Function mix gives happy and crooked faces
With the job mix, more teachers can move on to a higher salary scale. Many teachers therefore believe that the job mix increases career opportunities and gives recognition. At the same time, missing out on promotion leads to disappointment and frustration.
Anne-Marie Ponsen thinks she owes a lot to the mix of functions. She is a group 1 teacher and construction coordinator at the Mühring School in Dordrecht. “Seven years ago I became a construction coordinator and it was a job. Four years ago, thanks to the job mix, it became an LB job and I went up a scale. ” She didn't apply for the money in the first place. "I wanted to remain construction coordinator and a financial advantage was a nice bonus."
As a construction coordinator, she joined the management team. She sees her position as recognition. “I always thought about how the school could be even better, but because building coordinator has become a function, it has gained more weight.”
A position gives more influence than a task because you then officially bear responsibility and you are expected to think along.
Improving career opportunities
More teachers are positive about the job mix. A third of primary school teachers and a quarter in secondary education believe that the mix improves career opportunities. A precondition for a higher position and salary are often extra training or specific tasks such as a language or math specialist, coaching colleagues, contributing to educational innovation or management tasks.
School leaders also think that teaching has become more attractive and that the job mix offers more opportunities to retain good teachers. This is according to the research 'Career perspectives of teachers in the context of the job mix', which the CAOP knowledge center and the Research Center for Education and the Labor Market (ROA) carried out among 1200 teachers and 1000 school leaders.
Flow through
The job mix, an agreement from the Covenant Teacher from 2008, aims to allow more teachers to move on to a higher salary scale. Primary education, with 26 percent of teachers in scale LB, lags behind the target of 40 percent. In secondary education, tailor-made agreements apply per school board (the national level was in October 2015: 42 percent LB, 31 percent LC and 27 percent LD).
“At the beginning of this school year, 90 percent of the schools had met those targets,” says AObdistrict manager Clazien Rodenburg. "The 10 percent is a struggle of 'unwillers' and 'unable to do'. As trade unions we are talking to those schools. The tricky thing is that there is no sanction for schools that do not spend the money on the function mix."
LD function
It turns out that LD functions rarely occur in VMBO and practical education from research from SEO research agency. LD positions usually go to first-degree teachers in the upper years of HAVO and VWO, according to the researchers.
Ton Kuijvenhoven is the exception who confirms the rule. He is a teacher of general education subjects, internship supervisor and aftercare coordinator at the Gooise Practice School in Hilversum, in scale LD. Thanks to the job mix, he went from scale LB to LC in 2013 and to LD in 2015. “The description for LC was aimed at working across groups. I was able to demonstrate this through the aftercare coordination, the practical training has a two-year follow-up obligation for former students. At LD, participation in networks with external organizations around the school was important. I have had contacts with various organizations for our (former) students for years. "
Kuijvenhoven thought he was eligible for the LD position and applied. “I have been doing the tasks to which the position is linked for some time. I see it as recognition of my work. But three colleagues who, in my opinion, also had the capacities to qualify, dropped out for the LD position. Actually, there should be a scheme whereby you automatically go up one scale at the end of your salary scale if you perform well, ”says Kuijvenhoven.
Gun factor and randomness
Not everyone has positive experiences with the job mix. Two disappointed teachers who missed a promotion only want to tell their stories anonymously because they are afraid of harming their promotion opportunities. “The procedure for the job mix works quite randomly and the way my school deals with it has a high favor factor,” says a teacher from the province of Groningen.
He applied in vain for an LC position. “In my opinion, I fully meet the requirements. If I were the only candidate, I think my application would be easily honored. Now, for example, I have been passed by some young colleagues who have done a fun project that the school can use to make a good public appearance. One of them was promoted from LB to LD in a few years. The goodwill factor is very high. You can play an important role in a team in the background, but that is less seen than when you are a pioneer. You don't see that reflected in remuneration and appreciation. ”
It leads to demotivation. “I have applied for LC before and after a rejection I am quite upset. Then you think: Check it all out, I give my lessons and no longer do extra activities. You are also a bit more on your guard, because you constantly have the feeling that you are being assessed for a possible next application. That's something that lingers long after. But I just keep applying, you're a thief of your own wallet if you don't. ”
Missing out on promotion
This teacher is not alone. Nearly a quarter of teachers in primary education and almost a third of teachers in secondary education have lost a promotion in the past five years after an application, according to a study by CAOP and ROA.
Despite the fact that career opportunities have improved through the job mix, two thirds of teachers are dissatisfied with career opportunities in education.
They find promotion criteria unclear and arbitrarily applied, they feel that others are favored and that they are therefore wrongly missing out on promotion. AObdriver Rodenburg is aware of the complaints. “I sometimes hear that criteria are unclear, but I have not seen many examples. In schools where the proportions are not so good, people can sometimes be disadvantaged, but I also know boards that make it a good track ”, she says.
Rodenburg thinks that the mix of functions has brought education more than sufficiently. “But many teachers in LD will retire in the coming years. We remain vigilant that schools hand out new LD functions and we want new agreements to maintain the mix in the future. As trade unions, we have to work hard to get the money spent on the job mix. ”
Irritations and dissatisfaction
A teacher at a primary school in Eindhoven is the victim of not spending resources on the job mix. “We don't even have 10 percent LB positions at school, while it should be 40 percent. Our director does not want to. ” This teacher aspires to a coordinating position for which he would like to be promoted to scale LB. “I am at the maximum of my scale. That is why I see the job mix as a great opportunity for promotion. I get rave reviews and do my job well as a teacher. ” He decides to apply himself. “After I indicated that I would like an LB position, I was just not laughed at. It doesn't work like that, they said. ” It gave him a blow. “You have someone who wants to play a pioneering role in your school and you don't let him fulfill his ambitions. I feel discouraged and it causes irritation and dissatisfaction. I have now found out that the director thought that the job mix came from the school jar, while extra resources were made available for it. ”
