Gemeente Amsterdam

The municipality Amsterdam makes an annual budget available for non-Dutch speaking people who do not need to integrate, but for whom it is important that they learn the customs and taal learn to better participate in society. The courses are not only aimed at improving the taalskills but also on participating in society. Taal & Work, Taal & Personal Financial Administration, Taal for Beginners and Taal For Advanced courses given in this context last six months.

During this time, the level of the participants visibly increases. With over thirty free courses running in parallel, Freek Rurup, taalmunicipal inspector Amsterdam, it's busy. Also coordinator Ard Elzenga of TopTaal works together with four project managers and four project employees to ensure that the organization runs smoothly.

Ard says: 'We are responsible for the entire process of the municipality AmsterdamWe handle intakes and plan the groups. We create the materials ourselves, handle the administration, and ensure a good relationship with the teachers and students. Those who need more attention receive it from us. And we take the different needs into account. taallevels. The more homogeneous the groups, the higher the learning outcomes. You can imagine that this takes quite a bit of time when we're training 1.000 to 1.500 students simultaneously!

Successful integration

TaalCoordinator Freek Rurup is outspoken about the municipality's ambitions Amsterdam. 'We strive to get students active in Dutch society. This can be done in many ways, but we are critical. When a Chinese student goes to work in a Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam, we do not necessarily consider that an example of successful integration. It is best if participants next The Dutch lessons are active in a Dutch environment. This can be done, for example, through volunteer work, by joining a Dutch club or bytaalto do work in a Dutch environment. As long as Dutch is also spoken outside of class. It's about the combination of taallessons and activities outside of class where Dutch is spoken. Like Ard, Freek spends a lot of time on ensuring the municipal taalcourses. He is responsible not only for benefit recipients, who often find out about the courses through their municipal caseworker, but also for people without benefits who find the courses themselves.

I find it a pleasant cooperation partner

Freek's main task is to check the contracts with providers, including that with TopTaal. 'The contracts with suppliers describe which Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) must be met. There are twenty-five KPIs, such as: do classes start on time? Are the teachers qualified? And do the students create portfolios? These are things that I have been looking at in this position for ten years.' When Freek was taalcontroller started, he was in charge of forty taalproviders. Now there are only five. "We've done a lot of sifting in recent years."

Player of size

Freek has TopTaal Over the past few years we have seen it grow from a small club to a major player. 'It's great to see how TopTaal They've truly become a large, professional organization. And I must say, I find them a pleasant partner. They always do what they say they will. You'd expect that, as a commercial organization, they're primarily focused on making a profit. There's nothing wrong with that. But I can tell they genuinely want to do things right.  TopTaal seeks solutions themselves when difficulties arise. I find it really difficult to tell them what they could do better.

What surprises Freek the most is the fact that a for-profit company so clearly puts the interests of students first in its approach. 'Making a profit and being correct can go hand in hand,' Freek concludes. 'It's nice to see that students are so eager to join. TopTaal end up. They really ask for it. I think TopTaal a really very good one taalprovider.'