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State Secretary Judith Tielen wants to raise students’ language levels by setting higher expectations, expressed in ambitious attainment targets. Her plan to improve basic skills rests on the view that students perform better when teachers have high expectations of them.
Tielen had previously announced a stronger focus on language education and has now set out the plans in more detail.
5 sources
A parliamentary majority raised concerns about the law making it easier to establish publicly funded schools, citing the growth of very small schools and questions over the market research used to demonstrate parental demand. The debate focused on the Renaissance School in Almere, linked to Forum for Democracy, which opened with four pupils after research had indicated interest from about 350 prospective pupils. State Secretary Tielen said she will examine whether the market-research alternative to parental declarations should be tightened or abolished. She said the school had met the existing rules and that there is currently no reason to intervene, but it must have at least 139 pupils at the start of its fourth school year or close at that school year's end. A VVD MP also announced plans for legislation allowing earlier intervention at poorly performing schools.