Amsterdam: 'Bonus for teaching at disadvantaged schools'
Teachers who teach at disadvantaged schools in Amsterdam should receive ten percent more salary. That is one of the measures presented by Amsterdam schools today to combat teacher shortages. Rotterdam and The Hague also presented their plans this afternoon.
Picture: Type tank
'Due to the teacher shortage, an entire generation of children is not getting the education they deserve', writes a core team of Amsterdam school boards and school leaders, the municipality of Amsterdam, the Ministry of Education and the Education Inspectorate. And teacher shortages hit hardest in schools with children with educational disadvantages. 'The shortages are therefore greatest among students for whom education is most important.'
Recruit
The Amsterdam plan has three main lines to combat the shortages. First of all, the influx of new teachers and the retention of current teachers must be promoted. To this end, all Amsterdam teachers in primary education should receive a salary bonus of five percent, which can go up to ten percent at disadvantaged schools. “I know this is a sensitive issue,” says Arnold Jonk, director of the Stichting between IJ and Amstel and spokesman for the core team. “But necessity breaks the law. Let's see what it does - it would be strange if it didn't work. ”
Staij director Arnold Jonk about a bonus: 'Necessity rules. '
In order to recruit more new teachers, further consideration is being given to promoting the lateral intake and providing housing for teachers.
Disadvantaged schools
Second, steps need to be taken to distribute teacher shortages more fairly among schools throughout the city. Jonk: “The shortages in disadvantaged schools are three times higher than the shortages in other schools. Every board in Amsterdam has now promised to make a contribution to better distribute the scarce teachers among the different schools. ”
Finally, according to the core team, individual schools need more room to regulate. “For example, we don't want to introduce a four-day school week throughout the city,” says Jonk. "That doesn't do justice to the differences between schools." According to him, every team at every school should be given the space to make their own choices. "One school may opt for larger groups, at another school for fewer hours and at yet another school for unauthorized people in front of the class."
Space
If the choices of the school teams are approved by the MR, schools should be given the space to implement their plans - without being too severely restricted by laws and regulations. Jonk: "The government and the Education Inspectorate must have the confidence that schools do the best for the students."
Jonk warns that the coherence of the three main lines of the Amsterdam plan is very important. “For example, we cannot ask teachers to organize their education differently if we do not do everything to retain teachers and recruit new teachers. Otherwise it is mopping with the tap open. ”
Rotterdam and The Hague
Rotterdam and The Hague have also drawn up ten measures to combat teacher shortages in these cities. From better guidance of starters and side entrants to the further training of teaching assistants and teacher support staff and the deployment of PABO students and finally the deployment of unauthorized persons. "We hope never to get there," says director Ewald van Vliet from The Hague, "but we cannot rule it out."
Schools could also limit themselves to offering a core curriculum - temporarily or otherwise -, whereby all kinds of extra activities are lost - such as organizing the four-day evening.
Hidden vacancies
The plans for Rotterdam and The Hague are still tentative: they are still being discussed with the professional field. It is also striking that when the plans were drawn up in these cities, the 'hidden vacancies' were also mapped out. These are vacancies that are currently being filled in a creative way by ib students, rt students and directors who are in front of the class and by, for example, merging groups. “Vacancies that are filled in an undesirable way,” says Fred Voncken, chairman of the core team in The Hague. It turned out that the number of hidden vacancies is much larger than expected. “Every day in The Hague there are more than eight thousand students who need to be taught with art bars,” says Voncken.
Every day in The Hague there are more than eight thousand students who need to be taught with art bars
Minister Slob said in response that he is going to release nine million euros to promote side influx. He is also willing to see whether schools can deviate from existing laws and regulations.
Disaster response
AObchairperson Eugenie Stolk hopes that the cabinet will now really invest in education. "These are almost no longer emergency measures, but disaster measures. The water is up to the lips of the big cities. That is a sad conclusion for all those children who are entitled to really good education," says Stolk.
AObchairman Eugenie Stolk: 'These are almost no longer emergency measures, but disaster measures'
Unqualified in front of the class, bigger classes, pay more in the bigger cities. "The cabinet really needs to invest, because these are not good solutions. There is also a teacher shortage in Schiedam, Diemen and Voorburg."
