but also supports many other activities. In addition, it gives children confidence and leads to fewer unpleasant falls. The findings are also interesting for education professionals working with children in the early years of primary school.
In recent times, the helpdesk of the School & Safety Foundation has received several reports from education professionals about confrontations with students, colleagues or parents in response to the coronavirus measures. That is why they offer education professionals tips and support.
How do you create a safe and activity-friendly school environment? You can read about this in the tip sheet ‘Building Blocks for a Safe and Activity-Friendly School Environment’ from the Knowledge Centre for Sport & Physical Activity. The tip sheet was developed following the inspiration session ‘Safe and Activity-Friendly School Environment’ held on 3 November 2020, organised by ‘Working in Motion’ – a collaboration between Wandelnet, Fietsersbond, JOGG and the Knowledge Centre for Sport & Physical Activity.
An increasing number of primary schools in the Netherlands have physical education taught (partly) by a specialist teacher. This is shown by research conducted by Jorien Slot, Sofie Vrieswijk and Jo Lucassen of the Mulier Institute into physical education and sport in primary education.
Social media apps create an unsafe environment for children and are therefore unsuitable for them. This is the conclusion reached by the Consumers’ Association after examining Facebook, Instagram, Signal, Snapchat, Telegram, TikTok, WhatsApp and YouTube.
In the 2020/2021 school year, the confidential inspectors of the Inspectorate of Education received 1,296 reports about education. This is a lower number than in previous years. Because schools were closed for a longer period during this year due to coronavirus, a quantitative comparison with previous years is not possible.
On December 10 this year, Purple Friday will once again be celebrated in education. This is the major action day organized by the GSA Network (Gender & Sexuality Alliance). On this day, all schools can show their support for gender and sexual diversity by turning purple. By turning purple, you show that everyone at your school can be themselves and that no one should be bullied or excluded because of who they are or whom they fall in love with.
A healthy lifestyle at school and in childcare is supported by an environment with the right air quality. That is why it is important that an app was launched on 24 November to help childcare organisations and schools improve air quality in group rooms, sleeping areas and classrooms.
Being bullied can lead not only to mental health problems in the short term, but also have long-term consequences for young adults who were bullied during their adolescence. This is shown by research from Tilburg University, the University of Antwerp and the Open University in Heerlen.
The Flemish professor Stefan Vos, who teaches at Fontys University of Applied Sciences and Eindhoven University of Technology, recently won the Deltapremie, a €500,000 prize for practice-based research. He believes in joining forces. One of the projects he is involved in is KEIGAAF, an approach designed to promote an active and healthy lifestyle among primary school pupils in disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Eindhoven. KEIGAAF therefore aims to create a social and physical school, neighbourhood and home environment that encourages children to exercise more and eat more healthily.
It is now well known that physical activity is important, but what about children between 0 and 4 years old? Are they getting enough exercise? Sport Fryslân and GGD Fryslân are launching a pilot at 18 child health clinics to raise parents’ awareness of the importance of physical activity for the youngest children.
Lidl, Princess Laurentien and the Youth Education Fund are joining forces during the holiday season. Starting Monday, November 22, Lidl customers can donate products for five weeks to create festive brunch packages, which will be distributed just before the Christmas holidays to children at schools affiliated with the Youth Education Fund.
The Netherlands Youth Institute is looking for municipalities, collaborative partnerships and schools that would like to work with the NJi on the Prevention Matrix connecting education–youth support. The result is that the services offered better meet the needs of children, young people and their parents. It also creates greater coherence in policy and practice, and resources are deployed in a targeted manner.
IVN has won the 2021 Prince Bernhard Culture Fund Prize. During the award ceremony, IVN director Jelle de Jong announced that half of the prize money would be used to establish the IVN Nature Education Green Schoolyards Fund. Schools that want to use their green schoolyard for education can submit an application to this named fund.