Slob is speeding up the new curriculum
Former member of the Senate for the ChristenUnie and rector Roel Kuiper will be chairman of the new curriculum committee. Kuiper must already make 'guiding recommendations' in November about new attainment targets and learning outcomes for the curriculum in primary and secondary education.
Picture: Type tank
“As long as there is no up-to-date and improved curriculum, the bottlenecks in the current curriculum will remain,” writes Minister of Education Arie Slob in a letter to the House of Representatives last Tuesday. He wants the committee to get off to a flying start and has already put the Curriculum Development Foundation (SLO) to work.
Examinations
The examination programs for modern languages, Dutch and mathematics in secondary education are given priority. Just like the beta curriculum in VMBO and the learning area citizenship. SLO will update these exams and the minister promises to inform the House about this in the first half of next year.
Slob also wants subject experts and teachers to be in the starting blocks to start writing the new core objectives as soon as possible after November. SLO was asked to produce sample material for the basic skills in Dutch, arithmetic & mathematics, English and citizenship, so that teachers can already work with an improved curriculum.
Forework
Despite the speed and concrete implementation that SLO is already coming up with, it is striking that the minister writes in the letter 'that no irreversible steps will be taken with this preliminary work'. The advice of the seven-member committee - of which education pedagogue Gert Biesta is also a member - should concern the 'technical and substantive usability of curriculum.nu'.
Slob writes that he wants to get a clear picture of what is needed from the workplace 'to successfully put a renewed curriculum into practice'. He wants to know what is going on among teachers, but does not mention what the field has already indicated about a possible new curriculum. For example, 2300 members from primary and secondary education responded to a survey by the AOb.
This survey found that many of them a good introduction does not work, certainly in times of a teacher shortage and with a workload that is already high. Corona is now also added. Also the educational staff is not enthusiastic about the plans in terms of content. *Teachers mostly think that the goals for a new curriculum, such as a less overloaded educational program for students, are not being achieved. 52 percent indicated that this specific goal is not being achieved, 16 percent thought so. 40 percent think that the new curriculum will not prepare their students better for the future, 28 percent do see an improvement there. Two in five teachers are hard-headed that the cohesion between subjects will improve with the new curriculum, 20 percent expect this to improve.
Criticism
De AOb is considering a more detailed response to Slob's letter. AObdirector Jelmer Evers says: “Our concerns have not been allayed. The ministry seems to be making a lot of progress without really listening to the criticism of our members. ”
Read one here summary of the nine learning areas that should be introduced in primary and secondary education.
If you are interested in a curriculum.nu workgroup, you can here Sign Up.
The full results of the AObsurvey is here to find.
