Adapted from our original op-ed published by Metro
Original op-ed in Metro (opens in new tab)
The Dutch Education Council considers the state of young people’s language and numeracy skills to be worrying. Their key proposal? Ensuring teachers are “classroom ready” through a central exit exam for language and math.
In my view, this will not solve the problem. It sounds suspiciously like ticking a box at the start and relying on that for years to come. If continuous professional development is meant to lift students’ language and math skills—as the Education Council argues—then a one-off exam is nowhere near enough. On the contrary, it risks doing more harm than good.
Competent today does not mean competent tomorrow
That is largely due to psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve. He demonstrated that people retain newly acquired knowledge at first, but quickly lose it unless it is actively repeated and reinforced. No one is immune. Yet many organisations focus on sporadic assessments imposed by external authorities. Research among more than 1,000 Dutch professionals shows that a third experiences this “tick-box culture” first-hand.
The forgetting curve would affect a language and math exit exam in exactly the same way. Most people cram for a test, so their knowledge peaks at the moment of assessment. Yes, that gets you over the starting line. But the car mechanic who swaps the wrong part years after qualifying once knew exactly what to do. Time allowed that knowledge to rust, and now they are no longer competent. The same goes for teachers who pass a new exam. A certificate offers no guarantee that their skills will stay sharp in the long run.
Continuous education instead of a one-off hurdle
We must keep the core skills of those educating our next generations at a consistently high level. Only then are they both authorised and competent to do their jobs. Ebbinghaus also found that repeating or practising knowledge slows the rate at which it fades. That means we need to support teachers with a future-proof learning solution that keeps knowledge up to date through repetition, application, and feedback. In other words: permanent, sustainable education. Sporadic checkmarks can never guarantee a balance between formal qualification and genuine capability.
Exploring new (educational) paths
Because the societal role of education is so crucial, we owe it to ourselves to explore new pathways. Learning science is crystal clear: knowledge and skills erode if we do not maintain them. We need to move beyond one-off exams, which only perpetuate the tick-box culture—and the safety risks that come with it. An exit exam for new teachers can be a helpful starting point. But if that is where the effort ends, it will not lift the language and math skills of the next generation. The truly effective approach is to focus on continuously safeguarding professional competence. Only then will people on the front line—especially in critical sectors—remain both authorised and genuinely capable.
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