Not repair but renovation. Conclusions from The State of Education.

Not repair but renovation. Conclusions from The State of Education.

The Dutch education system must not be repaired but renovated after the corona pandemic. The Education Inspectorate calls for this in the annual report The State of Education. The report was handed over on Wednesday morning to acting Minister Arie Slob and State Secretary Van Engelshoven at the Education Museum in Dordrecht.

The corona crisis had major effects on pupils and students. The goal is to use the learning delays to improve education in the long term. This is possible with the large funding from the National Education Program. The investment of 8.5 billion euros is, according to the Inspectorate, in an ‘unprecedented crisis also an unprecedented opportunity’.

Effects of the corona crisis

The Education Inspectorate sees delays across the board due to the corona crisis. ‘Pupils and students could not learn or develop well during the corona crisis, despite great efforts not only in schools but often also at home. The corona crisis affected teaching and teaching hours, the development and equal chances of pupils, internships, and job prospects. Pressure on teachers and school leaders also increased.’

Main challenges

The main challenges in education according to the inspectorate are growing inequality and declining basic skills. For example, the rise in extra tuition carries a risk for equal chances. This includes private lessons. It is clear that not all parents can afford this. Mostly higher educated parents pay for extra lessons for their children in primary and secondary education.

Declining basic skills

Also, too many pupils already had weak language and math skills before 2020. Even before the corona crisis, over a quarter of primary school pupils could not write at the agreed minimum level. This matches results from a national test taken in the first year of secondary school. It shows that first-year students read and calculate worse. They also have a smaller vocabulary than students who took first-year classes a year before.

Approach

With focused teaching in language, math, and social skills, the inspectorate believes delays can be reduced. To act better, the inspectorate wants to check more closely at schools what levels pupils reach. ‘Use now the energy and investment to fix the effects of corona and also fix the root causes of declining basic skills and inequality in education. Act and keep going because this chance will not come again soon.’

Read the full conclusions in the full report. And see which events are organized around the launch of The State of Education.

Staat van de Ouder

At the same time as The State of Education, we publish Staat van de Ouder. It shows what parents think of Dutch education. Only by comparing both reports can we get a complete picture of education in the Netherlands.

 

Minister Slob at the handover of The State of Education 2021 report