A qualified teacher for every class as a dot on the horizon
Dancers, writers, students: all kinds of professional groups lend a helping hand in the fight against the teacher shortage. Working in education without a professional diploma is exceptionally allowed as a cloth for the bleeding. How long will it be necessary?
So-called professional professionals are temporarily allowed to teach in Almere and the four major cities, the hotbeds of the teacher shortage. Temporary, but who expects that after the end date of 31 July 2024 no unauthorized reception will be necessary? Semi-teachers, teaching assistants and student teachers have been unqualified in front of the classroom for much longer anyway. That is precisely why education alderman Marjolein Moorman saw little enthusiasm in Amsterdam when she wanted to investigate the extent of the teacher shortage a few years ago. Then it would become clear what schools are doing illegally in order not to have to send classes home, Moorman said during the debate 'How can we provide qualified teachers?' that debate center De Balie organized in mid-March in collaboration with the AOb.
Looking away from the shortage is no longer an option and since 2020 it has been allowed under certain conditions in Almere, Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and Utrecht to have classes supervised by a professional for 22 hours a month. This could be an accountant, a student or an artist, for example. A qualified teacher, such as the colleague in the next class, remains responsible for the quality of education. Calculated across the team, this means that more time is available for professionalisation, consultation and other tasks.
In fact, we arrange childcare, because the parents have to work. Rather send a class home more often, so that society knows that this problem exists
According to research data, teachers value their temporary external colleagues, but there are also other voices. “They can't all keep order and then unrest arises that affects the entire school. You see such a group going off the rails and you hear in the classroom next door that things are not going well”, says Amsterdam teacher Anita Verbeek. “In fact, we arrange childcare because the parents have to work. Send a class home more often, so that society knows that this problem exists.”
School director Tim Bartlema, also from Amsterdam, no longer leaves childcare in the event of unexpected illness to subject specialists he does not yet know, also because of order problems: then just go home for a class. He does, however, use unauthorized persons, especially from the creative sector, during theme projects and to give the regular group teachers extra development time. “More preparation time increases the quality of the regular lessons.”
Solidarity
Working with unauthorized persons is also on the agenda in other parts of the country. Or is it allowed? Minister of Education Dennis Wiersma keeps the church in the middle, as can be concluded from the parliamentary debate of 1 February. On the one hand, he says that every child has the right to good education from qualified teachers, for the entire education time. On the other hand, the minister supports any local or regional approach to the teacher shortage, as long as it has been established jointly and in solidarity. Binding agreements, helping each other, a good plan that parents, students and teachers can all agree with. Wiersma: “Of course, you may sometimes find out: either four days a week, or we have a very well thought-out plan to temporarily accommodate that.”
Temporary? Almere alderman for Education Roelie Bosch knows better. Her city has the biggest deficit and that problem will not be solved by mid-2024 with 4 million euros for emergency measures. Far too little, Bosch told her city council at the beginning of March. In the period 2024-2028 that should be twice as much. “We started that lobby as a lawyer for our children in The Hague.”
Picture: Type tank
Emergency plan Almere, which was initiated before the corona pandemic hit education even more, just like in the other cities, has ten measures. It focuses on attractive employment conditions (travel allowance, housing, supervision) and less easy interventions such as limiting the number of branches and the alternative implementation of one school day per week, because that is what 22 hours per month comes down to. Almere is a leader in this, from twelve to now more than thirty schools. It is an enrichment of education and reduces the workload, according to the municipality on the basis of research into the experiences of teachers.
Knowledge and experience
The other major cities make less use of trade professionals. Utrecht and Rotterdam have completely waived the exemption for 22 hours per month. Their schools work to a limited extent with 'other authorized persons', as Utrecht calls it: 1,4 percent of the shortage is absorbed in this way. A municipal spokesperson: “They bring new knowledge and experience to the school, they give lessons in a specific field in which they are better equipped than a broadly trained teacher.”
The Hague and Amsterdam are participating. They offer their schools the 'matching platform' Andersom, where schools can find activities to fill in the unauthorized hours responsibly. Bitter necessity, says the spokesman for the municipality of The Hague. The city is announcing training modules for pedagogical and didactic skills, which will be available to The Hague's skilled workers after the summer. There will also be knowledge brokers to guide sustainable, equal and local cooperation between schools and skilled workers.
Picture: Type tank
As far as The Hague is concerned, the exemption scheme should therefore remain: “The forecasts point to greater shortages in the future. Abolishing the scheme would not do justice to the reality that education has to deal with.”
What the school boards think about this must be reflected in their actions. Amsterdam is for continuing, the chairman of the Amsterdam board meeting Lieke Thesingh wanted to say during the debate in the Balie. Furthermore, the G5 school boards wish it Education magazine not to speak, says a spokesperson. Stumbling Stone is the manifesto of the AOb and other organizations about a qualified teacher for every child in 2030. Then three Amsterdam school boards in late January Het Parool announced that the temporary measures to deal with the teacher shortage in the capital will become structural and that 'the classic educational image in which we put a teacher in front of a class will disappear', the union immediately organized a demonstration to make it clear that an emergency plan must remain an emergency plan. Harsh words from the AOb about the lack of practical knowledge and the democratic deficit in education boards have gone wrong with them.
The dot on the horizon is the qualified teacher and you have to pull out all the stops for that. Keep talking about an emergency measure, not about the new normal
The investments in supply and mediation indicate that the government, municipalities and education administrators continue to work with unauthorized persons, because the alternative is worse: children go home or even larger groups. But whatever measure the sector takes, warns alderman Moorman, never give the impression that education is resigned to the teacher shortage: “The dot on the horizon is the qualified teacher and you have to pull out all the stops for that. Keep talking about an emergency measure, not about the new normal. Name an end date and if we don't meet it, people can boo."
Do you also want a qualified teacher for every child in 2030? Sign the manifesto.
Still no shortage of unauthorized persons
Enough interest to contribute something to education, says Jesse Dijksman of provider Lukida, who deploys freelance professionals from various disciplines. “People with a career, often qualified to teach in their own field. Artists, students. For those who need it, we offer eight days of training and an internship. It's a tough job, you have to win over the group. We have people who run away quickly after two days, others switch to the lateral intake of the teacher training college. That may seem unfortunate for our company, but it is good for the schools. We also have artists who earn a basic income from teaching so they can continue doing what they are passionate about. Until their careers take off and then they stop at Lukida. We have to work like this for another ten years until enough people want to go back to education. Stop all that administration, bring back kindergarten, make partial authorization possible in more disciplines. And if you put assistants in front of the class, protect them against complaints about quality.”
Robin de Lange of the Virtual Learning Lab, where students make a game within a day: “We work with young people in the master's phase, recent graduates and creative self-employed people. It's a challenge to find them, but there are plenty of opportunities. On average, they stay for a year. With our offer, schools can also achieve something with the learning goal of digital skills. We would like to make it a more official process in collaboration with a university of applied sciences.”
