Lots of debate here in America, as well, on whether the predominate methods used to teach reading, in the last 10-20 years, have helped or hurt literacy. I’m sorry it’s happening in your neck of the woods too. Thank you for sharing.
This was a great summary. When I was doing my teacher training (I'm an English teacher, "eerstegraads bevoegd") I did a few courses with the Dutch track and there was huge debate about teaching reading skills (leesvaardigheid). My impression is that throughout the years, gradually gradually, teachers have been accommodating to the final exam ("teaching to the test"), and the final exam has been accommodating to the weakening results, leading to a downward spiral. Even when I was at school, I remember thinking the way reading skills was taught was just silly - insisting that the most important information is always in the first sentence of the paragraph, for example. It really very often isn't. Anyway, it's a multifaceted problem and this is just one part of it, but I am surprised by how little it gets mentioned.
That's fascinating. And "teaching for the test" exposes one of the ironies at the heart of this - the lump sum financing that was designed to reduce bureaucracy wound up integrating it even more deeply into education. Like teachers themselves are forced to become bureaucrats first, needing to produce quantifiable results, educators second.
Dec 17, 2023·edited Dec 17, 2023Liked by Kate Imbach
fyi,
This lady, https://yravandijk.nl/ gave a fascinating and totally shocking great talk last week (at the Vertaaldagen in Amsterdam) about what has been happening in schools on so many levels. The site is in Dutch though. ;-) If either one of you happens to know author Bibi Dumon Tak - she also had a great diatribe against "begrijpend lezen" in Zomergasten this year. (also in Dutch)
Lots of debate here in America, as well, on whether the predominate methods used to teach reading, in the last 10-20 years, have helped or hurt literacy. I’m sorry it’s happening in your neck of the woods too. Thank you for sharing.
This was a great summary. When I was doing my teacher training (I'm an English teacher, "eerstegraads bevoegd") I did a few courses with the Dutch track and there was huge debate about teaching reading skills (leesvaardigheid). My impression is that throughout the years, gradually gradually, teachers have been accommodating to the final exam ("teaching to the test"), and the final exam has been accommodating to the weakening results, leading to a downward spiral. Even when I was at school, I remember thinking the way reading skills was taught was just silly - insisting that the most important information is always in the first sentence of the paragraph, for example. It really very often isn't. Anyway, it's a multifaceted problem and this is just one part of it, but I am surprised by how little it gets mentioned.
That's fascinating. And "teaching for the test" exposes one of the ironies at the heart of this - the lump sum financing that was designed to reduce bureaucracy wound up integrating it even more deeply into education. Like teachers themselves are forced to become bureaucrats first, needing to produce quantifiable results, educators second.
fyi,
This lady, https://yravandijk.nl/ gave a fascinating and totally shocking great talk last week (at the Vertaaldagen in Amsterdam) about what has been happening in schools on so many levels. The site is in Dutch though. ;-) If either one of you happens to know author Bibi Dumon Tak - she also had a great diatribe against "begrijpend lezen" in Zomergasten this year. (also in Dutch)
Thank you for sharing this, I will have a look!