News item | 14-04-2022 | 15:15
Schools are working full of energy to eliminate delays that students have incurred due to corona. More than half of school leaders say they are successfully implementing their National Education Program plans, despite challenges such as school closures in December and January. This is apparent from the second progress report of the program that was sent to the House of Representatives.
Minister Wiersma for Primary and Secondary Education: “Compliments to the schools that have worked hard on this recently, despite the necessary headwinds. This is not only important for students who have had lessons during the difficult corona time. With the program we can broadly improve the quality of education and help all students to improve their reading, writing and arithmetic skills. You need these skills for everything: in your future education, when you apply for a job and for the rest of your life.”
Soon Minister Wiersma will also present his master plan with additional measures for this.
Structural measures
The menu with proven effective measures, from which schools can choose when tackling learning delays, will be further developed in the coming period to support schools even better. The National Education Program is also being embedded more structurally in education in other ways. For example, Minister Wiersma wants teachers, as they are now, to receive extra money after the program if they work at a school with many disadvantages. This should make it easier for these schools to find and retain staff.
Students better in their own skin
In eliminating the delays, the vast majority of schools choose to help students feel more comfortable again, according to the progress report. According to school leaders, this is especially fruitful in primary education. That is positive, because learning works better when you feel good. School leaders and employees in primary education also see that the program has a positive effect on their professional development. A small proportion of school leaders indicate that their plans are not getting off the ground, partly because they are having trouble finding staff.
employee participation
The participation council, which includes teachers, students and parents, has not agreed with the schools’ plans everywhere. Minister Wiersma finds this unacceptable and will address schools firmly about this. School teams must determine together what their students need and how the money should be used. The success of the program stands or falls with that.
External hiring
The progress report also shows that teachers mainly implement the program and teach the lessons themselves. Minister Wiersma is pleased with this because schools themselves are responsible for their education and approach. However, schools often deploy external people specifically with the NPO money. For example, they provide training to teachers. That is also the starting point. It is absolutely not acceptable if they massively spend the NPO money on commercial agencies. The minister is extra alert to this because it is important that money is handled properly. He is therefore in talks with the education sector to make agreements about this. These must be laid down in a code of conduct, covenant or law.
accountability
More concrete goals have been linked to the program in order to keep a better view of how the NPO money is being spent. These are also linked to the goals of the coalition agreement. This ensures a clear assignment to schools and thus the temporary money from the NP Onderwijs is also in line with structural measures.