OECD Reviews of Migrant Education

International evidence shows marked average performance differences at age 15 between immigrant students and native Dutch students. National evidence reveals that the greatest challenges are for students with non-Western immigrant background. The Netherlands emphasises universal policies to improve education for disadvantaged students, with few policies targeting immigrant students specifically. There is scope to raise the quality of under-performing schools and enhance immigrant families’ means to exercise school choice; strengthen the use of monitoring and evaluation practices within schools; support efforts to promote the enrolment of young children with non-Western immigrant background in high quality preschool and early childhood education; prioritise the recruitment of high quality teachers to schools in disadvantaged areas; prioritise educational and career support to students in vocational programmes; and enhance immigrant parent participation in official school/parent partnerships.