Flemish government determined to improve knowledge of Dutch in schools

The number of children who do not speak Dutch at home has risen from 18 to 27 per cent in the past 10 years, according to Minister Demir. ‘The language problem in our education system has never been so great,’ she says. ‘Children who do not speak Dutch at home have worse results, studies show, and are 3 times more likely to drop out of school.’

‘Language deficiency is a burden that drags you down for life,’ Ms Demir explains. ‘The sooner we take it off children's shoulders, the stronger they will be in the classroom and in life.’ To achieve this she has drafted a broad plan, starting with the youngest children and continuing through secondary school.

From toddler to teenager

Ms Demir wants to organise “entry-level lanuage jumps” for Dutch for toddlers, where they learn their first words of Dutch in a playful way. 'We want children in the first kindergarten class to understand basic vocabulary. This can be achieved during the holidays, somewhat on the model of the summer schools that are already organised today.'

Parents will also be involved as much as possible. ‘In this way, parents will also know what school life entails and what we expect from them.’

Preschoolers are screened from the age of 2.5 to identify any language deficiencies. Should there be any, the children will then receive up to 3 hours a week of extra language support in small groups. This may even be mandatory for admission to the next grade.

From the 2026-2027 school year onwards, extra “language hero” classes will be organised in primary education for non-native newcomers. These separate language classes aim to improve pupils' knowledge of Dutch as quickly as possible from the second year onwards, so that after six weeks to a maximum of two years they can move on to ordinary classes. The class council gets the final say on this.

“Language hero” classes in primary schools will be organised on a cross-schools network basis, ‘because we can't possibly do that in every school,’ says Ms Demir. "So the school networks will have to work together on this."

Pupils who have smaller language deficits can also receive up to 3 hours of extra remediation per week, in small groups. Schools can choose whether to do this within regular lessons or on top of them.

In secondary schools, the class council can impose 3 hours of extra Dutch on pupils with language deficits. OKAN or newcomer reception classes are also being reformed and turned into fully-fledged language classes, to allow non-native newcomers to progress more quickly into mainstream classes.

Flemish Well-being Minister Caroline Gennez (socialist Vooruit) also supports Ms Demir's plan and will invest extra means in educational resources for out-of-school care, like homework assistance, and in childcare. 'Not only are we realising thousands of new, affordable childcare places, but we are also making sure that those places are more than ever places where children learn Dutch. For example, by supporting child supervisors as real language coaches.'

Extra people needed

It’s a grand plan requiring an investment of €400 million as well as quite an effort from schools, which are often already struggling with a teacher shortage. Ms Demir realises this and therefore prefers to avoid taking teachers out of the regular teaching circuit to give the extra language lessons.

An estimated 1,000 to 2,000 extra people will be needed for the plan to really succeed. ‘Quite a feat,’ says Ms Demir. That is why she is also counting on speech therapists, linguists, retired teachers, translators, interpreters and even external organisations such as the Dutch Language Union to deliver such classes. New, free in-service training for language experts and teachers is also planned.

As for parental responsibility, little is said in the plan at present. But Ms Demir wants to work on that from September onwards. In future, non-Dutch-speaking parents will also have to learn Dutch, if not they risk losing some of their child allowance.