Revaluation offers supporters the opportunity for growth
School boards had to review the functions of educational support staff before November 1. Some support staff go up a scale, others hand in tasks.
Picture: Fred van Diem
Teacher supporter Marieke Koolen has handed in some tasks of her own accord since the beginning of this school year. She works at a school in Zaandam. Koolen started three years ago as a teacher support worker for groups 1 and 2, but after a teacher dropped out, she came independently for the group. “I thought it was a great honor to be asked and also a lot of fun to do,” says Koolen enthusiastically. "I am a kindergarten teacher through and through."
Koolen has no teaching qualification and that is bad luck for both her and the school. "My principal goes through the fire for me, the school wants to pay for the teacher training college for me, but I just fail the math test." And without a math test, no teacher training college. "I would benefit the most from an old-fashioned nursery school."
I do the same work, I prepare lessons, conduct parent meetings, write reports
Because Koolen thinks that she lacks a didactic background as a teacher support worker, she has indicated that she wants to work again as a supporter instead of as a teacher. “Sometimes I have the feeling that it is too much loose sand, which I do. The children are entitled to a real teacher. ” Payment also plays a major role. It is no longer true, says Koolen, that she does not receive the same salary as other teachers for the same work and the same responsibilities. “I do the same work, I prepare the lessons, I have parent meetings, I write reports. Sometimes I also do that at home on my own time. That's okay, but it is if the payment is not the same. ” For three days a week, it saves her 107 euros a month that she is paid as a teacher support worker (scale 7, with six years of experience) and not as a teacher (scale 10, with two years of experience).
Teaching Assistant Fabian Elders. Picture: Fred van Diem
Chores
Where one educational supporter independently runs a group, such as Marieke Koolen, the other mainly does small jobs. And often for the same salary. To compensate for this difference, it was previously decided in the collective labor agreement for primary education to review the functions of educational support staff. Employers were obliged to update the so-called function building for educational support staff before 1 November last. If necessary, they could draw up a new job description or follow the exemplary positions established by the unions and primary school council.
Sample job descriptions A, B and C have been drawn up for the most common support functions, including those of teaching assistant and teacher supporter: Assistant A provides student guidance and educational support that is pre-coordinated with the teacher. Type B does the same, but takes a proactive position by making suggestions for improvement. And teaching assistant C is again a little more autonomous by 'acting' according to 'own insight' and cooperating in the design and planning of learning activities, working methods and assignments. The three functions are linked to the scales 4, 5 and 6.
Differences
The job descriptions have already been reviewed at primary school Samspel in Amsterdam, namely when the school merged with another foundation. “There were big differences between what a teaching assistant did at one foundation and how it was rewarded, and how that went at another foundation,” says director Marijke van Amersfoort. On Samspel scale 5 was used for educational supporters, in the other foundation 4 was the norm. "But for us it was again that there was only occasionally a reward for people who had been extra in front of the class, and at the other foundation there was a more structural compensation."
There were big differences between what a teaching assistant did at one foundation and how that was rewarded, and how that went at the other foundation
The new job evaluation equalizes those differences. All teaching assistants come in scale 5, with a few exceptions; in most cases novice assistants. In addition, the board is working on the development of career opportunities, as proposed in the collective labor agreement. “We will soon be using assistants 4 and 5 and 6,” says Van Amersfoort. "And support staff 7 and 8 are also coming into the picture with the new job evaluation." She is happy with it, because it increases the perspectives for supporters. "And that is good."
exciting
CLA negotiator Anton Bodegraven of the AOb, sees that school boards are indeed reviewing the job descriptions. He emphasizes that the division into A, B and C is a recommendation and not an obligation. According to him, it is therefore exciting to see exactly how schools have started working with it. “After all, no extra money has been raised from the government. But the question is whether extra money should always be added. Sometimes a support worker will hand in tasks, that is also a solution; another time we will look at a higher scale. ”
According to Bodegraven, the collective labor agreement to update the job classification system has not been made for support staff who are deployed as independent teachers. As far as he is concerned, they should be paid as teachers. But he acknowledges that things often work differently in practice. Due to the shortage of teachers, educational supporters often help out.
Logically
They also find that very logical at primary school Samspel. Most educational support staff are linked to a class. If a teacher drops out, it goes without saying that the assistant replaces that group, says Van Amersfoort. He or she knows the children, the method and the material. “This is progressing smooth. ” It never causes any problems, according to the principal, most teaching assistants enjoy doing it. The only thing that hurts is the salary. "And then it is nice when scale six comes into the picture."
"I do all sorts of things at school," says Fabian Oudsten. Image: Fred van Diem
School boards can also decide to reward teaching assistants who are more structured in front of the class, as is the case with Teamwork. "I have people working here who have worked as a teacher in Suriname for ten years. If I use them for the fifth day, the day that has to be resolved, they will receive an extra fee." If a support worker is in front of the class for more than XNUMX days a year, he or she will receive this compensation on a structural basis. "We believe that one day of replacement is part of your job."
I have people working here who have worked as teachers in Suriname for ten years, if I use them for the fifth day, the day that needs to be solved, they will receive an extra allowance.
In practice, this looks like this with Samspel: at the start of the school year, the headmistress sends everyone a blank annual timetable with the message: "Boys, tick when you are in front of the class." Van Amersfoort collects the paper in January, and then hands it out again for the next six months. “I do that in confidence. Everyone indicates how much he or she will fill in. The more rigid you deal with it, the more annoying the discussions become. If the relationship is good, then it can be done this way. ”
Sports teacher
Fabian Oudsten is one of those teaching assistants from Samenspiel who usually works independently in front of a group once a week as an assistant. And yes, he is curious whether he is eligible to move up to a higher position or scale. He works at primary school for eight years, he started training as a sports teacher, but then got stuck. “I do all sorts of things at school, help give instructions and help prepare teaching materials. The teacher asks for my opinion and something is done with it within the school, I make up extra lessons and sometimes I replace a sick teacher. I feel that I am of value, but the salary is not much. You can work almost as well at McDonalds. ” Now he is following the training to become a teacher support worker. "To allow myself to grow didactically and pedagogically and to move up to the salary scale of teacher support staff."
I make up extra lessons and sometimes I replace a sick teacher. I feel that I am of value, but the salary is not much
Teaching assistant Benjamin Baars, who works at a school in Gelderland, is now in scale 4, but he expects to end up in 5. He is a supporter for all annual years and also a second-year student at the teacher training college. As soon as the new CLA was in place, he sent an email to the school board to draw attention to the paragraph for supporters. “I am someone who always goes the extra mile, I don't just do what a teacher says, I take initiatives myself, I do the ICT. I would feel undervalued if I ended up in 4 again. ”
Baars is the initiator of a Facebook page that informs educational supporters about their position and rights. "Too often educational supporters say 'yes' to a task for which they are subsequently not paid." He therefore hopes that schools will indeed follow the job descriptions. “From scale 4 to 5 is about a few tens a month. That is quite an amount over a whole year, but for a school it is still not much when you look at what a school spends, and sometimes on nonsense things. '
This article appeared in the November issue of the Onderwijsblad. AObmembers read this story at the beginning of this month, they automatically receive the magazine eleven times a year in the mail.
