Page 27 - Second language development of newly arrived migrant kindergarteners - Frederike Groothoff

Introducing the context 27 Schools in the Netherlands that provide Dutch as a second language education are financially supported by the government if they provide education to at least four newly arrived migrant pupils in their first year after arrival. In 2018, this financial support lasted for up to one year for every newly arrived migrant pupil (Ministry for Primary and Secondary Education and Media, 2018; Article 32). However, since December 2016,5 this financial support includes a second year of funding for minors with a refugee status (Ministry for Primary and Secondary Education and Media, 2018; Article 33). On October 1, 2015, at the beginning of the data collection for this study, 6350 newly arrived migrant pupils received a first-year subsidy in primary education (Ministry for Primary and Secondary Education and Media, 2015b). To be clear, this separate form of education for pupils with Dutch as a second language is meant to be temporary. The amount of time a pupil spends attending a separate class differs per region, but it is usually one year, with a maximum of two years, after which the pupils should enter a mainstream class. In what follows, the separate language classes, whether at an independent school facility or within a mainstream school, will be referred to as “Dutch as a second language education.” The abbreviation “DL2-school” will likewise be used as an umbrella term for all forms of separate language classes for Dutch as a second language education. Mainstream schools without a separate language class will be referred to as “Mainstream schools.” One thing that is important to explain about the educational setting for migrants in the Netherlands is the language of schooling. Newly arrived migrant pupils mostly come to the Netherlands with no knowledge of the Dutch language, but often with a multilingual repertoire (see for instance, Herzog-Punzenberger et al., 2017). However, in the Netherlands, Dutch is the only language of instruction in schools, with some exceptions of Dutch-English primary schools and schools with Frisian-Dutch in a bilingual region of the Netherlands (Le Pichon-Vorstman, Erning, & Baauw, 2016). 1.4.3 Core objectives for education In the Netherlands, schools do not follow a national curriculum with set teaching materials. However, there are predefined end goals per grade, including for kindergarten levels (“Group 1” and “Group 2”). Each school may decide how to organize the education to reach the predefined end goals. DL2-schools for newly arrived migrant pupils can also decide how to organize their own curriculum. The end goals in primary schools have been specified for this particular group by the National Institute for Curriculum Development in the Netherlands (SLO).6 The overall aim of the education for newly arrived migrant pupils 5 Regulation Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science from November 21. Nr. PO/FenV/1092893 6 At the beginning of this study these goals could be retrieved from http://www.doelennieuwkomers.slo.nl/, however in 2018 this website became unavailable since the goals for newly arrived migrants were under reconsideration. Up until June 2019 no new overview of end-goals for this group were available. The old website can still be retrieved via https://web.archive.org/