Junior education minister Sharon Dijksma is to ask the Canadian education specialist Michael Fullan for help in improving reading and arithmetic in Dutch schools, reports ANP news service on Monday.

Dijksma wants to work with primary schools to improve standards in these two subjects and will be discussing her plans on Monday when she opens the new academic year at the university of applied science in Hengelo.
Professor Fullan’s teaching methods have already proved successful in Canada, Britain and a number of Asian countries, according to a ministry spokesman.