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The aim of the Regional Dossier series is to provide concise descriptions of minority languages in education, mainly in Europe but also in other parts of the world. West Frisian, commonly referred to as Frisian (Frisian: Frysk), is a western Germanic, autochthonous minority and official language spoken in Friesland (Frisian: Fryslân), one of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands. In 2018, 61% of the population of Fryslân reported that Frisian was their first language. The Frisian language is widely used in informal domains and mainly in oral use within families and associations, in social and public life, and the media. Every Regional Dossier begins with an introduction about the region in question, followed by six chapters that each deal with a specific level of the education system (e.g. primary education). Chapters 8 and 9 cover the main lines of research into education of the minority language under discussion, and the prospects for the minority language in general and in education in particular, respectively. Chapter 10 provides a summary of statistics. Lists of (legal) references and useful addresses regarding the minority language are given at the end of the dossier. [For the fourth edition, see ED535412.]

This regional dossier aims to provide concise, descriptive information and basic educational statistics about minority language education in a specific region of the European Union--Fryslan, one of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands. Aspects that are addressed include features of the education system, recent educational policies, main actors, legal arrangements, and support structures, as well as quantitative aspects, such as the number of schools, teachers, pupils, and financial investments. This kind of information can serve several purposes and can be relevant for policymakers, researchers, teachers, students, and journalists. They can also use this dossier as a first orientation towards further research or as a source of ideas for improving educational provisions in their own region. The subject of this dossier is Frisian, or "Frysk," an autochthonous minority language currently spoken in Fryslan. Frisian is a western Germanic language closely related to Dutch. Nowadays, Frisian has an official status in the Netherlands. Its spelling has been standardised and Frisian is used in several domains of Frisian society, thereby breaking through the dominance of Dutch. A glossary is included. (Contains 4 tables.) [Additional funding for this paper was provided by the Province of Fryslan and the municipality of Leeuwarden. For previous edition, "Frisian: The Frisian Language in Education in The Netherlands. Second Revised Version. Regional Dossiers Series," see ED452721.]

A majority of the population of Friesland in the Netherlands can speak the Frisian language and over 90 percent can understand it. Frisian is spoken by 55 percent of the population but only 10 percent of the population claim to be fluent in writing Frisian. A brief review of the development of Frisian in education suggests that Frisian has a rather strong position in formal legislation in education. Further, the formulation of objectives hints at the direction of full bilingualism. However, the position of Frisian in daily practice is rather weak and the implementation of Frisian has not resulted in a strong position of Frisian in primary education. Analysis of class hours per week spent on other minority languages in Europe such as Catalan, Basque, and Welsh supports this point. A research project is described that investigated the command of Frisian and Dutch by both Frisian- and Dutch-speaking students. Data are presented concerning students' speaking, reading, comprehension, spelling, and composition abilities. Findings support two conclusions: (1) education in Frisian does not negatively influence the command of the Dutch language of either Frisian- or Dutch-speaking pupils in Friesland, and (2) the command of the Frisian language of both Frisian- and Dutch-speaking pupils is of a very low level at the end of primary school. (Contains 27 references.) (JP)

This study, conducted in the Netherlands, examined the effects of a problem-solving program on students' problem-solving and metacognitive skills. The program consisted of four parts involving one or more aspects of problem solving in the content areas of proportions, geometry, numbers, and solving equations and inequalities. The experimental program was implemented in seven classes from three secondary schools, and the control group consisted of seven classes from four secondary schools taking regular classes on the same subjects. Comparisons on pre- and posttest measures for the two groups indicated that students in the experimental group made better use of heuristic rules and were more reflective than students from the control group. A delayed posttest indicated that 3 months after the experimental period, the effect of the program had disappeared, implying that the positive effect of the program was temporary. A 13-page summary in English is included and a list of 161 references is provided. The appendixes include the instruments and research data. (MDH)