Part of high schools will close on March 15th
Secondary and practical schools are closing their doors next Friday because of the strike. The high workload is one of the main reasons for giving up work. “I'm thinking about working one day less to get all my work done,” says Frans Kim van Strien.
Picture: Type tank
In primary education, staff have quit their jobs more often in the past year. At the upcoming March 15 strike call on the unions to strike staff from all educational sectors. This call is also being responded to in secondary education.
For example, the secondary school for mavo, havo and vwo Pieter Groen in Katwijk is closed. Just like the other two locations of the Andreas College school foundation, the Limes practical school and the Rijnmond VMBO school. Van Strien works on Pieter Groen. "Our school board closes all locations and continues to pay strikers' wages."
Work less
The high workload in particular is a reason for Van Strien and her colleagues to come to the Malieveld. “I am a full-timer, but I am thinking about working less so that I can get all my work done. I think that is fundamentally wrong, because it must be possible to work full-time. Sometimes I give a poor lesson because I don't have the time to prepare everything. ” The teacher has also seen the mentoring task become more difficult in recent years. "Because of appropriate education, I keep more files and I have to maintain contact with organizations such as Youth Care."
I am a full-timer, but am thinking of working less so that I can get all my work done
Van Strien is lucky this year with the class size. "I have relatively small class sizes, but groups of 32 students are common in secondary education." Her school in Katwijk has trouble finding enough teachers. “We are not yet ready to cut courses, but there is currently no teacher for German. And if the Dutch teacher is ill, you will take over an extra class. You do that for the students, but actually you already have too much work. ”
Development time
In Amersfoort, the De Baander practical school, which has around 220 students, will close. Practical education is covered by the CLA for secondary education. “I support the strike,” says Martijn van Elteren, director-manager. About half of the team will travel to The Hague. “It's not about the salary at our school. We would like more development time, for example to look together in the classroom or to think about our own development. Now, teachers would only have time for that if their working day lasts ten hours, because they work and teach non-stop from 8.00:15.30 to XNUMX:XNUMX, often without breaks. ”
Lesson schedule
Rector Jos Reckman of Rudolph Steiner College in Haarlem informs us by e-mail that there will be no classes at his school on 15 March. The school has already informed parents and students about this. 'There is quite a large group of teachers at our school who are going on strike, we can no longer make a workable schedule with the other teachers,' Reckman said in his email.
There is quite a large group of teachers at our school who are going on strike, we can no longer make a workable schedule with the other teachers
Exam classes
The Sint Maartenscollege in Voorburg is located close to The Hague. Geography teacher and member of the participation council Kasper Prick says that only the exam classes that have an oral exam will be at school on strike day.
Classes are canceled for all other classes. Prick: "Many teachers do take the oral and written exams because moving everything creates an even higher workload." That is mainly the reason that Prick and his colleagues are on strike. “I regularly do lesson preparation on my own time. Especially in the first years you have a hard time as a teacher. It is actually impossible to complete all tasks within the time set. ”
The Participation Council considers the shortage of teachers to be the main reason for stopping work. “We notice that it is very difficult to find new colleagues in a number of subjects," says Prick. "It takes a lot of time and recruitment to find enough people. Yes, that is why we are going to the Malieveld with the largest possible club.”
