Most children and young people are able to follow lessons at school well. But not everyone is the same. Some children and young people need extra help at school. Sometimes more is needed than the school can offer and the child or young person has to go to another school in the region. This may be another regular school or a school for secondary special education (vso). Every child and young person with a support need must, in the region where they live, receive education that suits them. This is called appropriate education. Schools must ensure that a child gets help at school, or gets help at a suitable other place. This is regulated by the duty of care appropriate education.

Children aged 5 to 16 are subject to compulsory education. This means they are obliged to attend school. Compulsory education lasts until the end of the school year in which your child turns 16. If your child does not have a diploma by then, the qualification requirement applies instead of compulsory education. Read more about this under the question "What is compulsory qualification?".

A start qualification is a diploma havo, vwo or mbo (level 2 or higher). Young people who do not yet have a start qualification when they are 16 must follow education until they turn 18.

Every school gives help to children who need it. This is called basic support. The school's school support profile (SOP) describes exactly what basic support the school provides. If your child needs more help, this is called extra support. This is also stated in the school support profile. Sometimes the partnership association arranges this extra support. Sometimes, the school arranges this itself. Read more about this in the questions "What is a school support profile (SOP)?", "What is basic support?" and "What is extra support?".

Schools (school boards) for regular education, secondary special education (vso) and practical education (pro), work together in a particular area to provide appropriate education. This is called a collaborative partnership (SWV). In a partnership for secondary education, there are vmbo, havo and vwo schools, schools for practical education and schools for secondary special education (vso). A partnership ensures that every child who needs it gets extra help or can attend a special school. The schools in the partnership agree together on how to arrange this. Some partnerships divide the money for appropriate education among the schools. In this way, the schools themselves provide extra help for pupils. In other cases, the partnership association itself arranges the extra help. It is good to know what the agreements are in your partnership. These agreements are laid down in a support plan. You can request it from the partnership or find it on their website. Read more about this under the question 'What is a support plan?

If your child needs more than basic support, the school will make a plan. That plan tells you how the school will help your child feel comfortable and learn as well as possible. The school does this with goals to work on. This plan is called a development perspective. The development perspective states how the school will support your child. This is usually done by the care or support coordinator. The school talks to you and your child about the goals that will be included in the development perspective. And about how the school will help your child achieve them. The development perspective consists of at least two parts, the attainment profile and the intervention part. The outflow profile states the level the school is working towards. What level will your child be at at the end of secondary school? Will your child follow education after secondary school? And what kind of education?

The other part of the development perspective is the action part. This is about the extra help your child will receive to achieve the goals. Read more about this in the questions "What is a school support profile (SOP)?", "What is basic support?" and "What is extra support?". The school also consults with you about this. This is also called a 'Consultation aimed at agreement' or 'OOGO'. You and the school must agree on the action component of the development perspective together. This is called the right of consent. The school will usually ask you to sign to show that you agree. It is also important that it is clear what your child himself thinks of the plan. The school must discuss the developmental perspective with you at least once a year. Involve your child in this as much as possible. Young people also have the right to talk about it and give their opinion. If your child is 16 or older, different rules apply to sharing information. Read more about this under the question 'Do I need my child's permission to get information from school?

Every child should receive an education that suits him or her, and extra help if needed. The school board must ensure this. This is called duty of care. To do this, the school must first carefully examine what kind of help your child needs and whether the school can provide this extra help itself. Sometimes the school needs help from the partnership or other experts. Perhaps another school is a better fit? If so, the school must help find it. The school board of the school where your child is enrolled has a duty of care. Even if the extra help is provided by the partnership.

The school's duty of care begins the moment you register your child in writing. The duty of care continues until there is another school where you register your child. Only parents can register a child. Read more about this under the question 'How do I register my child with a school?'

Sometimes the school has no duty of care:

• If the school is full. This should then apply to all applications. Not just for pupils who need extra help.
• If you as a parent disagree with how the school thinks about education and upbringing. This is called 'not subscribing to the foundation'.
• When applying to a cluster 1 or cluster 2 school. These schools do not belong to a partnership. They have their own admission procedure.

All schools have a school board. The school board is ultimately responsible for decisions related to the school and the education provided. The school board makes the important decisions about the school. It usually does this for more than one school. Sometimes the school board leaves much to the school management, but the board remains ultimately responsible. School boards ensure that money is distributed, schools have enough people working there and the school provides good education. School boards have a duty of care. It is the school board's job to ensure that the school arranges for every child to receive an education that suits him or her. And gets extra help if necessary. They sometimes do this with the help of the partnership. The school guide states which school board your school belongs to. Read more about this in the questions 'What is duty of care?' and 'What is a partnership?'