No more ‘stereotyping and patronizing’ questions in the new integration exam

Nurse Zara brings a cup of coffee to Mrs. Van Dam. But Mrs. Van Dam is angry – witness her provocative view of the photo when asked. What should Zara do? Also get angry, stay calm, or submit a complaint to her director?

This kind of dilemmas were presented with newcomers for years in the integration exam. But after criticizing “too vague” and “stereotyping” questions, a new test was designed that will start from Tuesday 1 July. The adjusted exam is less focused on teaching ‘desired behavior’.

The exam is part of the compulsory integration. Admitted asylum seekers and family migrants must take the test within three years if they want to stay in the Netherlands. The previous exam dates from 2013 and, according to critics, was in need of renewal. “Some questions were highly normative or patronizing,” says Han Entzinger, emeritus professor of migration and integration studies at Erasmus University. “Such as questions about how a Dutchman celebrates his birthday. That of course differs per person. Moreover, nobody has anything to do with how you do that.”

Holocaust

Entzinger led the advisory committee to revise the exam. The new version has become “less normative”, he says. The emphasis is more on the functioning of the Dutch constitutional state and ‘practical matters’. “For example, how you work DigiD. And that you can’t just go to the hospital in the Netherlands, but first need a referral from the doctor.”

Last year then Minister Karien van Gennip (Social Affairs, CDA) took over the advice of Entzinger’s commission. She still thought it was ‘important’ that newcomers ‘become familiar with a number of habits and manners characteristic of the Netherlands’, she wrote, but thought that this should not ‘degenerate into the inspection’.

There were many questions about benefits in the exams. Is it necessary for newcomers to learn all that by heart?

And so in the new exam, “less emphasis” would be on “how the integrator is supposed to act.” The new exams are only going into now, because it was waiting for new textbooks.

Van Gennip himself added an extra theme to the exam material: the Holocaust. A subject that the advisory committee had only implicitly returned. Entzinger: “We had taken on Jews persecution and advised: couple anti -Semitism to Islamophobia, to make it clear that no group in the Netherlands may be disadvantaged on the basis of religion or origin. But that led to discussions with the ministry.”

Women

Questions about other parts of Dutch history were also adapted. “The Golden Age has since been renamed the seventeenth century. And it contains questions about slavery.” In addition, more attention is paid to the functioning of democracy and the European Union.

Nevertheless, Entzinger also has doubts about parts of the new curriculum. “In the test exams that I have seen, there are relatively many questions about all kinds of benefits. But is it really necessary for newcomers to learn it all by heart? I don’t know where to request all those allowances.”

And that applies to more questions. “They also have to point out the province of Gelderland on a map. I think some Dutch people would not be able to do that either. To what extent should we require that from migrants?”

The current outgoing State Secretary Jurgen Nobel (Integration, VVD) announces that the new integration exam is well reflected “how Dutch society works and how we treat each other in the Netherlands”. In particular, he is ‘happy’ with extra questions about the self -determination of women. “So that newcomers learn that you can work as a woman in the Netherlands and organize your own life.”

10 questions

Those who want to integrate must pass an exam in knowledge of the Dutch Society (KNM). NRC Made a selection from the new practice exams. Do the quiz.

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