ABSTRACT
In the nineties the Moroccans have become one of the largest ethnic groups in the multi-ethnic Dutch society. This chapter focuses on the sociolinguistic status of the Moroccan community in the Netherlands. Initially the Moroccans came as temporary labourers to the Netherlands on an individual basis, without their families. Later, in the seventies and eighties they were followed by their spouses and children: family reunion took place and other children were born. As education is compulsory in the Netherlands from the age of four, young Moroccans start attending school the day after that birthday. In many schools Educationin Native Language is offered to Moroccan pupils, as it is to pupils of other ethnic minority backgrounds. The supra-regional koine variety of Moroccan Arabic, being neither taught nor the mother tongue of more than a few members of the elite class, remains somewhat outside of this classification.
