Postponed sitting down gives the teacher extra work
More students got the benefit of the doubt last school year. An excellent opportunity to climb, or a small disaster in the making? Lecturers foresee a tough year.
Image: Nino Maissouradze
This spring, Minister Arie Slob of Education called on primary schools to give 'generous' advice because of the abolition of the final test. Students in the upper years were also allowed to continue to the next year who would normally have remained behind, says Hanne Kouwenberg. She teaches English at De Populier in The Hague. “Because of corona, students have transferred who have no chance: grades that are far too low. I will soon have students in my class who passed threes and fours.”
She foresees a tough year, with when things go wrong: students who revolt. “If the level is too difficult, students often don't know where to start. They are fed up, don't do anything anymore and are very difficult to put to work. Or they mutinate. Then they are constantly looking for distraction and students around them start to distract, which in turn makes them less likely. ”
Due to corona, students have transferred who have no chance: grades that are far too low
Transitional arrangement
In the absence of representative figures, secondary schools adjusted their transitional arrangements in the spring. The teacher's advice became leading. Children of parents who protested against the advice could just pass, says math teacher John Rombouts of 2College Durendael in Oisterwijk. He sees this as a minor disaster in the making. "Students have not suddenly become smarter." The second year in particular will be difficult, Rombouts thinks. Traditionally, this is a correction moment in which children who have entered too high a level go further in the second grade. That has barely happened at his school now.
Some of those students may stand a chance, Rombouts thinks: “Provided they work harder. But often they also have a backlog of last year to catch up. For others it is in any case unfeasible, but they themselves and their parents do not yet see that. ”
No commercials
Coincidentally, this summer, barrier-free transfer to HAVO or VWO was introduced (see 'Simplified transfer to HAVO and VWO'). As of 1 August, schools are no longer allowed to set their own grade or motivation requirements for students who want to go to HAVO 4 after VMBO mixed or theoretical learning path (tl). The same applies to students who want to do VWO after HAVO. Until this year, the English teacher Kouwenberg's school required students to pass an average score of seven on their final exams. Kouwenberg: “Because we know from experience: if you got a 7 on secondary education, then that would be roughly a 6 on secondary education. This minimum gave them a chance.”
She suspects that many students and their parents are not yet aware of the change in the law: "Our school has not advertised it." Mind you, Kouwenberg is 'absolutely in favor of giving opportunities', but she would have preferred to stick to a minimum standard, also with regard to the transfer staff. Not least for the student herself, she says: “It is not nice to see yourself fail all year long: to come home with failures every time. Running off often means a big dent in your self-confidence. ”
It's no fun watching yourself fail for a whole year
Both Kouwenberg and Rombouts know the negative influence of a student who is out of place on the rest of the class. That influence increases as the group that can't keep up grows, and they both expect that. Rombouts: “They are teenagers: if something goes wrong, they look for the cause outside themselves. A low mark means that the explanation was not good, especially if a larger part of the class fails. But yes, I have often been using those tests and the correction prescription for several years. " Kouwenberg provides more work for the teacher. “It's all in small moments. In your lesson preparation, in organizing help for these students. Schedule a meeting, briefly consult with colleagues: how are we going to tackle this? "
Frustrating
That time is often not there, says Dutch teacher Miryam Schuitemaker. At her community school, the BC Broekhin in Roermond, they are already used to allowing students to move on from special VMBO-TL + classes to HAVO without barriers. The future HAVO students took an extra subject at tl +, but the school did not set any further requirements. A valuable principle, says Schuitemaker. There are positive exceptions, but many of these pre-vocational secondary education students are stranded at HAVO: “It is often the smart students who hit tl + on their slippers. Their first reflex on HAVO is to sit back and see what comes their way. But the train immediately starts running and it turns out by Christmas that they can no longer catch up. I find that very frustrating. ”
At her school, Schuitemaker mainly identifies a lack of executive skills among VMBO students who cannot make it to a higher level. “They have not yet developed a good working attitude. The planning is not working, the metacognition is not yet working properly: knowing why you are learning, what it is meant for. ” The team tries to get the students to land as quickly and effectively as possible, but that also evokes resistance. “I always say on the first day: the leap you make is bigger than that of your HAVO 3 classmates. But then I get back to stigmatizing them, which is absolutely not my intention. They also ask me, why can't we keep doing what we've always been doing? Well, because havo is really different from vmbo. ”
Every student should be able to climb, but if we don't help them with this, then it's not a real opportunity
complain
It is time for well thought-out guidance, says Schuitemaker. “This year I will try to get my colleagues to come up with a solid plan for these students. We do complain about it, but we don't pay structural attention to it yet. Every student should be able to climb, but if we don't help them with this, then it is not a real opportunity. ” Mathematics teacher Rombouts hopes that his students will continue to ask questions: "Then we will work it out together." And counts on more complaints: “I will take a step back more often this school year, in terms of level and pace. That is not a problem in itself, but it is at the expense of the processing time during the lesson. And that gives more homework for all students. But yes, we cannot lag behind. ”
Transition to HAVO and VWO simplified
The 'Equal Opportunity of Transition to HAVO and VWO Act', which came into effect on 1 August 2020, means that every pupil can enter secondary education from now on. VMBO pupils do have to take an extra subject for HAVO. This does not apply to HAVO students who want to go to VWO.
The ratatouille of admission requirements that had arisen, encourages inequality, according to the majority of the House of Representatives. One school applied a 6,8 average on the final exam as a condition, another demanded a 7 and still others had no grade requirement at all. Schools required motivation letters or sought decisive advice from the pupil's old teachers. That is no longer allowed. In order to prevent schools from being judged on more staggers, the Education Inspectorate has been applying a correction factor for the transfer students since March this year.
Mathematics teacher Ronald de Swart was department head of the havo superstructure at Eerste Christelijk Lyceum in Haarlem for fourteen years. He is surprised that this law passed. “At the time, I was with deans and other department heads at a number of meetings of the ministry on this subject. As one of the few, I thought that all students should be given the chance, but the tenor in the field was unanimous: stick to a threshold. Otherwise, too many students - perhaps also under pressure from their parents - will try and that is doomed to fail.”
Swart wonders whether there is enough space for students who stay in secondary education longer in this way. “Our school was already unable to cope with the supply from the category MAVOs this year. There are quite a few of these in our region. We are full and do not suddenly get classrooms. No director keeps places free for possible new students in HAVO-4 and VWO-5 if he can also get them paid for five or six years from first year onwards. ”
This article appeared in the Education Magazine of September. The Education Magazine in your mail every month? Become member of the AOb!
