The school system in brief
Education is one of the eight KNM themes: onderwijs en opvoeding (education and upbringing). For the exam, this topic is tested as knowledge about how Dutch society works, not as a personal opinion.
The KNM exam uses short Dutch fact questions with three answer options. A question can ask wat, wie, waar, wanneer, mag, or moet. In this theme, that means you need to recognise simple facts about school, children, and the role of parents.
You should expect concrete situations. DUO often uses a photo, a short setup with a name, and then one question. The answer is usually about a rule, a role, or an institution.
A Dutch-style exam question could look like this:
Dutch example Fatima gaat met haar zoon naar school. Wie praat meestal met de ouders over hoe het kind het doet op school? A. De school B. De rechter C. Het parlement
English meaning Fatima goes to school with her son. Who usually talks with parents about how the child is doing at school? A. The school B. The judge C. The parliament
This shows a common KNM pattern: one answer fits the right institution, and the other options are real institutions at the wrong level.
Enrolling your children
In daily life, parents must deal with school as an institution. For KNM, you should know that education belongs to the theme onderwijs en opvoeding and that questions are about facts you need in ordinary life.
The exam may give you a parent, a child, and a simple school situation. Then it asks what happens, who helps, or what the correct place is. You do not need long legal detail. You need to connect the situation to the right organisation.
Watch for question forms like these:
- Waar ...?
- Wie ...?
- Wat moet ... doen?
A sample in exam style:
Dutch example Omar wil zijn kind aanmelden voor school. Met welke instantie heeft hij dan te maken? A. De school B. De Belastingdienst C. De zorgverzekeraar
English meaning Omar wants to register his child for school. Which institution does he deal with then? A. The school B. The Tax Administration C. The health insurer
The KNM exam likes this type of distinction. You score the point if you link the daily task to the correct institution and ignore other official-sounding options.
Parents and school
This part is about the relationship between parents and the school. In KNM, the focus is still factual. The exam does not mainly ask what you personally prefer. It asks what parents and schools do in Dutch society.
Questions often use a short setup with a mother or father and then ask wie or wat. You need to understand that school and parents have contact about the child. The right answer is usually practical and direct.
A likely question shape is this:
Dutch example Sara heeft een gesprek op school over haar dochter. Waar gaat zo'n gesprek meestal over? A. Over hoe het kind het doet op school B. Over nieuwe wetten in Nederland C. Over een visum voor een ander land
English meaning Sara has a meeting at school about her daughter. What is such a meeting usually about? A. About how the child is doing at school B. About new laws in the Netherlands C. About a visa for another country
This matches the post-2025 KNM style. The question checks whether you know the social fact. It does not ask you to choose a moral behaviour.
Another common pattern is mag or moet with three options: yes, only in some cases, or no. When you practise, pay attention to those small differences, because DUO uses them often.
What the KNM exam asks about this
DUO tests KNM with 40 multiple-choice questions on a computer. Each question has exactly three options. The exam is grouped by theme, and onderwijs en opvoeding is one of the official themes.
For this topic, expect short fact questions about everyday school life. The exam often gives you a photo and visible Dutch text. The task is to identify the correct fact, role, or institution.
The most useful things to practise are these:
- recognising school and parent situations in simple Dutch
- matching a daily situation to the right institution
- spotting wrong-scope answers such as rechter or parlement when the topic is school
- handling mag, moet, wie, and waar question types
A final exam-style example:
Dutch example Mila heeft vragen over school van haar kind. Bij wie moet zij eerst zijn? A. Bij de school B. Bij DUO C. Bij de politie
English meaning Mila has questions about her child's school. Who should she go to first? A. The school B. DUO C. The police
That is the core of this KNM theme. You need simple civic knowledge, in Dutch, with clear links to normal life. If you practise these short situations often, you'll recognise the pattern faster on the real DUO exam.