According to international research, the results of which were published on Tuesday, there has been a sharp deterioration in reading comprehension skills of pupils at Flemish schools. Currently Flemish pupils are an average of 10 months behind when it comes to reading comprehension compared with children of the same age in 2006. In a reaction, the Flemish Education Minister Ben Weyts (nationalist) described the figures as “dramatic”.
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Flemish pupils’ reading comprehension skills deteriorating
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Every 5 years the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PRILS) looks at the reading comprehension performance of children in the fourth grade in schools in dozens of countries. In Flanders more than 6,700 students from 189 schools participated in the survey that was carried out in the spring of 2021.
The results of the PRILS study confirm the results of previous research. The standard of reading comprehension among fourth grade pupils was found to have dropped alarmingly in recent years.
For example, 6% of pupils failed to reach the lowest level of reading competence. This is double the percentage recorded in the previous survey in 2016 and a sixfold increase compared with 2006. Meanwhile, the percentage of pupils found to be “advanced readers” was just 3%, down from 7% in 2006. In 2006 49% of pupils surveyed were found to have a high level of reading competence. By 2021 this had fallen to 29%.
Coronavirus crisis “not the only factor”
According to the researchers, the closure of schools for periods during the coronavirus crisis certainly had an impact on the results here in Flanders.
However, "coronavirus was also a factor in other countries and the reading competency levels are not falling equally everywhere," said KU Leuven’s Katrijn Denies. Ms Denies was one of the academics that worked on the PRILS study.
Another important factor in recent years has been a particularly large increase in the number of pupils who never speak Dutch at home. Flemish pupils in the first year of education are also less and less likely to be basic literate.
Furthermore, the reading climate (books in the home, culture of reading, access to other forms of entertainment than books) in Flemish homes is less favorable in here than in other countries/regions.
The Flemish Education Minister Ben Weyts is appealing to parents to step up. "Schools and the government cannot do this alone. Also introduce your children to Dutch outside schooltime. Read them a lot of stories, go to the library, read books yourself".