The Education Inspectorate's report has been sent to Parliament by Minister of Education, Culture and Science Jet Bussemaker.

COC Netherlands, an LGBT interest group, wants to develop a standard for the improvement of LGBT acceptance in schools. It also demands that the subject becomes part of the mandatory curriculum at teacher academies.

At the insistence of COC, the government made the improvement of LGBT acceptance mandatory at all primary and secondary schools in the Netherlands. The survey now shows that despite the fact that teachers find the subject important, the quality of education leaves much to be desired.

'Muddle around'

The Education Inspectorate states, for example, that in the majority of schools, the subject is only "incidentally" and "not purposefully" discussed and is "not embedded in the curriculum." There is no developed vision, there are no learning aims, and there is very little performance review.

"COC is happy with the engagement of schools: the research shows that they find the subject important," says COC chairman Tanja Ineke. "It does seem, however, that schools muddle around when it comes to improving LGBT acceptance, even though they have the best intentions. We have to change that, together."

To help schools improve results, COC is working together with LGBT youth and the Education Alliance for Sexual Diversity* on a minimum standard that LGBT acceptance programs in schools must meet. The interest group is also arguing for the improvement of LGBT acceptance to become part of the mandatory curriculum at teacher academies.

The COC finds it a positive development that Minister of Education, Culture and Science Jet Bussemaker has written a letter to the House of Representatives with recommendations to improve the situation in schools.

'Oh, that's what it was about'

According to 80 to 90 percent of school principals in the Netherlands, their school spends some time on promoting LGBT acceptance. Research earlier this year by EenVandaag showed that only a quarter of all secondary school students say that their school pays attention to the subject.

An explanation for the gap between these numbers seems to be the bad quality of the awareness programs. According to the Education Inspectorate, students only remember what is discussed at school after further questioning: "Oh, that's what it was about" is a typical reply.

Worse at vocational schools

The report by the Education Inspectorate shows that the situation at secondary vocation schools is worse than average. Almost half of (43 percent) of vocational school principals report that their school does not pay any attention to LGBT acceptance, that they do not attempt to raise awareness for the theme, and that they have no vision on the subject.

COC wants to see that LGBT acceptance programs become obligatory at secondary vocational schools as well. Even though the situation for LGBT people in vocational schools is often worse in comparison to other types of schools, the subject is still not part of the mandatory curriculum.