Chapter 5. Heat and Learning in a Moderate Climate: Temperature Effects on Primary School Students in the Netherlands acknowledge that the construction year of the school is not a definitive measure for the facilities that school buildings have to control the climate in classrooms, we argue that inspecting heterogeneity in this regard is informative. From a policy perspective, it is important to know whether students in older school buildings are more affected by outdoor temperature than students in newer buildings. This helps in understanding whether school buildings may provide a possibility to mitigate the adverse effects experienced due to adverse temperatures. 5.2 Background and data 5.2.1 Education in the Netherlands In the Netherlands, students enter primary education at the age of four, although schooling is only mandatory as of the age of five. The first two years of primary education entail kindergarten. From the age of six onward, students start in first grade, where they are introduced to fundamental skills such as reading, writing, and basic math. Primary education lasts until grade six, whereafter students move to secondary education. The progression through these grades is based on age, and students generally move on to the next grade at the beginning of each school year. The system places considerable importance on the continuity of the learning process, with each grade building upon the skills and knowledge acquired in the previous grade. Therefore, primary school students are monitored and tracked throughout their whole schooling period. In the Netherlands, this monitoring and 114
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