Six school subjects may be renewed
The curriculum in primary and secondary education is being renewed for six school subjects. It concerns the subjects Dutch, English, arithmetic and mathematics, citizenship, technology and digital knowledge. A majority of the House of Representatives calls on the government to take action on this.
That appears from the moods to motions that were submitted during the debate about the curriculum on April 20, 2017. The CDA, D66, VVD and Groenlinks served a joint motion in which they call on the government to start renewing the six school subjects with stakeholders from education, such as teachers, parents and school boards. In 2018 there must be new core objectives and reference levels on which the House will make a decision.
Indicate yourself
It only concerns these six subjects, but if trade unions or the education itself indicate that they want to innovate a subject, that should be possible. "I can handle this motion well," said outgoing State Secretary Sander Dekker during the debate. He thinks that the need for innovation is needed and felt in other subjects as well.
The curriculum is an important subject for Dekker. According to it Algemeen Dagblad the State Secretary has negotiated with the four parties that are also in the process of forming a new cabinet. The curriculum revision Education 2032 that Dekker tried to initiate has been fiercely criticized. This proposal to renew six school subjects is a watered-down version of the very first proposal from the Schnabel Commission, established by the Ministry of Education. The existing school subjects entered that plan overhauled and bundled into three domains.
Support base
Teachers felt that they were not involved in those plans and the Education Cooperative was then given the time to think about the innovations. Now there is a wide consultation with unions, school boards and parents who think about the innovations and develop them further.
AObChairman Liesbeth Verheggen therefore believes that the initiative now lies with parents, teachers, school boards, student organizations, and that the House can only give its opinion if there are concrete final objectives and goals. 'I think the fact that the House is already debating it is evidence of mistrust in the entire education field', said Verheggen in an opinion blog from de Volkskrant.
