Lack of insight into language and math level of students
A clear picture of students' command of language and arithmetic is lacking in almost all phases of education. The government must formulate clear, comparable objectives for these learning areas at different levels of education. Language and math development should receive much more attention in all other school subjects.
Image: Nino Maissouradze
That is what the Education Council writes in the advice today 'Language and math in the crosshairs' on the improvement of language and math education, which was published at the request of the House of Representatives. According to the council, the limited figures that are available in our country about the language and math level of students mainly come from international research. Those numbers are bleak. For example, the international study by PISA shows that almost a quarter of Dutch fifteen-year-olds do not reach the minimum level required for arithmetic. The percentage for mathematics is 16. 'Due to their low language and mathematics/arithmetic skills, these pupils are probably less able to keep up at school and in society,' according to the Education Council. 'They run a high risk of low literacy and low numeracy.'
Goals in the different education sectors need to be better aligned
According to the Education Council, the government should formulate sharper and clearer objectives for the language and math level that pupils must meet at the end of primary, secondary and secondary vocational education. Goals in the different education sectors must be better aligned and learning pathways must be run between different levels. The Education Council recommends testing the language and math level at the following moments in the educational career of children: in group 3 and group 8 of primary education, in class 2 or 3 of secondary education and in the last year of secondary vocational education and secondary education. vo.
Committee Dijsselbloem
The Education Council notes that concerns about the level of language and mathematics in the Netherlands and its importance have been on the agenda for a long time, at least since the report of the Dijsselbloem committee from 2008. Apparently, the continuous attention and a long series of reports and policy plans have not led to the much-needed changes.
According to the Education Council, all parties in education must from now on focus on improving language and math skills. In doing so, the Council calls on the government, teacher training institutes, method makers, researchers, school boards, school leaders and teachers. According to the Education Council, it is particularly necessary to set higher requirements for the subject didactic competence in language and math education of graduates of the PABO and of teacher training courses. The Council argues in favor of a compulsory central final test for language and arithmetic in the teacher training colleges and the second-level teacher training programmes.
The Education Council advises to embed language and mathematics in all other subjects
One of the conclusions from the working conference with Rijke taal, organized at the beginning of October by members of the AObnetwork Training teachers is that language in education is not sufficiently intertwined with vocational education. In line with this, the Education Council today also recommends embedding both language and mathematics in other subjects and areas of learning. After all, these other subjects offer a meaningful context for improving language and arithmetic skills, according to the Council: 'Language and maths are involved in building a setting for a musical, in an interview that students hold to discover history and in understanding a chemical reaction.' According to the Education Council, the national final objectives for language and mathematics must also be linked in future with the objectives for business subjects.
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