Inspectorate warns schools are struggling to teach students about social issues

Schools are struggling to teach their students about society, democracy, and the role that children play in it. This was reported by the Inspectorate of Education. It has ordered many schools to improve their education on these subjects.

Nine out of ten secondary education and special education schools received one or more so-called remedial assignments last school year. They had to address shortcomings in a specific subject. Around three-quarters of primary schools received the same assignment.

State secretary Mariëlle Paul recognizes the issues that the inspectorate has reported. She said that work on a plan to fix the issues has begun. “We are going to continue to work hard to reduce the teacher shortage and improve the reading, writing, maths, citizenship, and digital literacy,” she responded.

The inspectorate said that most of the work on improvement is going to improving citizenship education. A lot of the lessons on this subject at most schools are not “goal-oriented, coherent and recognizable.” The schools do teach the subject, but the quality of the lessons has to improve. Teachers have said that they sometimes struggle to talk about social subjects "with students who differ in the views they bring from their own world.”

Lessons about society have been mandatory for a few years. Children are taught about thinks like how the rule of law works and how they can recognize misinformation. It counts as one of the basic subjects, like maths and grammar.

The inspectorate thinks that better lessons about society are very important during these times of “polarization, intolerance, stubbornness, and deepening social divides.” Schools cannot solve these issues, but they can help students deal with them, the inspectorate has said. They also want improvements in internet behavior. The inspectorate has seen a “concerning level” of digital literacy.

The inspectorate has also seen positive developments. Lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic caused primary school students to fall behind in subjects such as math, but these have largely been resolved.

The largest education union in the Netherlands, the AOb, has said that politicians should first show what good citizenship is before asking for improvements in the lessons. “A minister who does not want to agree to give volunteers a ribbon, the language during debates. You give the right example,” said the union’s chairman Thijs Roovers.

The chairman said that social issues also come forth in other subjects. “The school is a miniature society. Competent and skilled teachers are teaching citizenship all day long." To make that possible, something has to be done about the teachers shortage, he said.