Inspectorate: 'Appropriate education is not yet going well everywhere'
Regional cooperation between schools to provide all pupils with suitable education is not yet getting off the ground everywhere. Individual students are the victims. This is the conclusion of the Education Inspectorate in the annual report 'The State of Education'. The Inspectorate also points out that there are more and more unauthorized people in front of the classroom and that teacher shortages are affecting the quality of education.
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Schools alliances to provide a comprehensive system of facilities for students who need extra support do not always work well. 'Not everywhere do the boards in the partnership feel a collective responsibility for their social mission,' writes the Education Inspectorate in the annual report The state of education. "This can have serious consequences for individual students."
Schools and teachers currently do not know what minimum care they should provide
According to the inspectorate, the cooperation sometimes insufficiently leads to the joining of forces that is necessary in the interest of the students. "It can help partnerships, schools and teachers if the government provides better preconditions," says the inspectorate. For example, the basic level of educational quality could be established, as well as the target group of students who need extra support. 'Each partnership has its own definition of this. A definition that is not always clear to teachers and internal counselors either. '
Unclear
De AOb argues there for years to document what is expected of schools and teachers in terms of basic support. “Schools and teachers will then know what care they should provide as a minimum and students and parents will know what care they can expect as standard,” says AObdriver Jelmer Evers. "All this is often still too unclear at the moment."
National politicians have responded to this wish and a working group has now been set up to consider the level of basic support.
Unauthorized
Furthermore, the inspectorate notes that the number of people standing in front of the classroom without authorization is increasing. In primary education, 2018 percent was still authorized in 90, but only 2019 percent in 75. This development is undesirable, contrary to the law and may have consequences for the quality of education, writes the inspectorate. 'A qualified teacher in front of the class is a prerequisite for good teaching quality.'
Teacher shortage
Finally, the Inspectorate notes that the shortage of teachers and school leaders also puts pressure on the quality of education. School leaders and boards spend a lot of time looking for solutions. In doing so, they are increasingly operating on - or over - the edges of the law, the report states. 'With four-day school weeks, closing for a week, teaching assistants or parents in front of the class.'
In most cases, the inspectorate chooses not to enforce, but to think along with the school about how the quality of education can be maintained as well as possible.
Merging small schools in Amsterdam and Utrecht could slightly reduce the teacher shortage there
According to the Inspectorate, a small part of the teacher shortage could be solved by merging small primary schools in - especially - Amsterdam and Utrecht, or by merging them into larger establishments. Smaller schools need comparatively more teaching staff. The merger of schools would free up a total of a maximum of 130 FTEs of teaching staff, according to the inspectorate.
The real solutions remain less work pressure and more salary
“An interesting calculation, which, according to the inspectorate, may work for Utrecht and Amsterdam”, responds AObdriver Evers. “But this is of course not the solution for the gigantic teacher shortages. The real solutions remain less workload and more salary. ”
