Dutch primary schools kids' maths skills back to pre-pandemic levels: Inspectorate

Pupils in the final year of primary education and special primary education now show the same mathematics levels as pupils who left primary school in 2019. “The mathematics levels of these school leavers are, therefore, at the level of before the coronavirus period,” the Education Inspectorate reported on Wednesday. The performance was still well below the target, however.

Last year, 84 percent of primary school pupils achieved the fundamental mathematics level 1F. 33 percent also mastered the target level 1S. In special primary education, 56 percent achieved 1F and 15 percent 1S.

Pupils who progress to secondary education at VMBO-g/t, HAVO, or VWO level need to achieve level 1S at the end of primary education in order to easily follow the coursework in high school.

When the Meijernk committee drew up the reference levels for mathematics in 2009, it stated that 65 percent of all students should be able to achieve level 1S in the last year of primary education or special primary education. “In 2023, the performance was, therefore, well below this ambition,” the Inspectorate said.

The Inspectorate found that most pupils in the final year of primary education can read a simple bar chart and master subtraction sums with whole numbers. “However, we also see that a majority of pupils have difficulty with assignments that require multiple calculations. For example, an assignment involving the subtraction of multiple fractions,” the Inspectorate said.

The Inspectorate asked a focus group of arithmetic-mathematics education and -research professionals to look at the survey results. “They consider it a great achievement that pupils in primary education and special primary education show the same level as in 2019, despite the intervening coronavirus period,” the Inspectorate said.

The focus group made several suggestions on improving performance toward the target levels for mathematics, including appointing a mathematics coordinator at every school to help teachers provide challenging education for all pupils and giving teachers sufficient time and opportunity for targeted training.