ISK
The topic of education for the children of immigrants has long been fraught with difficulties. Many educators favour the idea of the global classroom. Children love to be surrounded by other children and they thrive in the multi-cultural environment afforded by mixed education. Where groups of friends from many cultures can share languages and learn about cultural differences in a safe and tolerant environment. This is obviously an ideal scenario. In reality the average Dutch classroom is ill-equipped to offer children from such a vast array of countries and cultures the individual nurture and attention each child needs, despite the best intentions of the teacher. In some Amsterdam inner-city schools a teacher may have children from as many as ten different countries in the classroom. Each child has specific and unique needs but there are simply not the resources.
Another big issue is making sure that the children of immigrants have access to extra support whilst learning Dutch. Children from many immigrant families do not speak Dutch at home. Their parents struggle to help their children with their homework and immigrant children are in constant danger of falling behind their native classmates. Naturally the problem is greater than just making sure that children have access to education. Adult education for immigrants is equally important as children learn as much at home as they do from school. The mixing of children from different cultures is the only way to build a tolerant society for the future but it is the duty of the schools and the government to ensure that no child is left behind.
ISK stands for Internationale Schakelklas, which could be translated as international transition class, and is a free, state-funded program to support the education for immigrant children, ages 12-16. ISK help children in learning the Dutch language as quickly as possibly, thus allowing them to go on into the “regular” Dutch education system. The goal is that it should not take longer than two years from them to integrate. The stay in the Schakelklas is divided in the starting phase (“startfase”) and the linking phase (“schakelfase”). They are, in effect, preparatory classes for vocational and higher education.
Since most of the information available on ISKs is in Dutch, this site will give you as much information as possible in English and will regularly publish Blogs on new developments in the Netherlands.
Image: vichie81 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Fore more:
http://www.schakel-klassen.nl/C18-HOME.html