Central ‘Flemish tests’ in the classroom for the first time: will they improve quality or lead to more school stress?

Critics fear that teachers will want to prepare their students extra for the test and will ‘teach to the test’, which will result in students receiving a less broad education. And so the quality of education will not necessarily improve, but students will simply become better at taking certain tests.

However, the researchers indicate that the answers cannot be ‘drilled’ in advance, but that students will have to analyze the questions carefully in order to give a reasoned answer.

Not every student receives the same questions, because the assignments automatically adapt to the student’s level during the test. The intention is to motivate the students to continue persevering.

Catholic Education Flanders is concerned about how well the tests can actually measure learning gains at student and school level. They do not want to make statements about educational quality solely on the basis of “test results in a limited number of learning domains”.

In addition, the umbrella organization criticizes that the tests should not compromise the pedagogical freedom that each school has to choose its own learning path. For example, students are already asked in the 4th year about final objectives that must only be achieved at the end of the 6th year.