Research Results Opstap
The recent postgraduate research project undertaken by Cathy van Tuijl reveals that the Opstap Opnieuw programme ('Step-up revised': the name used from 1997 to 2003) reached many families in the Turkish and Moroccan communities in the Netherlands. In general, social assistance programmes have difficulty in accessing these families, for a number of reasons.
Each year, many thousands of families take part in the Opstap programme, which provides parenting support and strives to promote child development. In many cases, the parents speak little or no Dutch. Most have only a basic standard of education, and half are unemployed (some due to illness or incapacity). Without the programme, many children would start primary school with below average cognitive and language skills.
Monitoring of those taking part in the programme reveals that children from Turkish families now make better progress in the early years of primary education. They do better in language tests and in basic arithmetic. Teacher's appraisals of Opstap children also show a positive effect compared to others with the same background who have not taken part in the programme. The better assimilation and progress help to form a more positive (self) image of Opstapchildren.
Children from the Moroccan community also make better progress during the early years of primary education, although tests and teachers' appraisals suggest some deficit compared to their Turkish counterparts. Contributory factors include a more complex language situation (parents generally speak Berber, while the official language of Morocco is Arabic), and the difficulty of establishing good contact with families. Turkish mothers who take part in Opstap improve the quality of the interaction, according to the results of the observations. They provide greater support and encouragement than the mothers from the control group.
In this national research project, Cathy van Tuijl monitored participants at one hundred primary schools for two-and-a-half years beyond the conclusion of the project. Twenty coordinators were also involved. The drop-out rate was low, being only 6 %. The research population also included children who were performing below average (Tuijl, C. Van, Effecten van Opstap Opnieuw. Effecten van een gezinsgericht stimuleringsprogramma bij Turkse en Marokkaanse gezinnen. Alkmaar, 2001).
Supplementary research by Cathy van Tuijl reveals that the children maintain the advantage they gain through the programme. Throughout the six years of primary education following completion of the programme, they are 15% less likely to be required to repeat a school year than children in the control group and they do better in the national examinations which determine the form of secondary education they are to follow. (Tuijl, C. van. Lange termijn effecten van Opstap Opnieuw. Effecten van Opstap
Opnieuw bij Turkse en Marokkaanse leerlingen zes jaar na beëindiging van het programma. Utrecht, 2004.)
Local research in one Amsterdam neighbourhood noted for significant social problems shows a high participation rate among all sections of the community, especially the Turkish group. Children score better in tests of language and basic arithmetic, make better progress in primary school and achieve better examination results (Veen, I. van der, Veen, A., Koopman, P. Opstap in Bos en Lommer. SCO Kohnstamm Institute, 2004).
