Less interest in secondary teacher training

Tekst Joëlle Poortvliet - redactie Onderwijsblad - 16 oktober 2019 - Minder dan een minuut om te lezen

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The first day of October is the reference date for the Education Executive Agency (DUO). By then, the study programs will have indicated how many students they have in house. The Association of Universities of Applied Sciences has announced that 481 more people opted for teacher training colleges this year than in 2018. Second-grade teacher training at the universities of applied sciences has declined considerably. Together they have 793 fewer students than in 2018.

Source: Association of Universities of Applied Sciences. These figures do not include teacher training in the arts (secondary education).

AObDirector Henrik de Moel says about the decline in teacher training for secondary education: “I am very concerned about the shortages that are now also occurring in secondary education. Many secondary education teachers will retire in the coming years. The profession must become more attractive, we are fighting for that November 6. "

Part time

After an increasingly rapid growth in recent years, the teacher training colleges are approaching the level of 2014 with almost seven thousand new students. That is the year before the entrance tests were introduced. However, the distribution between full-time and part-time students has changed. Fueled by the teacher shortage more and more people have their teaching qualifications later in life for primary education. They usually do this part-time or via subsidized side entry programs.

It is also known that the tests have made the PABO less accessible to MBO students. A side effect of this is that the PABO has become 'whiter'. It Education magazine wrote about this in 2017.

Read the current discussion from the Education Magazine about the admission tests here: 'Division about intake tests pabo'.