Two-thirds of secondary schools drop out due to corona
At the beginning of November, 65 percent of secondary schools suffered from corona dropout. On average 10 percent of the lessons dropped out. This has emerged from an initial study commissioned by the Ministry of Education.
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Under pressure from the House of Representatives, the Ministry of Education (OCW) recently started making monthly releases research do to class drop-out due to covid-19. It concerns education that cannot take place physically because the teacher has corona-related complaints or is in quarantine.
In November, research agency Oberon sent questionnaires to more than 4600 schools for primary and secondary education. More than 1500 responded. The questions were about the school week from 9 to 13 November. What is striking about the response - and what can also be expected - is that the percentage of lesson cancellations increases sharply as the age of the pupils increases. In the second week of November, 6 percent of primary schools had to deal with cancellations, an average of 34 percent of special education (so and sbo) and 65 percent of secondary schools.
These corona numbers are not surprising, but they are alarming
In secondary schools, an average of 10 percent of the lessons dropped out, Oberon calculates. This number corresponds to a poll that de Volkskrant did in September. That newspaper also found that 10 percent of the teachers are at home because of corona. The 'normal' class cancellation is added to that, but is not registered. And that is painful, thinks AObdirector Henrik de Moel, who sees how relatively quickly the ministry was able to set up this investigation into corona-related lesson cancellations. According to De Moel, it makes it even more bitter that comparable data - but then as a result of the teacher shortage - are still not requested: "While we have been asking for this for years. Motion supported wall-to-wall to monitor the consequences of the teacher shortage. ” He continues: “It is of course good that we now have these corona figures. Which in my view are not surprising, but alarming. ”
The educational program should continue as much as possible
The Oberon study also provides insight into what schools do when lessons are canceled. At 16 percent of secondary schools, the missed lesson was 'completely replaced' by distance learning or independent assignments. At 49 percent of the schools this happened 'largely'. Education minister Arie Slob thinks that is not enough, in a letter to the House of Representatives he calls on all schools to have canceled lessons take place remotely as much as possible. 'I think it is important that the education program (…) continues as much as possible.'
School closure
Schools that were completely closed due to a covid outbreak are not covered by Oberon's investigation. A reporting point has been set up at the Education Inspectorate for this purpose. The first figures were also released last week. In his letter to the House of Representatives, the minister chooses to share a snapshot: on November 30 – a week ago – 28 primary schools and 25 secondary schools were closed.
Source: Education Inspectorate
The 28 closed primary schools are mainly located in the regions of Rotterdam-Rijnmond and West-Brabant. The 25 secondary schools that were closed at the beginning of last week due to corona are mainly located on the east side of the Netherlands, in the province of Groningen and again in West Brabant.
Source: Education Inspectorate
The Education Inspectorate also shows in its report how many school closures were registered at the reporting center between September and the beginning of December. Altogether, 131 primary schools and 75 secondary schools have closed so far. On average, these branches were closed for over a week.
Vulnerable students miss lessons at 75 percent of the VMBO and HAVO / VWO schools due to corona
Inequality of opportunity
PvdA and GroenLinks wrote the motion which caused the ministry to monitor the impact of corona on education in more detail. The opposition parties mainly want to get a picture of the consequences for inequality of opportunity.
The Oberon monitor states that in 20 percent of primary schools lessons were missed due to corona by disadvantaged pupils and / or pupils who receive less support from home.
In special education (SO and SBO) this concerns 50 percent of the schools. In secondary education, the percentage continues to rise: 75 percent of the VMBO and HAVO / VWO schools indicate that vulnerable pupils missed lessons in the week that was assessed. "A majority" of primary schools offers this group special support, Oberon said. The respondents cannot yet indicate whether it is effective.
The Oberon study also shows that secondary schools have an average of 6,1 students who are out of school for a long time due to corona. In primary education this is an average of 0,25 children per location. These children stay at home because of risks that the virus poses to themselves or family members, or because of fear of the virus.
classes
In Dagblad Trouw journalist Laura van Baars on Saturday made the link between these first figures and the documentary series classes about inequality of opportunity. Classes follows the life of grade 8 students in the 2019-2020 school year. Van Baars writes in the article Lesson cancellation: what can you charge the school?: 'The first episodes were filmed before the pandemic, but what will soon happen to vulnerable eighth-groupers Anyssa, Yunuscan and first-class Gianny when corona comes into play and the children are reliant on home schooling for weeks? Van Baars also wonders whether you can expect schools to make up for the missed school weeks this spring under the current circumstances. AObdirector Henrik de Moel: “The Minister of Education has always said that schools - and therefore the staff - will not be held to the impossible during this outbreak. We will continue to hold him to that.”
Also read: 'Education quality dropped sharply due to corona'
