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The Dutch Second Chance School is based in the former miners
town of Heerlen and will associate 7 other municipalities in the region.
It is in other ways be a "bridge-buidler" as well in that it
aims to federate the providers of three specific but non-coordinated services
to young people : income (benefits)/training/housing. A special
task force "Network 12 plus" is the forum for this co-operation.
New learning technologies have been put in place with assistance of the
specialised ROC Arcus college.
| Contact
persons |
Mr J GEURTS
Streekgewest Oostelijk Zuid Limburg
Postbus 200
NL -6400 AE HEERLEN
tel: 31-45-5718820
fax: 31-45-5740908
e-mail : nlrt@ozl.org
Mr J. VROLINGS
SCS Director
MAECON N.V.
Akerstraat 140
NL - 6417 BR HEERLEN
tel : 31-45-5605555
fax : 31-45-5605560
e-mail : maecon@worldonline.nl
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| Target
group |
24 young persons between 16 and 24 years. This number
could climb to 300 (to be confirmed). |
| Milestones |
The project has been publicly announced by the deputy
mayor of Kerkrade, one of the 8 participating municipalities,
at the occasion of a visit of the other European Second Chance Schools
in October 1998. The school opened in 1999. |
| Social
and economical context |
Heerlen is a typical miners town. Mines used to offer
jobs to large groups of low skilled labour. With the closing of the
mines, the economic basis of the town has been weakened and the city
now has high rates of unemployment (it is a Dutch objective 2 area).
Other social problems include drug abuse and criminality. This is
to a large degree related to Heerlens proximity to the Dutch and Belgian
border. That EUREGIO context on the other hand also offers new economic
opportunities to the town.
40 % of Heerlen's population has low education , only 18 % has
reached higher (academic) qualifications.
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| Pedagogic
approach |
Some of the key elements wich are mentioned
in the strategic plan for the school :
-
intensive counselling and individualised teaching
-
careful and steady development of professional
experience (stages)
-
physical exercises and development
-
development of the personality
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giving attention to social skills and adaptation
of the individual to society
-
"after-care" (keep links to school leavers)
-
de-dramatize failure
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Management
Personnel |
Management responsibility has at this stage with the
district authorities "South-East Limburg", a decentralised
authority which encompasses eight municipalities.
Two important partners are MAECON, a private social insertion company
which recruits and seconds unemployed people in the region, the
Regional Training Centre (ROC) as well as the "Arcus College"
an education provider which caters to the needs of "special
groups" (immigrants, disabled) and has developed a considerable
pedagogic "intelligence".
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| Partnership |
The project is embedded in a wider regional partnership,
involving the whole district of south-east Limburg (8 municipalities
in total).
One of the main objectives of the partnership is to reduce the
gaps in social service provision, particularly between institutions
looking after :
- education/training offers to young people
- housing for young people
In a typical Heerlen case, a young "streetchild"
would receive a roof over his/her head in a charitable organisation
called "Pension Mijn Zicht" but would not get appropriate
access to training and education facilities to improve his/her long-term
social insertion prospects.
The third category are the income providers (municiapl social services)
who extend the social benefits to the unemployed in question.
A special task- force called "Network 12 plus" now bring
together a host of local actors in order to arrive at a more co-ordinated
approach within the framework of the SCS. Members of this
network are local schools, youth and "street" associations
as well as various police brigades.
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| Employment
prospects |
Enterprises are fully involved, particularly
through the services of MAECON, a large regional private sector company
which "recruits" young unemployed from the municipal services
and then seconds them in flexible way to local employers. |
| Recognition
diplomas |
The project counts on a formal social insertion
instrument into the new educational legislation "Wet Educatie
en Beroep" (WEB) which allows municipalities to offer tailor-made
training and social insertion solutions to young unemployed. |
| Some
more data on the school |
Number of students : 24
Number of teachers : 5
Age of students : 16-24
Duration of school (weeks) : 32
Average hours per week : 24
Percentage of 'on the job learning'/classroom learning : 50%
Annual budget (EURO) : 233,400
Budget per student (EURO) : 9,725
Main financing source : Municipality 50% - State 20% - EU ESF 20%
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