We aim to diminish inequality in opportunities in education. This is an important issue, see these reports: Dutch school inspection report 2016: “De Staat van het Onderwijs”, Unicef report “Building the Future”, www.onderwijsincijfers.nl and the 2017 SCP report. Schools involved in this project realize that language is an key factor related to unequal opportunities in education. Rijswijks Lyceum for example states: we notice many pupils fall behind because they lack language proficiency. School policy states every teacher is a language coach, for example by explaining words and helping pupils to express themselves. The school is looking for other ways to support pupils in this area since language is an important precondition for learning and doing well at school. The REAL project, instigated by LondonGT and carried out at numerous British schools, tried to tackle the issue of language proficiency and school achievement through improving pupils’ command of ‘Academic’ English. Academic here means: the kind of vocabulary used at school (by teachers, in learning materials, study books, tests). This is a different type of vocabulary from the (informal) vocabulary among friends, on the streets or at home and a vocabulary that pupils whose parents do not speak English or whose parents have received little education are not always familiar with. Improving academic achievement of cognitively talented pupils with a low ESCS in the Netherlands and Belgium. ESCS = Economic, Social and Cultural Status. It is derived from 5 indices: parental education, occupational status of parents, family wealth, cultural possessions and educational resources (https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/RC14_eng.pdf). Both schools and pupils should become more aware of the fact that pupils with a lower ESCS do not always go to, or pass the final exams of, the educational level that suits their potential. Teachers, staff, pupils and their parents should also know where to find and how to make use of materials that help pupils with a low ESCS improve their command of Academic Dutch. The ultimate objective is to help diminish unequal opportunities, so that the pupils’ potential, rather than background, determines their academic achievement. We are a cooperation of 9 participants: 2 Dutch and 2 Belgian secondary schools who deal with the issue of inequal opportunities and language on a daily basis. These schools are experienced in working with pupils with a low ESCS and their language development and will provide input for a tailor-made Dutch Academic Word List. The 3 academic partners bring researched knowledge of cognitive talent (Radboud University, KULeuven), tests/tools for identifying cognitively talented pupils (Thomas More Institute, Belgium) and their everyday experience with working with gifted pupils. Bureau Talent and London GT bring years of experience in the field of talent development in education, project management skills and a network of schools/people within the field of education. LondonGTs Real project will be adapted to the Dutch and Flemish situation. We will use the book ‘Wijze Woorden’ on Academic Dutch as a basis. During workshops the teachers will adapt this existing list of academic Dutch so that it becomes tailor-made and effective in their everyday practice. Learning materials will be added to the list and will be made available on the internet by Webedu (a company specialized in making online materials for secondary schools). A selected group of pupils will work with these materials for several months, guided by their teachers and Bureau Talent. Selection takes place through a non-verbal intelligence test and the input of teachers/schools. Teachers, parents and pupils will be informed of the project and its premises and purposes through a lecture. Partner activities: kick-off meeting to start the project. Four project team meetings to exchange experiences, learn from each other and to evaluate the project. Other activ.: making a step-by-step manual so that this project can be carried out in other countries and organizing a symposium. The methodology used will be 1) non-verbal screening 2) selection of participants 3) intervention 4) evaluation. We will go through this process twice. We expect to see improved educational results (level attended, grades) of the participating pupils. Awareness of the issue will have increased among schools, pupils and policy-makers. They will also know where to find and how to make use of materials that help our target group improve its command of Academic Dutch. From a broad perspective: we aim for a positive change in the lives of young people and their school success, which will ultimately lead to a more diverse and equal society. The desired impact and fundamental change we want to contribute to, on local and regional as well as international levels, is a diminished influence of ESCS on talent development, educational results and school/career success.
Students from a less advantaged background, such as those with a low socioeconomic status or a native language other than Dutch, do not always fulfil their potential in terms of academic success. The project ‘Creating Equal Opportunities at School: Empowering students from less-advantaged backgrounds through teaching academic language’ wanted to contribute to bridging the gap between these students’ current academic success and their cognitive talent by means of teaching Dutch academic language. The purpose of this project was to improve the academic language skills of cognitively talented students from less advantaged backgrounds. It aimed to increase the chance that these students’ academic success is in line with their potential, because language is no longer a barrier, leading to a growth in their motivation and self-confidence. Our mission statement was: This project will uncover and develop unseen cognitive talents of students from disadvantaged social groups by improving their academic linguistic strategies. From a broader perspective, the end goal was that the influence of socioeconomic status on talent development, school results and school success will diminish. This fundamental change could ultimately lead to a more diverse and equal society. Obviously this broader ideal was not accomplished in only three years time and partly hindered by covid-19. A team was formed of partners from the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom. Rijswijks Lyceum / Van Vredenburch College and Zuider Gymnasium in the Netherlands, Lucerna College and Stedelijk Lyceum Pestalozzi in Belgium, are schools with a very diverse population. LondonG&T advised and inspired us with their REAL project, aimed at learners of English as foreign language as well as native born students for whom ‘academic’ English is essentially also a foreign language. The Centre of Psychological Assessment of the Thomas More University of Applied Sciences developed a digital intelligence test that is less culturally biased and therefore suitable for our target group. The Radboud University has expertise on giftedness and Bureau Talent is an expert on giftedness in secondary education. As a team, we formulated two questions: 1. How can we identify gifted students from disadvantaged backgrounds? 2. How can we improve their language skills in order to improve their opportunities for success in higher education levels? The first step in the Erasmus+ project was to select cognitively talented students from less-advantaged backgrounds through a culturally less biased test. Per school the 20% best scoring students from a disadvantaged background were identified by a test for cognitive abilities. There were two cohorts: the first one from November 2019 until March 2020; the second one from March until July 2021. The second step was to provide selected students with a lesson programme on academic Dutch. The selected students were randomly assigned in an intervention and control group. The students of the intervention group were invited to participate in the programme, consisting of an online programme to help them learn academic Dutch and small-group learning sessions with a teacher. Students of the control group received an alternative program or were put on the waiting list and were invited to complete the program the following year. Teachers and experts worked together to compile a list of academic words, based on previously developed lists and research. The online programme allowed students to study and use the words on their own. The small-group learning sessions with the teacher were aimed at discussing and using the words. Playing with the new words and looking for the words in new contexts were also part of these lessons. The aim of the programme was that students would be able to recognize and use academic language in formal school settings as well as in their everyday lives so that a lack of language skills no longer forms a barrier when it comes to academic success. By using the partly non-verbal intelligence test, we succeeded in finding hidden cognitive talent, which we think is a great accomplishment. Although teachers, students and parents were positive about the language lessons, we have not been able to establish hard evidence for better school results (see research report in the annex). The covid-19 period had a strong, negative influence on the project and its results, we assume.