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| Investigation into school advice |
2/23/2007 |
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AMSTERDAM – Politicians in The Hague are concerned that talented students of immigrant background are being recommended for upper secondary and university prep programmes less frequently than native Dutch peers who received the same score on the standardised CITO test.
Parliament is demanding that the education inspectorate investigate the causes for this situation.
A study conducted at schools in Amsterdam indicated that Moroccan and Turkish children who score more than 534 points on the CITO test are recommended for a lower level of further education more frequently than native Dutch students with the same score.
41 percent of Moroccans and 44 percent of Turks are advised to continue at a level below their ability while this happens to “only” 28 percent of the Dutch students.
“Worrying”, said Labour PvdA MP Mariette Hamer. She acknowledged that there could be reasons for the advice from the school to deviate from what a student’s CITO performance might indicate. “Teachers see the whole picture. They might recommend that a child take the safe option in some cases because of problems with the language for instance.”
The study further showed that ethnic minority children were also recommended for secondary education at a level higher than their CITO score indicated more frequently than native Dutch children. PvdA alderman Lodewjiik Asscher wrote that the main problem here is that teachers have difficulty making an appropriate recommendation for pupils from an immigrant background.
[Copyright Expatica News + ANP 2007]
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