Growth to higher salary scales in primary education is stalling
The growth from scale LA to LB, as agreed in the Teacher Covenant, continues to stagnate. This is evident from figures sent by Minister of Education Slob to the Lower House.
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The so-called 'job mix' has been agreed in the Teacher Covenant. Primary school teachers who take on additional tasks and responsibilities could progress to salary scale LB. In this way it would be possible to pursue a career in education.
Not reached
However, this growth is stagnating, as shown a letter which Minister Slob sent to the House of Representatives on 5 April. The biggest - or least small - step was taken between 2012 and 2013 when the percentage of teachers in LA dropped from about 82 percent to 78,5 percent. The number of teachers in LB rose correspondingly. After that, the percentage of teachers in LA declines gradually, by an average of about 1 percent per year. The number of teachers in LB is increasing by the same modest percentage.
Due to this slow increase, the targets that should have been reached in 2014 have still not been achieved. By that year, the percentage of teachers in LA should have dropped to 58 percent. However, that is now 72 percent. In 2014, 40 percent of teachers should be in LB, but that is now only 27 percent.
“The boards that remain behind should also use the space available to appoint teachers in a higher scale for this purpose,” said Minister Slob.
“The figures show that some of the boards in primary education are still (far) behind on the targets,” Minister Slob wrote to the Lower House. He will discuss this with the boards. “The boards that remain behind should also use the space available to appoint teachers to a higher scale, as agreed in the teacher covenant. In view of the discussion about the salary of primary school teachers, you could expect that the agreed objectives will actually be achieved, ”writes Slob.
Appointment
AObboard member Eugenie Stolk believes that school boards should stick to the agreements. “The job mix would be introduced from 2010. There are school boards that have done very well, and that have passed the 40 percent teachers in LB. But there are also school boards that are stuck at around ten percent. The essence is that the school boards at the time signed the agreement through the PO Council. And they have to adhere to that. "
De AOb also wants the LA scale to disappear completely in the long term, also to close the salary gap with secondary education. “If all boards had kept to the agreement, the gap would have been a lot smaller by now,” says Stolk.
