For 63 years among the pre-schoolers and still indispensable
Eighty years old and early in the morning, racing to toddler groups in the neighborhood to fill in. Ans Tiecken from Westervoort still does it when schools have their hands in their hair.
Image: Angeliek de Jonge
The raid request comes two days in advance. The Hoge Hoeve integrated child center in Westervoort is looking hard for a substitute who can jump in with the IJsvogels, one of their toddler groups. And so Tiecken got a call from the Staff Cluster East Netherlands (PON), a large replacement pool in the region in which school boards work together.
They look at her with wide eyes, the group of toddlers from group 1 standing in front of her. Their classmates from group 2 are a few classrooms away for their music lessons. “I want to see all the noses,” Tiecken says around nine o'clock and she keeps her hands in the air. “Now you can raise two hands. How many fingers are that? " The toddlers look carefully at their fingers. “One, two, three, four, five”, they count aloud as they push their fingers down after counting. “And how many fingers are these then”, Tiecken continues when she hides one hand behind her back. "Are you coming after me?" The preschoolers bump into a train after the kindergarten teacher as she walks around the tables and claps her hands ten times.
Generations
Tiecken has taught entire generations in the 63 years that she has taught. In 1956 she graduated from the Klos, the former nursery school, and started working at the age of seventeen. “I've always had my own toddler group,” she says early in the morning in her living room. “I quit my job in education in 1996, I was in my fifties and in the meantime also became deputy director, which was quite a lot. But, I regretted it. ” Actually, she never gave up work, because after that she started filling in and she still does. “I am very fit. So if I can, I think: Hupsakee ”, she says. Her husband Dick nods in agreement.
In 1996 I quit my teaching job, I was in my fifties and deputy director. But, I regretted it
On her eightieth birthday, Tiecken thought that she really had to stop, because of her age. Nothing is less true. Tiecken: "There are teacher shortages and the substitute pool practically prayed that I stayed." She jumps up and has to run to get to the toddlers on time. She quickly gives Dick a kiss. He stands by the white front door waving as she leaves. “I still fall in up to Zevenaar or Babberich,” says the kindergarten teacher on the way to the school. “That is no further than a fifteen minute drive. Otherwise, I'll be in a traffic jam and late for class. The toddlers have to wait, I think that's terrible. ”
Used to
She routinely places all stacked chairs in the still empty classroom in a circle. “Those are a lot of children,” Tiecken says to location leader Carin Ketelaar, who shows her her way around and immediately lets it know that her boyfriend was also in kindergarten at Tiecken's long ago. Slowly the toddlers trickle in. "Mila goes to out-of-school care after school," says a mother. Another parent reports that her child can go with a boyfriend after school. In the meantime, Tiecken comforts preschoolers who are in tears because they see someone different than they are used to. She gives them a pat on the head and waves to the parents: "Yoooo, this is all going to be fine."
On her eightieth birthday, Miss Ans thought she really had to stop because of her age. But, "The raid pole pretty much prayed that I stayed."
“My name is Miss Ans, if your teacher is ill, I can come”, she kicks off in the circle while going through the list of names. The toddlers get used to it quickly. “You say Brèn-Dèn, not Bran-Don”, they correct her. The toddlers of group 1 also point to the planning board when they have to choose an activity, such as the drawing table, the house corner or the sand table. "Okay, you always do it like that?" At the drawing group Tiecken remains attentively as she walks through the classroom. “Look, you immediately see a difference in development. One toddler draws between the lines, while the other scratches more. ” Further on, Milan is busy poking holes in a paper figure. Tiecken pushes him a little closer to the table, so that he can reach it properly. "You can see how things are with your motor skills by holding the lancing device."
She does see differences with the past. “I did and always do a lot of learning through play. For example, what is in front and behind and then really showing it. Or count with your hands. That is preparatory math. Nowadays the children have so much to do. For example knowing letters when they go to group 3. I think too much is mandatory. They also don't do anything with the computer for me. ”
Too much is required, I think. They don't do anything with my computer either
No computer, but 'the sixteen squares'. "That is very playful learning." With Pritt markers, yellow folding leaves and scissors, Ashley, Milan, Tijn, Naomi, Fajah and Djenaya are ready to make their craft chick from 'sixteen squares'. Two classmates are busy further along with colored straws that they deftly tie together to create a structure and outside the classroom they build towers of blocks. With the yellow folding paper in front of him, Tiecken takes place on a toddler chair. “First you fold the leaf with the dots to the other side. How many boxes do you have then? And then again to the other side. ”
Grandmother
“We are happy with people like Ans,” says Wim Oosterman, director of the Hoge Hoeve. “Especially in March we were sometimes up because of a flu wave. We often solve it within school and, for example, split a group or opt for a different emergency solution. Once we sent a toddler group home. We notice the shortage mainly because the replacement pool PON sometimes has to sell 'no' to us. That is why it is fantastic what Ans does. She has a flexible mind. ”
Ans has a flexible mind
There is a crate of fruit in the room. “This banana just tastes the same. Only your parents forgot to write your name on it ”, Tiecken says to a crying toddler who really doesn't want the banana. She deftly solves the problem and receives support from other preschoolers who nod and say that 'a banana is a banana'. Ten minutes later, she walks outside with a cappuccino in her hand when a student says to her, "You look like a grandmother." She laughs: “I am also a grandmother. And a miss. ” The student runs fast to the slide in the square. “Yes, I continue to like it,” she says with a laugh, sipping her cappuccino and the students whizzing around her on stair carts. "Sitting still is not for me and my husband will be fine."
Want to read more articles about the teacher shortage? Read the news item: 'Formation stress in special primary schools'. AObchair Liesbeth Verheggen made a further appeal to the inspectorate in May 2019 to map out the teacher shortage. You can read the call via this link. The Education Magazine also reported about this earlier the Free school in Haarlem that is group 7 due to the teacher shortage.
This article is in the last Education Magazine of June. AObmembers receive the magazine on the mat every month. You will find on this page more about membership.
