Girls' school advice again lower than pre-pandemic

Girls in group eight received a lower school advice in the 2020/2021 academic year than in the years before the coronavirus pandemic, just like a year earlier. For boys, the school advice was slightly higher than last school year, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reported.

"The gender difference in school advice has increased in favor of boys over the past two school years," the stats office concluded. This is partly because the group with a HAVO/VWO or VWO recommendation increased faster among boys than girls.

The proportion of girls with a school recommendation lower than VMBO-G/T (mixed/theoretical) increased further in the past school year. Five years ago, 22.6 percent of girls received that advice. In 2020/2021, that had risen to 24.4 percent. The proportion of girls with a school advice for VMBO-G/T or HAVO decreased slightly further, from 46.3 percent in 2016/2017 to 43.6 percent in the previous school year. The proportion of girls with a HAVO/VWO or VWO advice hardly changed at 31.1 percent last school year.

According to CBS, boys received a slightly higher advice in the past school year than before the coronavirus pandemic. The share of school advice below VMBO-G/T decreased compared to 2018/2019, as did the percentage of advice at VMBO-GT or HAVO level. The proportion of boys who got a HAVO/VWO or VWO advice increased from 31.2 percent to 33 percent. 

Primary school pupils receive their first school advice for further education in group 8. Then pupils take a final test, which also produces advice - the test advice. If that test advice is higher than the school advice, the school must reconsider the first advice and has the option to adjust it upwards.

CBS established that the proportion of girls who achieve a score higher than the first school advice on this final test is higher than for boys. "And that applies to every level of the first school advice. That trend has not changed since 2016/2017," the stats office said. This means that girls are more likely than boys to get their school advice adjusted upwards.