Figures from the Flemish education department show that 14% of kindergartners require extra language or other intensive support in order to start their first year at primary school. The situation is most worrying in Antwerp where the figure rises to 29%. Education minister Weyts (Flemish nationalist) believes parents have a greater role to play and is prepared to look at reducing the size of education grants and child allowance if parents fail to take their responsibilities seriously.
It's the second time language screenings or KOALA tests are being held in Flemish kindergartens: language skills of kindergartners in their final year are tested. Researchers want to find out if the kindergartners possess sufficient language skills to move on to primary school.
The education department bases its findings of a sample of 12,000 children at 386 schools.
86% of kindergartners were judged to be ready. The figure equals that of the previous year. 14% scored insufficiently: 10% need extra language support; 4% require intensive support.
The research identified big differences between schools. “Schools with many pupils who don’t speak Dutch at home easily have a quarter of pupils who don’t score well enough” says minister Weyts.
Antwerp, Ghent and the Brussels capital region post poor results. In Antwerp 29% of children need extra support. For Ghent the figure is 23%, for Brussels 25% and it’s 18% for the Flemish area around Brussels.
Minister Weyts is eager to address this learning backlog as soon as possible. “I don’t want children to start the first year of primary with insufficient knowledge of Dutch. If they don’t have sufficient language skills, their education opportunities too will be lower. A situation like this also weighs on the quality of education for all pupils in the class if there are too many children that have insufficient command of Dutch”.
Minister Weyts is eying parents, who must take responsibility: “For children speaking Dutch shouldn’t end at the school gate”.
Minister Weyts wants to invest more in parent responsibility and he’s quite prepared to use the stick.
“We can encourage parents, but we must also look at repressive measures. We must look at what measures we can take when parents shirk their responsibilities. One possibility is to consider the size of education grants”.