𝗣𝗵𝗗 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 – 𝗘𝗹𝗸𝗲 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗲𝘀

On Wednesday, 10 December 2025, Elke Claes of ROA, Maastricht University successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled:

“Basic Skills”

Recent studies, such as PISA, show that one third of Dutch 15-year-olds are insufficiently literate and a quarter are insufficiently numerate, suggesting that many may struggle to function effectively in society. This is concerning, all the more because basic skills are important for the development of human capital and, consequently, for economic growth. This dissertation comprises four empirical chapters aimed at deepening our knowledge of basic skills. The first part explores how early basic skills relate to life satisfaction in adulthood. The second part includes two chapters focused on how basic skills develop during primary education, specifically examining the persistence of basic skill levels, the development of achievement gaps related to parental education, sex, and migration background, and the interplay between varying skills. The third part investigates the extent to which temperature influences student performance.

Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Inge de Wolf, Prof. Dr. Bart Golsteyn
Co-supervisor: Dr. Suzanne de Leeuw

Click here to read the full thesis.