Inspectorate points management to responsibility
Too few children reach the language and math level they need to survive in society and further education later on. This is evident from the State of Education 2023, which the Education Inspectorate published this morning. On the way to improvement, according to the inspectorate, boards should work more on professionalization and provide better guidance to novice teachers.
Picture: Type tank
Just like last year, the Inspectorate pays a lot of attention to the teacher shortage and the threat it poses to the continuity and quality of education. The term teacher shortage is used 62 times in the State. "It is therefore all the more worrying that the government is raising teachers' wages don't want it to rise with inflation." AObchairman Tamar van Gelder. "It is not expected that this will make the profession more attractive and may further increase the teacher shortage. With all the negative consequences that entails."
Rural image
For the first time in several years, the Inspectorate again has a national picture of the mastery of the so-called reference levels that students must achieve by law for language and arithmetic. In primary education it is unclear whether basic skills are improving or deteriorating further, but they are certainly not at the desired level.
Although the minimum legal requirements and ambitions for reading are amply met in primary education, this does not apply to other skills such as arithmetic and writing. The mastery of the more ambitious so-called target levels for mastery of basic skills is also generally below par.
A comparison of reference levels with previous years is no longer possible
Since the arrival in 2015 of new test providers that compete with Cito, the Inspectorate no longer had a national picture of the language and math level of pupils at the end of primary school. This was because the tests of the various providers were not easily comparable. That has now been partially resolved. The control of the reference levels for the past school year 2021-2022 has been mapped out, but a comparison with previous years is no longer possible.
Competent teachers
For the first time, the Inspectorate has insight into the mastery of the language reference levels at MBO levels 2, 3 and 4. 2 percent of MBO-15 graduates fail to meet the reading requirement at level 2F and 30 percent of MBO-4 graduates students do not master the higher level 3F required for these students. “We have been advocating for years for working with qualified teachers in secondary vocational education,” says Van Gelder. “That is the most obvious way to implement the improvement of the subject didactics that, according to the inspectorate, is necessary to raise the level of education in basic skills in secondary vocational education.”
The inspection points to 'some bright spots'
The Inspectorate does point to 'a few bright spots' in the development of basic skills and equal opportunities, which show that 'we' are 'on the right track' under the new cabinet. For example, the learning delay due to corona in the field of reading comprehension Dutch has disappeared. In arithmetic and spelling, the negative effects on this learning growth are still clear, but relatively less for pupils from socio-economically weaker backgrounds. The fact that pupils with a multiple secondary recommendation end up at the highest of these recommendations, or even higher, in at least 51 percent of cases, is also encouraging, according to the inspectorate.
Worrying signals
Van Gelder warns that the road to solutions will run into a dead end if the teacher shortage is not resolved. "It is not unlikely that the education inspectorate will have to conclude in a few years' time that the few bright spots and the good path have been in vain, because the quality of education has fallen due to the teacher shortage."
Opposite to the bright spots, the inspection report contains worrying signals regarding the development of the level of basic skills. For example, one-fifth of HAVO and VWO students failed the Dutch national final exam in the past school year.
We need to get school boards to roll out the red carpet
The teacher shortage is and remains the biggest source of problems, but the inspectorate is also explicitly targeting school boards this year. They should 'take more control' when improving basic skills. According to the Inspectorate, this means that they must set clear and ambitious goals with regard to the control of the reference levels. 28 percent of school boards in primary education do not have quality assurance for education in basic skills in order. In addition, boards should provide better guidance to beginning teachers and give priority to their professional development. Finally, the Inspectorate points out that boards should better involve teachers in determining policy, ambitions and objectives. According to van Gelder, it is important, especially in times of shortages, that boards prioritize professionalisation. "To combat the teacher leak, we must ensure that school boards roll out the red carpet."
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