Focus on potential, not disabilities: a comparison of special needs education institutions in the Netherlands and Slovenia

Andrej Gregorač and Tina Kralj in Mateja Oman

Summary:  Teachers from the residential treatment institution Kranj visited a number of institutions in the Netherlands for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties in order to learn and experience new approaches and concepts in this field of education. The present article describes these institutions and how they function within the national education system. It also reflects on and compares special education systems in the Netherlands and Slovenia. Huge differences were discovered between the systems, both in the form (organisation) and the content (concepts) of special education, and these were found to be directly influenced by the state and the nature of society in general.