New Step in Curriculum Renewal

The citizenship core objectives and the digital literacy core objectives have been delivered today, along with the core objectives for Dutch Sign Language. The new objectives are part of the ongoing renewal of the outdated curriculum. With more focus, education is improved and the overload of the lesson program is countered.

Secretary of State Mariëlle Paul (Fundamental Education and Emancipation): “It is urgently needed to clarify what students in 2025 need to know and be able to do. The world is changing rapidly. Therefore, it is essential that you learn how to participate well in society as a responsible and critical citizen. And to manage in society, it is important to learn to deal safely and responsibly with online information, but also to become acquainted with new technology like AI. These new core objectives will certainly help with that. Thus, I continue to support the improvement of education.”

Schools in primary and secondary education have long been tasked with actively promoting citizenship and social cohesion. Digital literacy is also not new for schools. For example, students already practice assessing different types of online information in Dutch. What is new is that both topics are now explicitly part of the national curriculum. The core objectives provide teachers with much more clarity and direction about what children really need to learn. How this is done is up to the teacher and the school.

Each objective contains several elaborations. For example, students must learn how to act responsibly with an AI system. Citizenship includes being able to name equal treatment, stereotyping, discrimination, and exclusion. In updating Dutch Sign Language, core objectives have now also been established for special secondary education.

The new core objectives have been formulated and tested by education itself: teachers, school leaders, students, experts, and important educational parties. The next step is to enshrine them in law.

It is expected that the core objectives will come into effect on August 1, 2027. However, schools do not have to wait for this. The strong call is to get started now, as the renewal of the curriculum is urgent. Schools and teachers can already experience the new core objectives and translate them as best as possible to their own classroom situation. Starting this fall, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) will provide support in collaboration with SLO, sector councils, professional associations, teacher training programs, knowledge institutions, and developers of learning materials and assessments.

The revision of the outdated curriculum – for the first time since 2006 – is an important step in improving the quality of education. Previously, the sharpened core objectives for Dutch, arithmetic, and mathematics were delivered. The educational program will place even more focus on reading, writing, and arithmetic. Not only in Dutch and arithmetic and mathematics but in all learning areas. These objectives are expected to come into effect on August 1, 2026, although there is also a strong recommendation to get started with them now.

Later this year, new core objectives for movement and sports, people and society, people and nature, art and culture, modern foreign languages, and Frisian language and culture will follow. The Ministry of OCW is working with SLO on a system of periodic maintenance of the curriculum.

More is happening to improve the quality of education. Schools can call on the Master Plan Basic Skills. This way, they can put extra effort into reading, writing, and arithmetic. So far, around 2.3 million students in primary and secondary education (95% of all students) have been reached. And good education is only possible with enough good people in the classroom: that is why there is also a strong focus on addressing the teacher shortage.