News item | 29-09-2022 | 17:00
Those who want to obtain a diploma through the state exam will be additionally compensated for the consequences of corona on education next year. This group may cross out an unfavorable mark if you can then obtain your diploma. Regular exam students were also allowed to do this before. In addition, an extra resit is offered. Minister Dennis Wiersma writes this in a letter to parliament in response to motions from the House of Representatives.
Dennis Wiersma (Primary and Secondary Education): ,,Many secondary special education students take their final exams through the state exam. The school will prepare you for that. But at the height of the corona pandemic there was a lot of school cancellations. You also experienced this when you take the state exam. That is why state examination candidates are not allowed to count a fail mark if they can then obtain their diploma. These candidates also get 2 resits instead of 1.”
Thumb Control
Next year there will be a so-called thumb rule for state examination candidates who want to obtain their diploma that year, including students of secondary special education (VSO). This means that this group may cross out an unfavorable figure from 2020, 2021 or 2022, if they can obtain their diploma in this way. The core subjects are the exception, which always count. Core subjects for VMBO are: Dutch; havo: Dutch, English and mathematics; pre-university education: Dutch, English and mathematics. This group of state exam candidates also gets an extra resit.
Regular exams
The measures for the state exams say nothing about the regular VMBO, HAVO and VWO exams this school year. Whether additional measures are necessary for this will be considered at the end of this year. You can take a state exam if you don’t attend a regular high school, if you want to get certificates for individual subjects or if you want to get a diploma as an adult. Even if you are in secondary special education, you can obtain your diploma via the state exam if your school does not conduct exams itself. A state exam is equivalent to an exam at a regular school.
Improvement
In the meantime, hard work is also being done on modernizing and improving the state examination in the longer term. The organization is under pressure and the number of candidates who want to obtain a diploma through state exams is growing rapidly. As a result, many specialized examiners are needed in the summer, for example, to administer the individual, oral state exams. Work is being done on how this can be improved, for example by spreading the oral exams over the school year and deploying secondary school teachers. In addition, the state exams must better match the needs of pupils in secondary special education. For example, it is examined whether the oral exams are best for all students or whether other administration methods are more appropriate. A resit must also be made possible for candidates who want to obtain certificates for individual subjects or who work towards a diploma over several years.