Minister recognizes academic skills examination subject
Education minister Arie Slob recognizes the course 'Academic skills', developed by five lecturers from Schoonhovens College. Such a thing is not very common. This means that from this school year onwards, the subject will officially count towards the final diploma of VWO students from this school.
Picture: National government
“I've been teaching for a long time, but this is one of the highlights,” says Liesbeth Dirks, school dean and history teacher at Schoonhovens College. "We were happy when we heard it." Together with four colleagues, Dirks developed the Academic Skills course that should prepare students for university and teach them more about science.
End list
All pupils at Schoonhovens College in 4-VWO follow the course and also complete it that year, the dean explains. “The mark for this course now counts towards the final diploma with the recognition of the minister,” says Dirks. It appears on the final list as a combination mark with the profile paper and the social studies course. Secondary schools are free to choose which subject they wish to offer. Dirks: “Previously, pre-university students took the General Science course and other schools offer religion, for example.”
Special
It is not often that the minister recognizes a subject that has been developed and carried out entirely by teachers as an exam subject, confirms a spokesperson for Minister Slob. In a press release, Slob calls it 'a special achievement'. The spokesperson does emphasize that this is a 'school-specific' exam subject and only counts for the diploma at this school and therefore not nationally.
Schoonhovens College has been offering the course for a number of years now. Dirks: “We wanted to get it accepted as an exam subject. It then immediately gets a different status in the school and pupils take it more seriously because it counts. ”
Iron
A course does not just become an exam course. The school had to do something for that. “It had to meet many requirements, professors didactics considered the subject and advice was sought from universities. The entire program has been critically screened. All in all, it took a year and that seems to be fast. ”
The teachers developed the course because they felt that there was still little focused attention on higher education within VWO. “We wanted something that would train the skills and be interesting for humanities, social sciences and science students,” says the dean. In the course, students learn how to deal with numbers, whether sources are reliable, how to annotate and how to process different visions in one piece.
