Disadvantaged students and girls are better off without a final exam

Tekst Webredactie - Rob Voorwinden - 9 juli 2020 - 6 Minuten om te lezen

Image: Pixabay

In the publication Effect of scrapping central exam without additional measures the Central Planning Bureau will calculate the consequences if, as this year, the central examination is canceled. Last year's figures show that without a central exam, almost seven thousand students would have passed. On the other hand, almost eight thousand students would have failed without that exam.

At many schools, almost all students have passed this year

The expiry of the central exam is disadvantageous for boys, students without a migration background and students with highly educated parents. They use the exam to increase their scores. Girls, pupils with a migration background and pupils with parents with a low and intermediate education level more often benefit from not counting the central exam: for them, the exam is a barrier.

Both effects will not occur this year because all kinds of additional measures have been taken due to the corona crisis. In this way the students were given extra resit opportunities for their school exams. In many schools, almost all students have passed this year, regional newspapers report.

Groningen

In Groningen and Drenthe, never before have so many students passed their secondary school as this year, it reports Newspaper of the North. This newspaper has been tracking the number of graduates for ten years, and these high numbers have never been seen before. In Groningen, more than 98 percent of all students pass this year, compared to 90 percent last year. In Drenthe, almost 99 percent succeeded this year, against 92 percent last year.

Flexible

The schools declare in the Dagblad van het Noorden that the students were certainly not assessed too flexibly. Some national guidelines are called 'flexible'. For example, a mark like 5,45 can sometimes be rounded to a 5,5 and thus a 6. 'Then a student needs less compensation,' says Harrie Klomp of the Vincent van Gogh comprehensive school in Assen. 'Pupils were also allowed to retake two subjects instead of one subject.'
Matthias Kooistra of Esdal College Emmen has a different explanation. 'The fact that there are more graduates may be because students had less stress. Central writing in a large gym is exciting. '

Corona diploma

The schools are fiercely agitating against people who speak of a 'corona diploma', which would be worth less than a regular diploma. 'That does an injustice to students and teachers,' says Klomp. "They have had to work in particularly difficult conditions in recent months."

Noord-Holland

In the province of North Holland, almost all 163 final exam candidates at OSG De Hogeberg in Den Burg had already passed at the beginning of June, it reports. Noordhollands Dagblad. Rector Corrie Eriks also does not want to speak of a 'corona diploma'. 'The general rule is that the school examination marks may not deviate by more than half a point from those of the previous school year,' the rector explains in the newspaper. 'In almost all subjects we are within that margin, and often stricter than last year.'

I think the students earned their diploma more this year than ever before

In Oss, North Brabant, this is a 'unique thing', it reports Algemeen Dagblad. There, all VMBO students at all schools got their diploma. 'It is more common for one Osse school to have a success rate of 100. But it is unique that all VMBO students at all schools in the city succeed, 'the newspaper said. Significantly more students are also succeeding at HAVO and VWO in Oss this year.

Matst

The students are not 'dull', the schools declare in the newspaper. 'I think the students have earned it more this year than ever before,' says Ilja Arts of Het Hooghuis Zuid-West. 'They had to show an extreme amount of independence in the last phase of their school days. The last school exams even fell in the middle of the lockdown and were therefore extra exciting. At that time everyone in this region had a sick person in the family. That has done more for their development than an exam could ever do. '

Result improvement test

'In a way I understand that people think that we have made things easier for the students,' says Ad van Kemenade of Udens College in the newspaper. All VMBO students and 99 percent of HAVO and VWO students passed here. 'And in a way they are also tailor-made with that result improvement test. But it would have been really unfair if we had not introduced it. Then students will be the victim of corona, so you no longer give them a chance to straighten their score. '

Frustrating

'It was a frustrating last year for many students, says Hans Manders of gymnasium Bernrode, where 98 percent of the students graduated. 'Without a gala, without a prom, without a last day of school. Please don't chase this group with a term like 'corona diploma'. They worked just as hard for it as students from other years. They're just as ready for the next step.'

Twente

In Twente, all 94 final exam candidates of Twents Carmel College in Losser passed in one go this year, reports the The Twentsche Courant / Tubantia. Nobody had to retake an exam, one student did anyway, to get a better grade on his final list. 'It has simply been a very good group, of which we already had high expectations at the beginning of the year', says director Ellen Vos about the pre-vocational secondary school TGL exam class. 'The vast majority of them also passed an extra course. That gives more options for profiles in MBO. '

The central written exam has a high stress factor. The school exam gives peace

The newspaper The Gelderlander reports that the secondary schools in Arnhem and the surrounding area also have good success rates this year. 'We provide more customization with the school surveys', explains a spokesperson for one of the schools. 'And, compared to the normal exam period, there was less time pressure, hectic and stress.'

Zeeland

In Zeeland, almost all secondary school students graduated, Algemeen Dagblad reports. Of the 3877 exam candidates in the province, only twenty-five failed in this corona school year. Nevertheless, the students certainly did not receive their diploma here either, says Floor van Lamoen, head of the HAVO/VWO department of the Ostrea Lyceum in Goes in the newspaper. 'The central written exam has a high stress factor: two to four percent of the students fail it every year. With the school exam this year, students knew exactly where they stood. That gave peace.'

Spicy

The 2020 diploma is therefore certainly not worth less than a diploma from other years. Van Lamoen: 'Part of the material was not tested because it was not part of the school exams. That is a drawback. On the other hand, these students have had to finish their school days in very strange and tough circumstances. That is very clever. They will all go to secondary vocational education, higher vocational education or university and they will get a normal diploma there. And then nobody is talking about 2020 anymore. '