Primary school tests start as criticism of early streaming grows

Some 170,000 children in their last year of primary school will take tests over the next three weeks which are designed to monitor their language and mathematical skills and which will help determine what type of secondary school they will go to. Under the previous system, children had to choose a secondary school before the final tests and this meant that those who scored well could no longer move up a stream. Earlier this month, education campaign group KIS said primary schools are continuing to discriminate against children from migrant backgrounds when deciding what level of secondary school they should go to. In a letter to parliament last May, the council said the current system had “mostly negative effects on pupils with a migrant background and from less favourable social-economic environments.” Once placed in a certain category, it is more difficult to move up to a different level of education because so many secondary schools only offer one type. Inequality School inspectors have also warned of the ‘unacceptable’ inequality in Dutch education because children of well-educated parents are scoring better in final primary school exams than children of equal intelligence from more disadvantaged backgrounds.