CAPITULO III: RESULTADOS DE LA INVESTIGACIÓN
ANEXO 6: BIENES DETALLADOS EN LOS ANEXOS DE LA RESOLUCIÓN DE
In this paragraph topics related to the first sub-question will be discussed. The first sub-question was as follows:
What policy do VET-schools in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht have, with regard to the prevention of anti-social behavior and youth-crime?
As discussed in the theoretical framework, the concept of youth-crime prevention has several definitions. The definition that is used in this research is a composed definition, based on Van Dijk and the Waard (1996), and Dekovic (2011):
“All measures taken by citizens, private organizations, and the government, that are designed to improve child development and that are aimed at preventing
actions that are punishable by law.”
This definition can be explained as a policy or an intervention for which the prevention of youth-crime is (one of) the policy-goal(s).
It appeared that the prevention of youth-crime is not (one of) the policy-goals for any of the VET-schools. According to a vast majority of the respondents, the policy-goal with regard to the prevention of youth-crime is that all students get their degree in a secure environment; it is all about their school career, based on the following quotations.
Respondent for instance D2 stated:
‘Well, look… again the goal is that students can finish their school-career and that they flow into a job or a continuation schooling. That is the goal we do anything for, and especially in our care-structure.’
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Respondent B1 mentioned the following with regard to their policy-goals:
‘To get as much adolescents as possible to a degree, which gives them a
good position on the labor market or in continuation schooling.’
Respondent C2 stated the following:
‘… we have as a goal that every youngster, regardless of his anti-social behavior, eventually ends up at the right place.’
However, according to respondent C1, they do not have any policy-goals, apart from preventing and managing the problem of youth-crime, because they are just partners of the municipality. Respondent A2 believes that the policy-goal is about the creation of conscientisation (“bewustwording”) among adolescents about their role in society, in their future, but also in the future of others.
Thus, the VET-schools do not have specific policy-goals with regard to the prevention of anti- social behavior and youth-crime, although they do contribute to the prevention.
4.1.1. Goal achievement or policy execution difficulties
Walker describes a couple of difficulties that schools can face, with the achievement of the goals of their youth-crime prevention programs, which are a poor change motivation, unsupportive parents, mismatch between problem and program, and a lack of resources
(Walker, et al., 1996). The goal achievement difficulties have been extended to goal achievement or policy execution difficulties, because the VET-schools do not have real policy- goals with regard to the prevention of youth-crime as has been discussed above. However, they do experience many obstacles with the execution of their prevention policies, which will be discussed later in this paragraph.
According to two respondents a poor change motivation is one of the obstacles they face. Respondent A5 says the following:
‘When you’re 17 years old, and you are never corrected, not even at the
Lower Vocational Education (or: “VMBO”), then you really need someone that explains things explicitly to you, someone that practices with you, and that makes appointments with you and that does only work if someone is willing to change.’…’You (as a school) can only support someone, because in the end, you (the student) need to change on your own. The first step is:
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“I want this” and then you can start working with it and that falls within the scope of the “Trajectbureau”4...’.
Respondent D2 stated that some students are tired of all the welfare work:
‘Often, students of 16/17/18/19 years have seen the welfare work a lot, or they have noticed how it did not work out for others, and they are not keen on it.’
A lack of resources is perceived as an obstacle by respondent A5. School A receives a subsidy from the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science, the so-called “Plusmiddelen”, which is for the prevention of early school leavings and for vulnerable adolescents. However, this subsidy has a final date. The “Trajectbureau” offers two programs with this subsidy, that are only available for the novices, while the second-year students might need it as well. Respondent A5 states:
‘That is the everlasting dilemma, we are a school…’ ‘…what are then extra
financial resources, while everyone acknowledges that it is necessary? I often say: this is the last moment that you can do interventions in this area, that are in fact relatively cheap for society. Because, afterwards it becomes very complex, as it becomes youth-crime and then we are putting them in
prison and other things.’…’Therefore I am arguing for a good connection
with the education, do it together, and do not expect that the education sector can bear the costs on its own, because they cannot, but they can
provide for the setting.’
This can be linked to the prevention of financial costs for society, which has been already discussed in the introduction as well (De Vries, 2016).
None of the respondents sees unsupportive parents or a mismatch between the problem and program as a difficulty.
The respondents experience a lot of other difficulties with the execution of their youth-crime prevention policies. Something that has been put forward a couple of times by the respondents, is the act embarrassment among teachers (and facility employees). Respondent A1 says the following with regard to this:
‘… I once tried to bring it up for discussion among teachers, to see how they
think about it, and you can notice that one teacher is in need of it, while the other teacher is thinking: “What is this? I am here to teach!” I think it can
4The “Trajectbureau” is part of Albeda College and has roughly three tasks. The first one is increasing the accessibility of education, the second one is ensuring that the students end up in the right space and the third one is the prevention of early school leaving, which also includes the management of the care structure.
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become an obstacle, but on the other hand, when you look at the level of education leaders or directors of the branches, and you think: this is what we want to emit, this is how we want to be portrayed and this is our vision, then the teachers should become okay with it.’
Respondent C2 stated that a teacher should be able to de-escalate certain situations and they should also talk to students about their behavior. A training can be helpful if they cannot according to this respondent. Furthermore C2 states the following:
‘If you do not dare or you cannot, then look for a colleague who is able to do it. That is also preventive! If cannot solve a problem by yourself, ask someone else.’
This act embarrassment among teachers and other employees of the schools, leads to unequivocality in the approach.
A lack of pedagogic quality might be the reason for this act embarrassment among teachers. Respondent E1 stated the following:
‘… you can see that adolescents are becoming more and more assertive, so you need more pedagogic qualities as a teacher. There is no obvious relationship of authority anymore…’… ‘I cannot rely on a research, but I have the idea that the pedagogic skills in the VET- schools are insufficiently connected to what is expected from them.’
As discussed in the introduction, the school-worker should be capable of signaling the risks (NJI, 2015), however it might be the case that this capability of the teachers (and other employees) is lacking.
Two respondents of school A stated that Fragmentation is a difficulty they face with the execution of their policy. Respondent A5 says the following:
‘It takes time, if you want to work from a certain vision.’…’There are
several City Council members that have to do with adolescents, there are different government departments that have to do with adolescents, and sometimes there is legislation that is not well aligned. So fragmentation occurs there, fragmentation occurs here in the municipalities, - because in the end it is a translation of…- and we have to deal with this fragmentation as well. What do we want? You try to find your way around, and that can
be difficult.’
Another side of this fragmentation, is the division in the execution of the prevention policy, which is appointed by respondent A2. This division in the execution of policies in general is
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caused by the different mindsets of employees, and it has to do with their culture and discipline as well, according to him. However, this is also a matter of time and attention, he mentioned.
An obstacle that can be linked to the act embarrassment among teachers (and facility employees) is the workload that two respondents experience. Respondent D1 stated that the awareness among teachers about their role is lacking, partly due to this workload:
‘You are now at the engineering location, which is by accident. You can
imagine that problems occur over here as well, but a teacher in engineering, or a team of teachers does not have a direct focus on providing care, but in the end it starts there… in class or in the environment
of a mentor or a confidential counsellor. If you do not take it up, or you do not detect or record the issue in our system, nor do you include our care- team, then the problem can become even worse.’ He continued: ’Maybe they are aware of it, but there are so many other things to organize apart from
‘fitting education’ (“passend onderwijs”). We have had the problems at
primary schools with the teachers that went on strike, but the workload of our teachers is not much lower, and these tasks are just becoming part of
it as well.’
Respondent C2 said the following with regard to this workload:
‘The hustle and bustle of the day… it is often the case… we are all very busy,
so we do not have all the time for each other. It might happen that a teacher has a certain supposition about a particular student, but that he
thinks: anyhow I need to go to my class.’…’So it is also hard due to time pressure and workload.’
The type of education plays part as well, which can be also concluded from the quotation of D1 mentioned earlier. A Department of for instance Care and Welfare is able to approach the adolescents from their professional perspective (“beroepsperspectief”). A respondent from school C, working at the Department of Care and Welfare, stated that the prevention policy is therefore part of their behavior, and their curriculum, which is not the case in for instance a Technical Department.
Another difficulty that a couple of respondents face with the execution of their policy, is that they run into legal and regulatory framework, which can lead to act embarrassment as well according to a respondent of school A. Respondent A3 says:
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However, according to this respondent, it would be better if these trainings become part of the training of teachers (“PABO”):
‘…so that teachers-to-be learn how to deal with complex and alarming
students.’
Respondent A5 mentioned that it can be very hard to develop an intervention that fits the needs of the student, while also staying within the legal framework.
An example of running into a legal framework is the public education law, that is considered to be rigid according respondent C1. This law is obligating the schools to keep problematic students at school:
‘In educational fields it is possible to give a good example to 23 students,
by removing one student from school.’
According to C1, schools should be able to create an exception:
‘… with this exception I do not mean that we should put these students in a special box, or a special school for criminals, because then the problem will become even worse. But the idea is to develop programs in which students can be admitted to special internship-locations, while staying at school for three days a week. That would be a more differentiated flexible
framework.’
(A timely handover of) responsibility is considered to be a difficulty as well by some respondents. Respondent A1 said:
‘I do feel the need to do something when someone is trusting me and gives me information. However, you need to be aware of your own responsibility
and when you need to hand it over to others.’
Collaboration with youth-probation (“jeugdreclassering”), Youth care, and neighborhood teams is necessary, according to A1. This feeling of responsibility can be linked to the act embarrassment. Respondent A4 stated the following with regard to this:
‘… the priority for educating teachers lies in guaranteeing security in class. When the students have a break and are walking through the hallway, the responsibility is for someone else, according to the teachers.’
Respondent C2 sees this problem with responsibility as well, but on a more specific level. Each college of school C has a career-expertise center (“loopbaanexpertisecentrum”, next: LEC), which has a team that consists of different expertise, aimed at helping students with different problems. It includes career advisors, a budget-coach, specialists in tailored education
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(“passend onderwijs”), and youth-advisors that help students with all kinds of problems . A confidential advisor is officially not part of this LEC-team (because of their independency in the organization), but adolescents that visit these confidential advisors, can be helped by the youth-advisor as well and vice versa. Respondent C2 states the following with regard to this:
‘Who belongs to whom, and who does what? Recently we had a meeting and then the confidential advisor said: Who is the director? Who is responsible? That is a good question.’…. ‘… When talking about social security, and the care and support we offer, there will be always some kind
of overlap.’
This overlap can make it hard to divide between the different responsibilities of the actors involved in the prevention policies. Not only within the schools, but also when collaborating with external parties.
On the one hand, a majority of the respondents mentioned the lack of a warm hand-over (“warme overdracht”) (due to privacy regulations), between schools but also within the schools. When a student, who was connected to a care team or to a particular program, or who had other issues (at home or at school), decides to go to another school, this warm hand-over” should take place, in which the supplying school gives all necessary information about the particular student to the receiving school.
Respondent B1 says the following with regard to the warm hand-over:
‘... we are dependent on the information we receive. Half of the students
comes directly from Lower Vocational Education, and in that case appointments have been made about the transmission of information
(“doorstroomformulier”). We often do not receive information from the
other half of the students, who have done other things or that come from another VET-school. I attach a lot of value to investing in possessing the right information, because that is the most important thing with regard to
prevention.’
This sharing of information is restricted by privacy law, that is becoming more and more sharpened, according to this respondent. However, according to B1 the prevention policy of school B, can be portrayed as:
‘Sensibly dealing with effective information from the supplying school.’
This dealing with information can be very difficult when the information is lacking. Respondent C1 stated the following:
‘We are working on this warm hand-over, but every time we can witness
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Supplying schools veil the problems that some students have, because they are afraid that the student will be refused. Respondent A3 mentioned this issue as well.
Respondent E1 witnessed this lacking warm hand-over between the VET-schools as well. A problem he mentioned during the interview with regard to this, is the fact that the students are regionally based, which makes it hard to organize physical meetings. The development of a ‘first screening’ instrument would be helpful according to him. With this instrument schools would be able to distinguish the students that can enter the school directly, from the students that have a certain file, which makes further contact with the supplying school necessary. However, this information should not be used as a prequalification system, but unfortunately this happens a lot, also according to this respondent. Respondent E1 stated the following with regard to the warm hand-over:
‘…when you want honest information from the supplying school, you
should make clear that the student is already admitted, and that the information is not used to select students.’…’The most important thing is what I just mentioned… that you determine in a selective and effective way,
under which circumstances you are going to organize a warm hand-over.’
On the other hand, respondent D1 mentioned the warm hand over can be also lacking within the organization, and not only between schools. This happens for instance when a student wants to switch his education:
‘… also then not all information is sent. Sometimes this happens
consciously, because they are happy that a critical customer is going to
another education, and sometimes unconsciously.’
School D has a system in which information can be stored, however, this system is not used completely, said the respondent. Respondent D2, stressed the importance of this warm hand- over, because students are not always honest in their acquaintance-meetings since they are tired of the support system. A well-organized warm hand-over would be very helpful for the VET- schools.
An issue that has been mentioned a couple of times by the respondents and that can be seen as an obstacle for youth-crime prevention policies and particularly for early-signaling, is social media. Respondent C1 stated the following with regard to this:
‘I see it as a big problem: A lot of criminality is emerging on social media.’… ‘In my consideration this is a problematic issue, because our teachers are