What are the Dutch high-school “profielen”?
Op bezoek bij een middelbare school met natuur en techniek
A2 Dutch listening practice · Dutch · Picked for people who know a little
After Dutch students choose havo or vwo (the two upper-tier high-school streams), they hit the next big decision around age 14: which profiel to take. The four options are Cultuur en Maatschappij (humanities), Economie en Maatschappij (business), Natuur en Gezondheid (life-sciences), and Natuur en Techniek (engineering/STEM). The choice locks in subjects for the final two years and shapes university applications. Natuur en Techniek is the most demanding, with mandatory wiskunde B, natuurkunde, scheikunde.
In this Quinn en Aaron sketch, a kid tours a middelbare school: “Dit is dus de middelbare school.” The signal: “Nee, ik vind techniek echt leuker.”
How common are the words?
How common are the words in this A2 Dutch listening practice video?
How common in written Dutch
How common in spoken Dutch
Harder words in this video
These words are harder than A2. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-NL 2014 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In Dutch education-policy press (NRC Onderwijs, De Volkskrant, Trouw)
- ▸On the profielen system and exam structure (Examenblad, SLO, DUO)
- ▸In Dutch profielkeuze and school-counsel resources (Studiekeuze123, Qompas, LAKS)
- ▸In Dutch teen-and-school media (*Brugklas, SpangaS, Het Klokhuis*)