Update to the Core Objectives for Modern Foreign Languages
Languages in the Netherlands: Is There Still Reason for Optimism?

We are on the eve of the introduction of new core objectives and attainment targets for secondary education. Why has this reform been necessary? What are they intended to achieve? What can teachers expect? What will change, and is it actually possible to implement these changes in schools?
A short answer to the last question is: yes, provided that certain conditions are met.

By Daniela Fasoglio

A Curriculum in Motion

Admittedly, German as a school subject is an endangered species. Teaching hours are being cut, qualified teachers are difficult to find, and short-sighted reductions in funding for the humanities do not help either. Student motivation can also be hard to find at times.

Meanwhile, a broad discussion has emerged in recent years about Dutch secondary education, centred on the question of how to ensure that young people are well prepared to participate in a society that is becoming increasingly international, digital, and complex. Do school subjects still adequately reflect what students need today and in the future? This question is particularly urgent for language education. What should students learn? Which knowledge and skills are truly relevant?

This discussion resulted in a large-scale curriculum reform. Teams of teachers, teacher educators, and curriculum experts developed new attainment targets and core objectives for all educational levels. Throughout the process, feedback was regularly sought from subject associations, academics, and other experts.

The curriculum reform demonstrates that education is not a static system but one that continuously evolves. In a rapidly changing society, quality education requires ongoing reflection on what students need to know, understand, and be able to do in order to find their way in the world.

However, a curriculum is only valuable if it works in practice. For this reason, the new attainment targets were tested in schools for an entire school year. Schools investigated whether the objectives were achievable, whether they could be translated into teaching and assessment programmes, and whether they genuinely contributed to students’ desired development. They also examined the conditions necessary for successful and sustainable implementation.

The Power of Language

Why do we learn languages in the first place? To hold a conversation while on holiday? To pass an examination? To improve our employment prospects? These reasons provide only part of the answer.
Languages help us understand the world, build relationships, and participate effectively and appropriately in an interconnected world.

Languages as a Key to the World

Those who learn a language learn not only how that language functions but also how people interact through it. Language is intertwined with culture, history, and identity. Therefore, language education can make an important contribution to the broad personal development of students.

Educational philosopher Gert Biesta argues that education should not be limited to qualification, that is, the acquisition of knowledge and skills for study and work.
It also involves processes of socialisation and personal development.
Students must learn to find their place in a complex society and to relate to other people and the world around them.

Language education offers unique opportunities in this regard. Through exposure to another language and to different perspectives and cultures, students develop not only communicative competence but also cultural sensitivity, autonomy, and critical thinking skills.

Contemporary insights into language acquisition show that learning a foreign language involves far more than achieving communicative goals. When students use a new language, they also explore alternative ways of expressing themselves. They develop a broader understanding of who they are and how they relate to others.

Learning a new language is therefore not merely a cognitive process but also a social and personal one. Every new language opens the door to new communities, new stories, and new ways of thinking.

From Grammar Exercises to Meaningful Language Tasks

This vision has important implications for classroom practice. If language is a tool for participating in society, students should have opportunities to use language in that way in the classroom.

One way to do this is through rich language tasks: open, meaningful activities in which students use language to solve problems together, exchange information, create products, or clarify viewpoints. The achievement of a goal becomes central, while attention to grammar and vocabulary plays a functional role in reaching that goal.

During such activities, students negotiate meaning, use strategies to understand one another, and draw on their entire linguistic repertoire. This reflects the way language functions outside school: dynamically, creatively, and often plurilingual.

What Will the New Programmes Include?

The revised examination programmes for modern foreign languages are organised around three interconnected domains: A Communication, B Language Awareness, and C Cultural Awareness. In Domain A, the attainment targets are aligned with the descriptors of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). In addition to language proficiency, students are expected to develop a conscious and critical approach to information and media. They learn to select, evaluate, and use information purposefully. In Domain B, students develop insight into the relationships between languages, language variation, plurilingualism, and the role of language in education, work, and society.
In Domain C, engagement with fiction is considered an important means of fostering empathy, self-understanding, and cultural awareness across all educational pathways, including pre-vocational education.

Students also learn to recognise and interpret cultural aspects of language use so that they can better avoid misunderstandings, stereotypes, and communication pitfalls.
The following table outlines all attainment targets for the subject German Language and Culture:

Meaningful Language Education: A Responsibility of the School as Well

The vision of language education outlined above means that learning languages is much more than memorising vocabulary and mastering grammar.
The aim is to help learners become responsible and autonomous citizens who can communicate effectively and appropriately and engage consciously with a multilingual and multicultural world.

Modern foreign languages are therefore not merely subjects on the timetable but powerful tools for better understanding oneself, other people, and society. This is precisely where the enduring value of language education in the twenty-first century lies.
However, strong national goals do not automatically result in high-quality education. They require thoughtful translation into the school curriculum, ensuring that educational vision, learning objectives, learning activities, and assessment are closely aligned.

In practice, this means that teachers must be given opportunities to reflect on and further develop their teaching, preferably in collaboration with colleagues.
Only with support from school leadership can a professional learning culture emerge in which language education remains strong, coherent, and meaningful.