Dutch primary schools underestimate the importance of handwriting, experts said to newspaper AD. Handwriting lessons are neglected to the point that over 30 percent of primary school students have difficulty learning to write, and by the end of group 4 nearly half of students have bad or illegible handwriting, according to the newspaper.
primary schools
Jun 27 '17 07:40
Primary schools teachers across the Netherlands are striking this morning. Almost all primary schools in the country will open at 9:30 a.m., instead of 8:30 a.m. One positive side effect to this strike, is that traffic information service VID expects less traffic on the road during rush hour this morning.
Feb 7 '17 16:20
A school assignment for primary school kids in group six caused quite a commotion on social media. The assignment gives the students short statement on the basis of which the kids have to determine whether someone is an "autochtoon" (native Dutch), "allochtoon" (someone with at least one non-Dutch parent) or could be both. According to critics, the assignment is "stereotype-confirming", RTL Nieuws reports.
Feb 1 '17 10:29
Many teachers in the Netherlands feel they have to avoid talking about sensitive topics such as sexual orientation and religion in their classrooms, according to a study by DUO. So-called Islamization and terrorist organization ISIS in particular are topics to be avoided. The teachers blame failed integration for this, ANP reports.
Jan 23 '17 10:14
A record number of 184 Dutch schools were given the "excellent" designation this year, 54 more than last year, NOS reports. The schools were evaluated by an independent jury. The "excellent" designation is valid for three years.
A school is deemed excellent if it excels in a particular area, for example suiting its methods of education to the neighborhood it is in, or going above and beyond to help a student. An inspiring way of teaching can also get a school an excellent label.
Dec 13 '16 13:25
The city of Amsterdam is tackling an impending shortage of teachers in the city. On Monday the municipality presented its plan to do so, which includes a campaign to recruit teachers, researching the cause of the shortage, guiding new teachers and affordable housing, among other things, Het Parool reports.
For this plan to be effective, the municipality of Amsterdam is teaming up with primary schools, secondary schools and teacher training institutions.
Dec 6 '16 15:25
An increasing number of Dutch primary schools are switching over to the so-called continuous timetable, in which kids aren't sent home for lunch, instead staying at school for a short break and then going home earlier. Currently only about half of primary schools are still using the traditional timetable, the Volkskrant reports based on a survey by DUO, NU.nl reports..
Dec 5 '16 10:29
Today Sinterklaas is visiting schools across the Netherlands in celebration of his birthday. And as tradition dictates, he will be accompanied by his Pieten. What exactly these Pieten will look like differs widely by region, municipality and schools and seems to be mostly determined by what neighborhood the school is located in, NOS reports after speaking with some 30 school boards, covering about a thousand primary schools across the country.
Nov 29 '16 11:20
Inequality in education in the Netherlands increased over the past years, according to a study done by DUO Education Research. The increasing inequality is more significant in high schools than in primary schools, ANP reports.
The study was done among more than 2,200 school principals and teachers in primary and secondary educations. 18 percent of the secondary education principals and teachers indicated that a growing number of children are getting fewer opportunities at their schools. Among primary schools it was 12 percent.
Sep 21 '16 10:20
The number of primary school pupils in the Netherlands has been shrinking for the past seven years, and that decrease will only continue, according to figures Statistics Netherlands released on Wednesday. In the year 2023 the Netherlands will have around 1.4 million primary school students, a decrease of 74 thousand or 5 percent compared to now.
Sep 19 '16 08:21
The number of kids being bullied at school in the Netherlands is decreasing, though it is till a problem many children face on a daily basis, according to State Secretary Sander Dekker of Education. This year 10 percent of primary school kids were harassed by a bully at least once a month, compared to 14 percent two years ago. In high school, that figure decreased from 11 to 8 percent.
Sep 14 '16 16:00
According to State Secretary Sander Dekker of Education, the long May vacation for primary- and high school students is often stressful for parents who have one or more kids at home for three weeks. He therefore wants to schedule the May vacations in such a way that they only take up two weeks
Sep 12 '16 13:20
Many Dutch kids repeat a year of school before they reach the age of seven. This is especially true in Group 2 of primary school, where about 1 in 10 kids are forced to repeat. Last year it amounted to 18 thousand children
Sep 8 '16 08:30
A total 588 children were removed from nine schools in the Netherlands believed to have ties to Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, according to a study by Dutch newspaper Trouw. That is about a fifth of the schools' total student count.
Sep 5 '16 15:55
Primary schools should limit the voluntary contribution from parents as much as possible so that kids from poorer families don't get disadvantage, education volunteer group Leergeld Nederland said in NOS on Monday.
Aug 30 '16 13:25
Children spend too little time on learning how to write in a comprehensible hand and primary school teachers do not pay enough attention to teaching handwriting, according to researchers from Utrecht University in a study of 52 primary schools
Aug 18 '16 08:46
The Netherlands stands at the verge of an acute shortage in primary school teachers, according to the PO-Raad, the umbrella organization for primary schools. If the government doesn't push more money into education soon, there will be a primary school teacher shortage of about 7 thousand in ten years' time
Apr 20 '16 09:37
Primary schools urgently need more money for language lessons for child asylum seekers. The government gives money for extra language lessons if a school has more than four asylum children, but it is not nearly enough, according to a study done by education council PO-Raad among 200 schools
Apr 4 '16 13:17
Six teacher training colleges will soon start training teachers specifically on healthy lifestyles. The aim is for every primary school to have, in addition to language-, math- and science experts, also a health expert in house, to watch what the children eat and make sure they exercise enough
Jan 27 '16 16:35
Kids across the Netherlands kicked off the 13th edition of the National Reading Aloud Days on Wednesday morning with breakfast and a story read to them by a politician, mayor, sports hero, actress, rapper, football player and even a princess.
Nov 27 '15 12:55
One primary school in Utrecht will have Minions helping Sinterklaas this year, instead of Zwarte Piet. After SPO Utrecht, an organization that governs 33 public elementary schools in the city, banned Zwarte Piet due to racism, the schools had to come up with different ways to handle the Sinterklaas celebration this year
Nov 4 '15 14:10
Many schools in the Netherlands do not have access to an internet connection with sufficient speed. At some schools, especially in the outlying areas, the internet connection is so slow, that it is impossible to work with multiple computers at the same time. Dutch parliamentarians want this problem to be solved by 2017.
Sep 17 '15 13:24
The decision made by primary schools in The Hague to steadily phase out discriminatory features of Zwarte Piet has caused quite an uproar in both the on- and offline world. Hundreds of opponents and supporters of the decision are voicing their opinions on social media.
Sep 17 '15 08:57
The managing boards of all the primary schools in The Hague have agreed to adjust the facade of Zwarte Piet and drop discriminatory features of the character. They feel that every child, regardless of color or race, should feel at ease during the Sinterklaas festival.
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