Education Inspectorate on Safety: ‘Schools focus too much on procedures’

In Dutch schools, too little attention is paid to the behavior of staff. That attention is crucial for guaranteeing social safety. The Education Inspectorate writes this in a study published this Tuesday.

According to the Inspectorate, the schools investigated – five primary schools, seven secondary schools and nine schools in special education – have too much confidence in procedures and the extent to which insecurity is recognized and discussed. What is missing is a « continuous conversation » about what social safety entails for everyone in the organization. In the conversations that are being conducted, the focus is too much on the behavior of students and too little on that of the staff.

The reason for the investigation is the ‘worrying rise’ of reports on (social) unsafe situations at school

The reason for the (qualitative) investigation is the ‘worrying rising line’ that the Inspectorate sees in recent years in the number of reports on (social) unsafe situations at school, writes Inspector General Alida OPPers in the report. Last February the inspection came out with the figures from school year 2023-2024. Then more than 2,300 files were registered with the trust inspectors, almost 200 more than the year before and almost 600 more than the year for that.

In school year 2023-2024, 377 files were about sexual violence, which includes sexual abuse and sexual harassment. When it comes to sexual abuse, there is an increase in the share of files in which the defendant is a ‘tasks taxed person’, such as a teacher or caretaker.

Antipest coordinator

That is why the research focuses primarily on social safety in the context of the teacher-student relationship, Mickey Valkenburg-Waringa says via a video connection. She is a confidential inspector at the Education Inspectorate and project leader of the research. « We have focused primarily on the question: how do school leaders and boards ensure that the people they employed are not cross -border, so honestly, draw up? »

« What we saw a lot in this study, » she says, « is that a small club makes the policy about social safety, for example with the care coordinator, the anti -best coordinator. That policy is then put away somewhere in an online environment that the employees can find, but it is not discussed. And suppose you caught a colleague to see that environment that you need to do. »

The conversation is also important because ‘socially safe’ does not mean the same for everyone, says Valkenburg-Waringa. « Moreover, it means something other than twenty years ago. We also saw that in the study. For example, a school leader told about a male toddler teacher. He took a child on his lap because it had fallen and stroked it to calm it down. Something was found by the parents, while they probably had not found that much of it twenty years ago. »

That is why, according to Valkenburg-Waringa, it would also be good if parents and students have something to be involved in social safety policy at school.

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