The results of the schools on the Flemish tests will not be converted into rankings or scores, but in the future parents will be able to read a “qualitative description” of the output of the Flemish tests in the reports of the Education Inspectorate. Flemish Minister of Education Zuhal Demir said this in the Flemish Parliament. The N-VA minister thus tried to calm the criticism that arose on Tuesday, including from coalition partners and from the education field.
The Flemish tests were created by Demir’s party colleague and predecessor in Education Ben Weyts as a means to improve the quality of education. The tests assess the knowledge of students in the fourth and sixth grade and the second and sixth secondary school in Dutch and mathematics.
On Tuesday it was announced that Minister Demir also wants students and their parents to know how their school scores in general. Until now, they only received an individual feedback sheet home, which states their own score based on skill levels.
The minister’s plans immediately met with criticism. This criticism was also discussed in the Flemish Parliament today/Wednesday. The fear of “rankings” between schools was not expressed by the opposition, coalition partners CD&V and Vooruit also reiterated their opposition to rankings and scores.
“Qualitative description”
Minister Demir tried to calm this criticism in parliament on Wednesday with the message that it is not the intention at all to make rankings or scores public. According to the N-VA minister, the intention is that the Education Inspectorate will be able to give more weight to the output of the Flemish tests in the future – from September onwards. The inspectorate will be able to include a “qualitative description at school level” in its reports – which are accessible to parents. “This way, the parents gain a better insight. That is better than a number, because a number in itself says nothing,” says Demir.
While the opposition parties were annoyed by Demir’s communication, coalition partners CD&V and N-VA seemed mainly relieved that there will be no rankings, although Hannelore Goeman (Vooruit) also noted that the minister’s communication “has caused unnecessary unrest and uncertainty.” taken care of”.
