The designation ‘Excellent school’ will be abolished on 1 August. Minister Dennis Wiersma (Education, VVD) reported this to the House of Representatives on Thursday, which had requested this.
Wiersma says that good education for all children should be encouraged, and that the emphasis on a “small group of schools” is not appropriate. In fact, this can “increase quality differences within schools” and counteract equality of opportunity. The predicate ‘excellent’ works like a magnet, which can affect other schools.
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Label ‘good’ also disappears
Nearly two hundred schools in primary, special and secondary education call themselves excellent. The designation is awarded by the Education Inspectorate to schools that successfully pass an inspection and show that they want to do even better.
After a successful inspection, schools are rated ‘good’, and then have to demonstrate themselves when applying for the designation ‘excellent’ in which areas they excel. The rating ‘good’ is also abolished.
The label is intended, so it says on the site of the inspection, to ‘visualize and transfer quality’. It would have a ‘positive effect’ on the school, the team and the students. But the minister does not think the negative effect on other schools outweighs this.
Student organization LAKS recently criticized the predicate in its language advice for schools. It suggests that other schools are better than others, while according to LAKS the focus should be on school development. Education organizations General Education Union and the PO-Raad have expressed similar criticism.
The last new excellent schools will receive their label in June and may keep it for another three years.