Education minister Ben Weyts has wanted to introduce a system with Flanders-wide, central tests for some time now. It concerns Dutch and Mathematics tests for all pupils in Flanders, at four points in their school career: the fourth and sixth years of primary education and the second and sixth years of secondary education.
According to the minister, these tests should help in the fight against the declining quality of education and are a good instrument to “keep an eye on the quality of education”. The system should also allow schools “to compare themselves with comparable schools” and give students and parents an insight into the evolution of individual students.
The decree also stipulates that the results may not be made public. The results also do not fall under the public administration. This should avoid the risk of a ranking between schools, a concern in the Flemish education field.
The intention is to test the system for the first time in May in about 700 schools with more than 21,000 Flemish pupils from the fourth year and the second year of secondary education. That test – Minister Weyts speaks of a “dress rehearsal” – should help to further refine the instrument towards the first real decrease in 2024.
Opposition parties Groen, Vlaams Belang and PVDA abstained from the vote. Vooruit approved the decree.