School inspectors have issued a damning report about the reading skills of pupils attending lower streams of vmbo trade schools.

“In fact, a large proportion of trade school pupils have not reached the right reading level halfway through their education, inspector Matthijs van den Berg told NOS radio.

“This is the first time we have a national picture of reading skills at secondary schools. Half of all children go to a vmbo school, and half of them are in the lower streams,” he said. The inspectors focused on second-year pupils. Trade school courses run for four years at which point pupils move on to college.

Poor readers, Van den Berg said, are unable to understand a letter from the government, read the information provided with medicine or a job advert. “This is the basic level we are talking about, and a large group of youngsters cannot do this,” he said.

By far most children in the second year of pre-college or university education, and the theoretical streams at vmbo schools are at the appropriate level, the inspectors say.

Inspectors have been warning for some time about declining standards at schools. They also sounded the alarm about maths skills in February, again with trade school pupils more likely to perform badly.

Improving reading skills can be done by encouraging children to read while they are at school. “They are unmotivated and don’t enjoy reading,” Van den Berg said. “That has to improve.”

The inspectors also suggest paying more attention to reading during other subjects and more focus on young adult literature at teacher training colleges.