G4 is already missing almost a thousand masters and teachers
In the first week of October, the AOb debates about the teacher shortage in The Hague and Amsterdam. The education councilors of the G4 are very concerned about the dire personnel situation in their city. The Education Magazine interviewed them.
Picture: Type tank
In the big city you get 'bitten in the ass from both sides', says school director Dirk Koops plainly at the end of August. Volkskrant: 'The shortage is greater and life is more expensive.' More and more G4 schools are squeaking and creaking under the dire staff shortage. Amsterdam Alderman for Education Marjolein Moorman (PvdA) describes a primary school in the Nieuw-West district where only one qualified teacher works. "A! That is insane. And it is no exception. While a school like this needs the very best teachers. ” Her colleague Bruines (D66) from The Hague tells about a long-term principal who left last school year and takes four teachers with him in his wake. The school was about to fall over immediately, because there was no replacement. “Things turned out well in this situation. But the fact is: we just don't have the people anymore. ”
Together, the G4 will add over 660 FTEs just after the summer holidays vacancies*The vacancies are the sum of open vacancies, vacancies that are filled in an alternative way (by joining groups, for example, or with unauthorized people in front of the class) and FTEs that purchase boards via secondment or self-employed constructions. The councilors also find the latter undesirable because of the high costs. . Much of it has been filled in with art and flying work. This means that, for example, a principal or teacher teaches, groups have been merged or that a teaching assistant is standing in front of the class. If you deduct the FTEs (full-time jobs) by the average number of people who fill one FTE in primary education, the four large cities are already missing almost a thousand masters and teachers. In absolute terms, Amsterdam has the biggest problem: 310 FTE vacancies on approximately 5500 FTE employees in primary education. Relatively speaking, The Hague is the worst off: 197 FTE vacancies out of about 3700 FTE employees.
What that means in practice is explained by Amsterdam school director Conny van Coesant on 8 July NRC Handelsblad. 'I am very concerned about my people. Guiding side entrants, trainee teachers and assistants all falls on their shoulders. (…) There is no substitute when there are sick people, dividing is no longer an option because classes are already full. It gives me sleepless nights, and so do the location leaders. ' Her colleague from Rotterdam-South explains in the same piece how he can close the formation in the nick of time. Victor van Toer: “I received the CV in the morning, the interview was in the afternoon, then the person was hired. So that goes without trial lesson. If you feel like there is a click, you take the gamble. In the interest of the occupation of the class, not the quality of the education. "
It is therefore the quality of education that, according to Alderman Marjolein Moorman, is coming under a lot of pressure. “How are we going to explain this to our children later? When you were at school masters and teachers could earn more money elsewhere, so education was not good? You cannot make the teaching profession dependent on the economic condition of your country. With that, you are doing entire generations short. ”
Attractive
This year, the major cities will each receive 1 million euros from the government to tackle the teacher shortage. They also invest their own money. Amsterdam will spend almost 2022 million euros up to 23. That is remarkably more than Utrecht (400 thousand euros in 2019) and The Hague (1 million euros annually up to 2022 and 500 thousand euros one-off). Rotterdam will spend approximately 2023 million euros up to 27,5. The differences between the cities are partly because the problems and budgets in Amsterdam and Rotterdam are greater, thinks Anke Klein, Alderman for Education for D66 in Utrecht.
Klein chooses to invest the money in Utrecht mainly in making the profession more attractive. For example, by offering education staff training. Education alderman Said Kasmi (D66) from Rotterdam is also taking part in that direction with the Rotterdam teachers' grant. "We know that education staff need that." Only who will replace the teachers who are on a course? “We are discussing this with the school boards,” says Kasmi. "Such training is not always during the day."
Electric bike
Some local measures are reflected in every city. All four aldermen consider the efforts to attract side entrants to be successful. In Amsterdam there are now about 400 working 'of which the majority in primary education', Rotterdam, together with the government, is now financing more than 170 side entrants in primary education and in The Hague the hundredth started this school year at a primary school. The cities devise recruitment campaigns, give teachers discount passes for cultural outings and try to lower the biggest financial barriers to living and working in the city. Amsterdam and The Hague, for example, distribute parking permits where necessary, and the capital even offers a discount on electric bicycles for teachers.
The local housing market is more unruly. Last year, alderman Moorman arranged priority for teachers in Amsterdam youth homes. 'Extensive use has been made of this', says the alderman. But a teacher with a family literally doesn't fit in there. The alderman is now in talks with project developers to realize more rental homes for middle incomes. Colleague Klein also conducts such conversations. Alderman Kasmi came this summer with 900 euros in subsidies for organizing education differently. This money can, for example, go to apprenticeships for teaching assistants, says the alderman.
Salaries
Because the local measures, just like the national measures, do not yield enough teachers, the Amsterdam Moorman is much more often in The Hague than she had previously thought: “I can do all kinds of things, but I am not about the salaries in education . ” And that these are a decisive factor in the teacher shortage is clear to her: "Why else are the shortages in primary education so much greater than in secondary education?"
