Vocational - MBO

Helicon offers vocational education at all four levels and in both routes: the part time  ‘on the job’ route (BBL) and fulltime route (BOL). In the green education courses are allocated to ‘eight worlds’:

• Dynamic Design is all about flowers, design, interiors and styling.
• Natural Health is all about nature, health, care, wellness and the environment.
• Big Business is all about green retail, sales, logistics and running a company.
• Animal Friends is all about animal health, husbandry, veterinary care, horse management and equestrian sports.
• Good Food is all about food technology, plant cultivation, and cattle breeding.
• Mighty Machines is all about mechanics, driving and contract work.
• Surprising Nature is all about forest & nature management, culture technology, water management and plant cultivation.
• Outdoor Life is all about designing gardens, parks, landscapes, and sports, recreation and tourism.

At  vocational education students are on average between 16 and 22 years of age and want to become professionals in their green field of interest.  Our education is based on authentic learning, allowing students to explore, discover, discuss and construct concepts and relationships in contexts that involve real-world problems and projects. The learning environments are multidisciplinary. 

Competency-based qualification structure

The labour market acts as the basis for the qualification structure in secondary vocational education and training (VET). The competency-based qualification structure that is used in The Netherlands is the link between the labour market and the programmes for VET. All jobs and functions are described in profiles and form the basis for the qualifications files. These qualification files describe the knowledge, skills and competencies a person needs to fulfil a job or function. Our education is based on the qualification files given by governmental organisations. The content of the programme is determined by the schools. The subjects offered to the students are written in the curricula.

Please see here (PDF) an overview of the Dutch educational system.