'It really won't be the dust comb'
It is according to AObboard member Eugenie Stolk is naive to think that the money worries of primary education can be solved with untapped expenditures within the available resources.
Image: Flickr - Omnidu
International comparisons show that the Netherlands has spent relatively little on primary education for years. In addition, the salary gap with secondary education and the market sectors is around 25 percent. "You can't take that away by going through the existing budget with a dust comb," says AObdriver Eugenie Stolk.
Smokescreens
Stolk thinks it's great that MPs want to know from Minister Slob how money is spent in education. "That is part of their role. And there will probably be money to be found that you can spend differently. But when I read that a member of parliament like Paul van Meenen (D66) thinks that "education should also do something" or Michel Rog (CDA) see claims that the further training is so expensive, then I rather see an attempt to draw smoke screens around the coalition's inability to come up with a real solution to the crisis that is affecting this sector and which has been the subject of action for a year now fed.'
The coalition is unable to come up with a substantial solution to the crisis in primary education
Formation falls short
Stolk notes that coalition parties VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie failed during the formation process in their search for a solution to the gigantic teacher shortage in primary education. "With the 700 million in structural money you can work on some recovery of the labor market in primary education. But that does not solve the problem: the teacher shortage remains. Even if you look for money that remains and here and there find a few million.'
If the actions show anything, it is that the sector expects more from the cabinet and from education party D66
Ambitious sector
The suggestion that the education sector does nothing is nonsensical to Stolk. "There is a nice pile of recent plans from the AOb at the Binnenhof: in front workload relief, in front of wage development, for adequate supervision of funding. Can we get to work like this. What Van Meenen may mean is that education is not doing what the cabinet wants. If we had done that and the PO front had stopped campaigning, we could have whistled for another year about the workload resources that the cabinet makes available more quickly thanks to our strikes. And then we would have accepted that the teacher shortage is permanent. After all, the 270 million euros for salaries that is now ready is nice, but not nearly enough to tackle the deficit. The salary for a teacher in primary education then remains lower than that of colleagues in secondary education. If the actions show anything, it is that the sector expects more from the cabinet and from education party D66."
Constructive arrangement
According to Stolk, the cabinet can count itself lucky with the constructive attitude of primary education. "After all, we have started negotiating a new collective labor agreement with the resources that are now available. The actions are friendly in tone and within the margins we simply consult with Minister Slob about what is possible. Despite the fact that he does not receive sufficient resources and is confronted with a spending limit that seems carved in stone by the four parties - VVD, CDA, D66, ChristenUnie - on which this cabinet leans. four parties who also think it is a good plan to unleash another efficiency discount of 150 million euros on education Four parties who do give multinationals such as Shell and Unilever a 183 billion euro tax benefit, but forget that the banking crisis that plunged the Netherlands into recession was paid for by hard cutbacks in the public sector, which also includes education."
The wrong choices were made in The Hague and the solution must also be found there
Rumble in the margins
According to Stolk, education specialists such as Van Meenen and Rog know that they cannot save primary education with another round of dust combing. "It's rumbling in the margins. Of course: everything it brings is included and the AOb has been arguing for years for more control than is currently possible due to the rules surrounding the lump sum. But the wrong choices were made in The Hague and the solution must also be found there. The fact that the coalition points to the sector and pats itself on the back may have to do with the municipal elections. If they still think that they can push the PO-Front back into their cage in this way, then they haven't been paying attention: March 14th there will be another strike. For a wage with which we make our sector attractive again."
