Teachers divided over pabo tests
Many potential teachers already stumble before they start at the teacher training college. The Ministry of Education wants to give students a year to pass the admission tests. Good idea? The opinions below AObmembers vary widely.
Picture: Rosa Snijders
'I see many natural talents being lost because they fail a test. Scandalous! This knowledge comes with age.' Or the other extreme: 'Those tests aren't that difficult and I see too many students who just don't know anything. The requirements should be higher!'
These strongly different responses typify the results of a survey that AOb at the end of last year about the entrance exams for the PABO. Half of the more than 2500 respondents have a preference for dropping the three intake tests in geography, history and nature and technology. The other half wants to keep the keys. In addition, more than a quarter of all respondents believe that students should be given until the end of the first year to pass them.
pilots
The latter is exactly what the Ministry of Education wants. From next school year, it wants to start pilots in which students take the tests in front of the gate, just like now, and then have a year to meet the knowledge requirements.
'Based on the tests before the start of the study, the student gains insight into which deficiencies must be eliminated', writes former minister Van Engelshoven in her letter of 12 November 2021. The experiences will be included in the bill on the new admission policy that will take effect from the 2024 school year at the earliest. Provided that the new minister goes through with this and the House agrees.
An experiment offers the opportunity to give students more time and provide them with better guidance
The teacher training colleges themselves proposed this plan to increase the accessibility of the training and to offer students more equal opportunities to meet the requirements. Since the three tests were introduced, in 2015, the intake to the PABOs has plummeted from 7.513 to 5.127 first-years. After that, the intake has picked up, but there are still far too few students to meet the demand for teachers. In 2025, primary education will need almost 1.500 extra teachers, on top of the current shortage of 9.100 FTEs. And an average of around 3.600 PABO students graduate each year.
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Scare
The tests were introduced at the time to improve the quality of the intake. By testing students for basic knowledge before the gate, programs no longer need to brush up on this and they can immediately go in depth with education. This will probably benefit the quality of the graduates, although this has not yet been demonstrated.
The tests are only for MBO and HAVO students who have not taken their final exams in the subjects history, geography and nature and technology. In addition, all students have been required to pass the national wiscat math test in the first year. Many pabo's also have a language test.
Picture: Rosa Snijders
The admission tests appear to deter MBO students in particular. Immediately after the introduction, the intake from HAVO fell by 27 percent and from MBO by no less than 54 percent. “As a teaching assistant, I am often told that I am suitable as a teacher,” writes one participant in the AOb-survey. "But the keys are holding me back."
A quarter of all students who try, fail. These are also mainly candidates with a previous education at MBO level, a significant proportion of whom have a non-Western migration background. At the request of the ministry, the test assignments were screened last year for a possible 'Western bias'. This research shows that the tests are based on prior knowledge that students with a migration background may lack. Students who have to take all three tests, these are mainly senior secondary vocational education students, are faced with an enormous task, the researchers write. They must independently master a large amount of material in a short period of time.
The image that those keys would be too heavy is an exaggeration
“In addition, according to the researchers, it is questionable whether the goal, i.e. securing knowledge, will be achieved with these tests,” says Barbara de Kort, chair of the National Consultation on Primary Education Teacher Training (Lobo). She applauds a new admission policy. “Since its introduction, the keys have been criticized and we are discussing them. At the same time, we are bound by the law to administer the tests. An experiment will soon offer the opportunity to offer students more time and to better guide them in what is asked of them. And we can look at how admission policy can be improved, for example by experimenting with the content and form of the tests.”
Earth plates
Opinions vary about the content of the tests in the AObsurvey apart. 'Absurd demands,' says one. 'You really don't need knowledge about shifting tectonic plates in practice.' Another: 'It's a simple book-learning-test-taking moment. Two days of learning and you pass.' De Kort: “It is really no more than havo-3 material that is requested. You'll get it right if you practice properly. The image that those keys would be too heavy is therefore exaggerated. But the tests were made in 2013 and we will check whether the content and form are still appropriate and whether the test is valid.”
Picture: Rosa Snijders
In the discussion, the fear of lowering the standard and thus the quality of education seems to predominate everywhere. Unjustly, believes the Lobo chairman. “We are not going to fiddle with the requirements and we are not going to allow just anyone. Students have to meet the same requirements, but are given an extra year to do so.”
She is also not afraid that the program at the teacher training college will be overloaded again. “Lessons and preparation for the tests are outside the curriculum,” she emphasizes. “For students who have not yet passed the exams for the gate, it is an extra effort. But when students were given a postponement for the tests until January because of corona, they eventually made it. So yes, it is extra, but doable.”
She is aware that it also requires an extra effort from training teachers. “We are keen on that. It costs time and money and we are discussing this with the ministry.”
Quality
AObdirector Thijs Roovers calls it a difficult theme. “Of course we want as many students as possible to join, but this should not be at the expense of the quality of education. Giving students an extra year is nothing new. What you see is that this increases the study load and that the dropout rate increases enormously. So the question is how many students you actually have left if you give them more time.”
The teaching profession requires a certain level, we should not alter that
Before the introduction of the tests in 2015, the dropout rate among MBO students in the first year was over 43 percent. This fell to more than 25 percent in the years after the introduction, almost as much as the dropout rate among HAVO and VWO students. “The chance that many more students will have to leave the teacher training college because they fail a test is high. How unnecessarily heavy and frustrating will that be?”
Roovers sees more benefit in a solution prior to the teacher training college. For example, the ministry also wants to experiment with offering an MBO optional component 'Preparation for Pabo'. Students will then already have the opportunity to pass the three subjects in MBO and to enter without barriers. Roovers: “In addition, there could also be a profile at HAVO that matches the PABO. This puts the teaching profession in the spotlight.”
Stackers
Customization is very important, agrees Esther Keun, training teacher at the PABO of Hogeschool Arnhem and Nijmegen (Han). “Many MBO students are stackers. One of the reasons for this is that at the start of their school career they come in with less baggage and need more time to acquire the knowledge and skills. As a society, we have a duty to see how we can bring out their potential.”
De Han is looking for opportunities to value students' previously acquired competences within the programme, which can lead to exemptions for certain components. “Many MBO students who already work as teaching assistants are pedagogically strong, but they lack subject matter. They have more time to focus on that if they can already complete the first internship, for example.”
“The subject of teaching requires a certain level, we should not alter that”, says Keun. “The solution to the shortage is not only found in this specific group. Above all, let's put energy into how the profession can become more attractive. If the profession gains more prestige, the influx will increase from all sides.”
If the profession gains more prestige, the influx will increase from all sides
Something the AOb heartily endorses. Prior to a new admission policy, see AObdirector Roovers would like to have a conversation about the professional image. “What do we expect from a teacher, what is his task and what does he need to know and be able to do? We have 384 different routes to teaching, each with its own curriculum, none of which involve the profession. That has to change.”
Roovers is not saying that programs are doing wrong, but there is a difference. “The competency requirements are very general. Which knowledge should be reflected in the courses has now been recorded in the national knowledge bases, but this does not apply to the skills. It is important to determine together when a teacher has been trained well enough. What the AOb We will get to work on that as soon as possible.”
On March 10, the AOb a meeting about the plans for a new admission policy for teacher training colleges. Experts and members will discuss whether and when selective assessments are desirable. Interested?
