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education policy

Dutch 'no dead ends' education model yields lowest youth Neet rates in Europe

Illustration accompanying article: Dutch 'no dead ends' education model yields lowest youth Neet rates in Europe
  • The Netherlands has one of the world's lowest Neet rates for 18- to 24-year-olds at 4.9%, compared with 15.1% in the UK, according to a report by former UK Health Secretary Alan Milburn published last month.
  • Dutch law requires young people to stay in education or training until they either obtain a qualification or turn 18 — a policy known as the kwalificatieplicht (qualification requirement).
  • At around age 12, Dutch pupils are streamed into one of three secondary tracks based on teacher recommendations and test results — a system some critics say can harm self-esteem and disadvantage certain children.
  • The Dutch education system funds a layered safety net: schools receive budgets for health and wellbeing, which they use to contract specialist organisations such as the Mooi Jong Academy to intervene before students disengage.
  • Students aged 16 and older can enter the beroepsbegeleidende leerweg (vocational training pathway), combining part-time employment with classroom study, and businesses can request customised college programmes.
  • Despite the system's success, youth unemployment is rising in the Netherlands, and the government is responding by easing access to benefits through the Employee Insurance Agency (UWV).
 5 MIN READ

Democratic-led states sue to block student loan caps for nursing, health degrees

Illustration accompanying article: Democratic-led states sue to block student loan caps for nursing, health
  • Twenty-four Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia sued the federal government to block new caps on federal student loans for graduate health professions degrees, arguing the limits will worsen a national nursing shortage.
  • The caps, set to take effect July 1, limit nursing and other non-physician graduate students to borrowing $20,500 per year with a $100,000 total, while professional medical students face a $50,000 annual and $200,000 total cap.
  • A study in Health Affairs Scholar found that more than a quarter of advanced practice nurses with loans already have balances exceeding the $100,000 limit.
  • Coby Rodriguez, a Johns Hopkins nursing graduate, said the caps will force him to delay his nurse anesthetist program by three to four years because he lacks a co-signer for private loans carrying interest rates up to 18%.
 4 MIN READ
Illustration accompanying article: School screen bans risk isolating millions of students with disabilities