The Flemish government wants to set minimum targets for Dutch for children in the third class of kindergarten. Minimum targets determine what pupils must know and be able to do but do not yet exist in nursery education. Flemish education minister Ben Weyts (nationalist/N-VA) says good knowledge of Dutch is essential to "give all children an equal chance of success in primary education". In that primary education too, by the way, Dutch is destined to become one of the crucial elements of the new minimum targets, together with mathematics.
Several months ago, the education networks and the Flemish education minister agreed on the minimum objectives for second and third grades in secondary education.
If it is up to Mr Weyts, minimum targets in nursery education and specifically for Dutch, will be introduced for the third kindergarten class. That will be a first, because at the moment so-called 'developmental objectives' are being used as goals.
"We have lowered the age at which compulsory education starts. That means children are obliged to attend the third year of kindergarten. I think we should use that year to focus on the essentials: knowledge of Dutch," Weyts explains.
The minister wants to send a clear message: "We want to give all children equal opportunities to succeed in primary education and it is therefore essential that they possess sufficient knowledge of Dutch when they make the transition from kindergarten to primary education."
If a preschooler fails to meet the minimum targets for Dutch, the class council can advise parents not to let the child move on to primary education. "Today, parents can still disregard such advice, but I hope that will change in the future," Mr Weyts insists.
"Dutch and maths are the essentials"
It doesn't stop there. The education field is working on even more new minimum targets. "Our first task is to reformulate the minimum targets for the first grade of secondary education, then primary education will follow," says Mr Weyts.
The attainment targets for the first grade of secondary education will be aligned with the minimum targets of the second and third grades, but Mr Weyts already has some idea of what the new minimum targets for primary education will have to look like. "We need to focus more on the essentials," he argues.
The essentials, according to Mr Weyts, are Dutch and mathematics. "Especially in primary education, these form the basis of all other lessons," he says. "If things go wrong there, they will also go wrong in other areas." That is why Mr Weyts thinks half of the teaching time in primary education should be spent on Dutch and maths.
That seems a lot, but Mr Weyts stresses that schools can be creative with the directive. "For example, you can also make sure that during geography lessons knowledge of Dutch is brushed up”.