Final test will be compulsory in special education
The final test for pupils in special education and special primary education is compulsory from the 2019/2020 school year. The Ministry of Education has informed schools of this so that they can prepare for taking the test.
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Eighth-graders in regular primary education have been obliged to take a final test since the 2014/2015 school year. Schools can choose from various providers, such as the Central End Test, IEP, ROUTE8 or Dia. Education minister Arie Slob (ChristenUnie) made at the end of September with a letter to the Lower House known that pupils in special education and special primary education must also take the test.
In special primary education there are pupils with behavioral, learning or parenting problems. These primary schools have smaller classes and there is more guidance from specialized teachers. Special education is divided into clusters containing students who need intensive and specialist support. This may concern blind, deaf, chronically ill students or the mentally handicapped.
All students
Slob writes in his letter that previously no reliable test was available from the government to offer in special (primary) education if something went wrong with one of the commercial providers. Special education schools therefore had nothing to fall back on. That has now changed because the government test, the Adaptive Central Final Test, has been updated. The new test can be taken by all students, including those in special education. The questions adapt to the level of the student and become more difficult or easier.
Exceptions remain for students who are not required to take the test. This concerns pupils who are very difficult to learn, multiple disabled or pupils who have been in the Netherlands for four years or less and for that reason do not yet have a good command of the language.
At the beginning of this school year, the minister has ensured that all (primary) schools are aware of the obligation, so that they can prepare students. Slob does state in his letter that many schools in special education have already used one of the available final tests in recent years. He cannot say how many schools are involved.
Outflow
At SBO De Maremak, a school for special primary education in Boxtel, they know about the obligation. “We are working on it”, says remedial educationalist Debbie van der Pas. The students of the school will already participate in one of the available final tests this school year. “That was already on the agenda,” says Van der Pas.
According to her, not much changes with the obligation. The school has always done a classroom intelligence test. This is now being replaced by a final test. “The tests have changed a lot and are now adapting well to the level of the student. That's nice, because our outflow is quite broad. This can be towards practical education, but also towards havo. It is an addition to the advice given. ”
They give the school advice at Maremak before the test is taken, in February. “Over the years, we also take Cito tests and monitor social-emotional development. So the teachers can already give the advice. ”
On November 1 there is in the Lower House a written consultation about the compulsory final test in special primary education and special education. MPs can then ask questions in writing. The Primary Education Final Assessment Act will also be evaluated this school year.
