AObchair: 'Objections to the Teachers Register are nonsense'
There has been a storm of protest against the teachers' register on social media. Opponents hope that the Senate will stop the arrival of the register. AObchairman Liesbeth Verheggen responds.
There is a lot of criticism. What do you think: is the Senate going to fire the bill?
“First of all, the distrust among teachers is understandable. The government does not excel in plans that give more autonomy to teachers. On the contrary, most of the time we are bombarded with incomprehensible edicts and unexecutable orders. But it's really different now. I think the Senate sees through the criticism. Because the biggest and most important point of this law is that we as teachers become responsible again for our profession and for our development. It is always so easy for others to say what a teacher should know and be able to do, and powers are so easily nibbled.”
This law and this register protect our teaching profession.
“Read the bill carefully, and then please before you criticize.”
Angry or Sad?
"Neither. But I do think it's a shame how the teacher register is now framed on social media. Especially by the group Teachers in Action, which apparently has not read the bill. It is logical that as an individual teacher you do not read the legal text. But if you profile yourself as a trade union, you must at least come up with the correct facts. Instead, they spread complete inaccuracies. ”
Let's go through their grievances.
Point one: the register is imposed from above and not set up by the professional group itself.
“Absolute nonsense. The wish for this register arose from the bottom up, among the teachers themselves. It is not just the Education Cooperative and the AOb who think so. CNVO, FvOv, the Platform for Professional Associations and Better Education Netherlands (BON) agree. But BON also strongly endorsed the register before that club left the Education Cooperative because of Education2032. BON was a very valuable ally in the lobby for this legislative change.
The register certainly does not stand on its own: it is part of the bill that protects the teacher's profession."
The proposal defines the profession and the law lays down, among other things, the professional scope of teachers.
''The law describes what the teacher has control over, and others do not. It will soon no longer be possible for a teacher to be forced by parents or management to adjust the assessment of a student.
And it is arranged that a teacher is entitled to further training. In return it is expected that a teacher shows in the register what kind of further training he has followed. That doesn't seem so strange to me. As a professional group, we can therefore monitor the standard, because employers or the ministry have nothing to say about the content and the conditions: we determine these ourselves.
For us, safeguarding the teacher's autonomy is essential. Protection of the profession essential. So if that remains intact and colleagues want to question this professionalization scheme with alternatives, we can talk about that. ”
Point two: teachers are not autonomous in their choice of professionalisation.
“Sorry, but this is nonsense too. As a teacher you can decide for yourself how you spend your development hours. For example, you do not necessarily have to spend the 160 hours at an official in-service training institute: you can also receive points if you develop a new curriculum with colleagues within your own school, or conduct mutual reviews. We, as teachers, draw up the rules about this ourselves, in committees, which therefore include teachers.
The great freedom that teachers are given to fill in their in-service training is even a thorn in the side of some employers. They would like to help determine which training their teachers follow, and they are currently lobbying for this in the Senate. That says enough, I think. ”
Point three: A lot of education money will soon go to third parties, while this money can be better spent on the primary process. What money is it actually?
“Again: you don't have to buy in your development hours from in-service training institutes. And if you do, you can choose from institutes that meet criteria that we as teachers also draw up ourselves. And we are constantly evaluating: the admission and elimination of continuing education activities is determined by the professional group itself. ”
A fourth point: we can better use the resources required for this register for what teachers now need: autonomy to arrange their own professionalization together.
“But that is exactly what this bill regulates. Really: critics have apparently not read a letter of it. ”
A fifth point: no proper research has been done into the level of support among teachers themselves.
“The subject has been on the agenda of our general members' meeting for years, and has been discussed a lot with our members. That's why, despite all the noise on Twitter in particular, I also dare to say that the AOb agrees to this law on the basis of a democratically taken decision. Anyone who is a member of the AOb, was able to make themselves heard at these meetings. This also applies to meetings of sector councils. They have all agreed to this change. Often with enthusiasm too. I would like to talk about other ways of internal democracy, but that has to be done via the formal route: convince the AV and we will do it differently. ”
Point six: the bill does not offer any solution to the current problems in education, such as the shortage of qualified teachers.
“The register is indeed not going to solve the teacher shortage: this requires far-reaching flanking policy and this State Secretary, or his successor, will have to come up with plans to make the profession more attractive. The workload must be reduced and the salary must be increased.
The new legislation is a step in the right direction. Employers have been haggling for years with the agreements about unauthorized teachers, and politicians could be content with vague promises. Soon we will be able to use the register to see how many teachers who have completed their studies are employed in education and compare this with the number of jobs.
