Foreign language education levels in the Dutch population

The paper reports levels of foreign language (FL) education in the cohort of Dutch students who left primary education in 1977 (N=246,140). The study was undertaken in conjunction with the Action Programme for FL teaching which was launched in the Netherlands in 1989 in response to criticisms of the FL competence of Dutch students. Its principal purpose was to establish existing levels of FL competence and to provide suitable base-line data for later studies. The study reported here draws on earlier research conducted by the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) on the school careers of these same students, and the level of education achieved by them in various types of education. Students were assigned to one of 5 levels of FL education in English, French and German. The results show a sharp decline in the teaching of French and German in recent times. They also show a lack of FL training in technical education, where it is most needed. The paper discusses the limitations of the statistical data and the educational levels derived from them. It is argued, nonetheless, that the scale used is a valid measure of FL proficiency in the present context because of its connection with centrally administered examinations.