Fourth year and second year students take Flemish tests for the first time: “A small revolution” | Education

The Flemish tests focus on Dutch and mathematics and are administered and processed digitally. Children are not supposed to have to study for the tests. Schools decide for themselves whether the results count for the report or not.

The central keys are a hobbyhorse of Weyts. He sees them as a tool to improve the quality of education and calls it “a small revolution”. According to him, we are one of the few countries where central tests do not yet exist. The educational field still has to rely on foreign studies, which only take place every few years and among a select number of students.

“Thanks to these tests, schools receive an instrument to compare themselves with other schools with a similar population,” Weyts explains. They are “an instrument to intervene in schools that are underperforming”. The minister points out that sanctions will never be imposed solely on the basis of the results, but that they can be the reason for an additional inspection of a school.

While initially students in the fourth year of primary education and the second year of secondary education will take the tests, in May 2026 the students of the sixth year will participate for the first time, and in May 2027 the students of the sixth year of secondary education will follow. By then, 290,000 Flemish students will have taken standardized tests.