Pressure on numbers leads to fraud
School management puts pressure on teachers to increase grades. They must give extra resits, check less rigorously or adjust the standards. This is evident from the research Education magazine towards autonomy. 'I'm disappointed with myself, but I'm going to change course anyway.'
Picture: Type tank
'There is pressure to give higher grades (read: easier tests)', 'having to enter extra SO at the grade level to improve grades' or 'not being allowed to give lower than a 5'. These comments out the research from the Education magazine, in which more than 580 teachers participated, are exemplary of the way in which their autonomy is curtailed. After all, the Teacher Profession Act stipulates that the teacher is independently responsible for assessing the educational performance of students. But practice shows a different picture.
For example, at a pre-vocational secondary education school in the center of the country, there is a school-wide mandate that the average of each class must reach an annual average of 6,5. It is literally in the minutes of a meeting with management, where it Education magazine gained insight. “There is of course nothing wrong with a high ambition,” says the pre-vocational secondary education teacher who works there. “But this leads to fraudulent practices."
When the average of my class was too low, I was summoned to do something about it
"A few years ago, when the average of my 3-mavo class was too low, I was urged to do something about it," she says. "Either by adjusting the standards, making the tests easier or increasing the pass mark." This can also be read in the minutes. The teacher felt such pressure that she complied with the 'work assignment'. “During a test, I adjusted the standards in consultation with colleagues. This will certainly happen more often and there will be also sometimes given an easier test. It is deeply sad that something like this is imposed from above.”
Pleasen
According to her, creatively increasing figures has far-reaching consequences. “That 6,5 is a good figure, which makes children more likely to choose my subject, while as a teacher I know that that is not wise. Then start the conversation with parents.” And that's what hurts her the most. “Everything is placed unilaterally on me as a teacher and if things don't go well, you are held accountable for it, which is not right.”
“The management does everything to help the student and his parents please”, adds a first-grade teacher from a pre-university school in the north. “Since education has been handed over to the market, students have become customers. And the customer is king. As a school, you don't want negative advertising, because then fewer students will come. But we as teachers have to solve it.” According to him, these market forces are causing the level of education to decline, something that is confirmed by the Netherlands' increasingly lower position in international rankings. “It's very simple: the more students, the more money, so the trick is to make the level as low as possible so that as many students as possible can handle it. And if that doesn't work, we ensure that it works with extra resits and flexible standards.”
I hardly get around to teaching, I have so many tests to take
At his school, for example, the management has increased the number of resits. “In the upper grades it is one big test hell: I hardly get around to teaching, I have to take so many tests. It also makes no sense, because students simply say that they are not learning because they will still get a resit. So they get poor results, for which I as a teacher have to pay for it again.”
Risk
School exams determine half of the final grade on the diploma. There is a risk associated with the fact that schools are allowed to decide for themselves how many and which tests they give. For example, the extensive testing program at VMBO Maastricht turned out to be a horror story five years ago. The final exams of 354 students were declared invalid just before their graduation ceremony due to irregularities in their school exams. Teachers chimed in de Volkskrant how they consistently had to set the bar too low for students to achieve the desired pass rate. If they complained, their managers punished them with 'a shitty schedule'. The remote administration then blamed teachers for the problems that arose.
At 70 percent of the schools examined, the examinations turned out to be insufficient
This school is no exception, the inspection concluded in 2020 after extensive research. There were legal shortcomings at 70 percent of the more than a hundred secondary schools examined. One in five schools did not adhere to their own testing and completion program, which describes which tests there are, what material they cover and how heavily they count. Although it was not as bad as at VMBO Maastricht, it was still worrying, according to the inspection.
Plus
The fear of being judged on low grades is not unjustified, the pre-university teacher knows. While his class scored well in his subject every year - his students even once received an award for the highest final exam scores in the country - two years ago they were suddenly all failing. “I had to come to the mat and the school principal said that he had to see whether we would continue together next year. I was perplexed. How is it possible that I am solely to blame for this, while there are more obvious causes such as corona and fewer teaching hours?”
The next time his class scored massively failing grades, he asked his colleague for advice. “Just tidy things up, he said, and then you won't get into trouble. I'm really disappointed with myself, but I decided to change my mind.”
The fact that students pass the central exams is because, according to him, they are becoming increasingly easier. “The exam package in the XNUMXs was a lot tougher than it is now, as research shows. The ministry also adjusted the standard to allow enough students to pass. So everyone is fooling each other. It's a North Korean gang. Look at all those blissfully smiling people on school websites: in the meantime it's a crying shame.”
I cannot turn the tide on my own
According to the first-grade teacher, there is no point in leaving. “This is my fourth school in over thirty years and the same song sounds everywhere. I will fight where I can, but I cannot turn the tide on my own. I try to mentally close myself off from it. I love my profession. The pleasure when students learn something from it is what I do it for.”
Toy
A pre-vocational secondary education teacher in South Holland did switch schools because of their 'flexible handling of grades'. When his class achieved much lower final exam scores than the other class, he discovered that his colleague was less strict about the correction prescription. Checking by a second proofreader, let alone an external one, had not taken place. That was enough when he agreed to go through the exams together the following year and his colleague had already done this with someone else. “Then I was furious, because he had of course given points where I had not given them. They did not want there to be too big a difference between those classes, because that would only raise questions.”
Too big a difference between classes would only raise questions
He did not find the school management on his side, in fact, they initially doubted his abilities. Something that hurt him enormously, because he normally gets good grades. “I felt like a plaything of the management and team leaders. They are not interested in how things can be improved. They are fine with it as long as the school is in the middle bracket.”
At his current school, he and colleagues are responsible for creating and assessing exams. “That is much more teamwork in which we, as professionals, agree on what we count as good and what is not and check each other, just as it should be.” This sometimes leads to discussion, even with the second corrector in the country, but the teacher thinks that is a good thing. “Look, if that colleague can argue that something should or should not be considered correct, then that's fine with me. For me it's very simple: only good answers get points, I don't give them away. What else does the diploma represent?”
According to him, teachers should stand up more for their autonomy and, if necessary, play tough by threatening to up their game or leave. That requires knowledge and courage, something he sees lacking in many colleagues. “You must be aware of your rights and obligations to be able to counter the director's arguments. But many teachers are discouraged and think: it will take my time.”
Fraud
With all its consequences. The pressure on grades can be so high that even fraud by teachers in the central exam lurks. Irregularities by teachers are something that, according to the inspectorate, occurs several times every year. In Rijswijk, four teachers were dismissed a few years ago after they gave HAVO/VWO students the opportunity to improve their re-examinations using the correction booklet. Last school year, an economics teacher from a pre-vocational secondary education in Vinkeveen improved the answers in his class's exam work.
The pre-university teacher sees this as a logical outgrowth of the current system, although he himself will not go that far. Fear is the reason why the interviewees only want to talk anonymously. “If I air my dirty laundry, it not only has consequences for me, but also for the students. I don't want that, but I do want this to be known. Only by being open about it can the system change.”
The details of the interviewees are known to the editors
AOb: 'Give teachers control'
“That pressure on grades is absurd and I am shocked by the consequences for teachers,” responds AOb-director Jelmer Evers, who has been fighting for years for a system in which teachers are given control. “This is yet another proof that a culture of reckoning has emerged, which is harmful to both students and professionals and the quality of education.”
He advises teachers who feel under pressure to first raise this with their team. “After all, together you are stronger. If this does not work or you are unsure about the next step, please contact the AOb. We can give advice, but also enter into discussions at the schools. This can be done anonymously, it is then up to the school management to conduct further investigation.”
