CD&V wants to evolve towards one adult for every ten toddlers in nursery education. “Only in this way can we move towards a truly knowledge-rich curriculum,” says chairman Sammy Mahdi at De Ster in Sint-Niklaas. The party will gather 2,500 members there on Saturday for its annual family day.
Source: Belga
The goal that CD&V is launching on Saturday is one for the longer term. The Christian Democrats want to see the measure fully rolled out within a maximum of ten years. “And if we scale up over a period of ten years, it will not have to cost more than 25 million euros extra each year,” says Mahdi. According to him, that amount will be recouped through the economic benefits of a higher level of education.
Other profiles for the class
In addition to kindergarten teachers, CD&V also wants other profiles in the classroom. “We need heads and hands,” says education specialist Loes Vandromme. “The hands are provided by caregivers and by teaching assistants.” The latter is a new job, for which a graduate course would have to be started.
Currently, a caregiver in our nursery education has 88 children under his or her care, compared to 23 in some other European countries. This high number has consequences for learning performance, because nursery teachers indicate that a large part of their time is not spent on contact with the children, but on administration and practical tasks, for example.
We believe that Education Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA) views the stricter minimum targets too much at an individual level
“We support the tightened minimum goals, but we now have to ensure that we create the context so that teachers can also achieve the goals they have to strive for,” says Vandromme.
“We do think that Education Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA) views these goals too much at an individual level,” says Mahdi. CD&V wants to ensure that the level rises at group level. The party is also committed to organizing the Koala test, the mandatory language screening, at the beginning of the third kindergarten year, while this currently happens at the end. This means that adjustments can still be made.
The party’s politicians will debate with the members all day long, on the festival grounds with shows by Aaron Blommaert and Mama’s Jasje.