Teachers pan English in Dutch primary schools

7 January 2005

AMSTERDAM — Teachers working in Dutch primary schools feel they are not trained properly to teach English, and they have awarded the subject less than six out of 10 in a new report.

In fact, primary school teachers were the kindest, awarding an average 5.8 out of 10 to the level of English in the Dutch primary school system. The teaching profession in general rates the success of the subject at 5.6, a report by the education union AOb has found.

Secondary school teachers, the AOb said, are particularly annoyed the big difference in the standard of English spoken by their new pupils. Primary school teachers counter by saying they are not trained properly to teach English. Liesbeth Verheggen of the AOb said it was high time that primary school teachers were given proper training.

Primary school teachers also complained to the AOb that they had too little time to invest in the subject, despite the language’s important position in the world.

The Aob interviewed over 500 teachers for its report, which is part of a larger investigation into the role of English in the Dutch education system.

Subject: Dutch news