Why investing in education is urgently needed
Investing in education is good for social development and helps economic growth. Still, education is low on Rutte III's priority list. Unwise, says Onderwijsblad editor-in-chief Robert Sikkes.
Picture: Type tank
Every day more than 400 thousand people are at work in education: from primary school to university. They are committed to children and young people. With great success: the level of education is constantly increasing. That is good for social development and helps the growth of the economy. Something the teaching staff can be proud of.
'We have to invest in talent, which will also benefit the market', Ingrid de Graaf of insurance giant Aegon said on NPO Radio 1. Her advice last autumn: 'Part of the money that will be released by not abolishing dividend tax have to go to education. '
Clear language from the entrepreneurial side. Or, as Hans de Jong, president of Philips Netherlands, put it in VO magazine: 'Education is the most important raw material in our country. The point is that we train competent, enthusiastic and inquisitive people who can help the Netherlands further. But it's also about ensuring that young people can discover their talents and potential. '
The quality of education is high ...
Dutch education is performing very well internationally. Of course there are legitimate concerns about the declining math and reading performance in international comparative studies such as Pisa, Timss and Pirls, more about that later. Nevertheless, in terms of education level of XNUMX-year-olds, the Netherlands remains firmly in the leading group of the best performing countries for the time being.
… Young people go to school longer…
At the same time, young people continue to learn more often and for longer. They flow en masse from VMBO to MBO. From HAVO, MBO and VWO, the flow to study at a college or university has increased enormously. The total number of participants has increased by more than 200 thousand since the turn of the century. Especially in secondary education, MBO and higher education. A process that has been going on for much longer and is mainly caused by girls moving on en masse to further education. In recent years, more and more young people with a migrant background have been able to find the difficult way up in the Dutch educational system. However, the budget does not always increase with that growth.
... which increases the level of education ...
This higher participation has left its mark on the educational level of the Dutch population: it has been rising for decades and the increase is continuing. The percentage of less educated people has decreased by 2000 percentage points since 11. The secondary level (secondary or mbo final diploma) is stable and the percentage of higher educated people has increased by 10 percentage points.
The high level of education is good for economic growth and also determines a good business climate for foreign companies.
... but the teacher shortage is now putting quality under pressure ...
In the latest Pisa study, the Netherlands scored significantly lower in science; reading and mathematics also declined slightly. A downward trend. According to the OECD, who carried out the Pisa study, this has to do with a high percentage of unauthorized teachers. That percentage of unauthorized persons is particularly high at disadvantaged schools. A direct consequence of the teacher shortage.
That teacher shortage in primary, secondary and secondary vocational education is related to the relatively low salary, says the OECD in Education at a Glance 2017. Teachers' salaries are low compared to other higher educated people. That is the core problem in getting young people to teach. '
Primary school teachers earn 27 percent less than higher educated people with a comparable job. This is 8 percent in secondary education. In both cases, the pay gap with the labor market is larger than the average in the OECD countries and considerably larger than in the European Union.
...the government has been cutting back on education salaries for decades...
We actually know why that is: cabinets of varying political color are constantly squeezing education salaries. The agreement that was made twenty years ago is that wage developments in the market sector will be passed on to education on a one-to-one basis. But cabinets of all colors have been too happy in recent decades to turn on the money tap for education salaries, if they are short of money or make other choices, such as lowering taxes for companies.
De Reference model evaluation of the Ministry of the Interior shows that eleven cuts have been made by not following the wage development in the market. Nineteen times by scrapping the incidental wage increase, compensation for bonuses, extra increments or scarcity in the market. As a result, wages in education are 18 percent behind those of the market. Converted to a minus of 4,7 billion euros for education.
... work pressure worsens unattractiveness ...
In addition, the workload is high. Teachers in the Netherlands teach more hours per week than in most OECD countries and the classes here are larger. The lecture halls in higher education are overcrowded. Compared to other professions, according to TNO research into working conditions, education is the Dutch champion of work pressure. The percentage of burnout complaints is 22 percent, more than one in five employees is experiencing a burnout. And after a decrease, that has increased significantly in two years since 2015.
... while we knew that shortage was coming ...
We had known for years that salaries were low, the workload high and teacher shortages lurked. In 2007 Alexander Rinnooy Kan wrote in the report Teacher!: 'The Netherlands is on the verge of a dramatic quantitative shortage of quality teachers.' Solution number one in the report: better pay. Because: "The pay differentials of teachers compared to highly educated employees in other sectors must be made up."
The covenant subsequently concluded in 2008 Teacher an investment of more than 1 billion made a start. That was immediately over with the immediately following economic crisis in 2009. With a zero line for years, successive cabinets put the salaries of all teaching staff back in the back. The pluses that have been there since then are insufficient to make up for that salary arrears. Or to absorb the increased costs of educational materials, heating or buildings. Let alone to innovate education and keep it up to date.
Now, ten years after the Teachers' Covenant, the balance between plus and minus looks awful. The salary arrears still exist, the predicted shortages disrupt education. The number of participants in education is growing, the level of education is increasing. But the budget is not increasing. How is that possible?
... the cabinet calls education Hollebolle-Gijs ...
Rutte III radiates that education 'has had enough now'. Prime Minister Mark Rutte himself set the tone for the 2017 elections. In an interview with School journal As the party leader of CNV Education, he was clear about the course of the VVD. 'It doesn't take billions more. More than 30 billion euros goes to education in the Netherlands and all the extra money that has been added in the past has not reduced the number of complaints. '
In other words: more money, but not more quality. Rutte thus set out a hard line, which he did not fully maintain at the negotiating table. Over the years, nearly 900 million extra has now been added for teaching staff and schools. Just under a billion. Especially in primary and special education, 450 million to reduce the workload. After the first actions in primary education and subsequent political pressure from coalition partner PvdA, 270 million was already released in Rutte II for the salaries of primary education teachers.
... but investments are still necessary.
All in all, after a small revival - the Teacher Covenant - we see a steady decline in the willingness of various cabinets to invest in education. Despite some repairs - the 2013 Autumn Agreement, the 270 million euros for salaries in primary education of Rutte-II and the work pressure resources of Rutte-III - the Netherlands has been spending less and less on education over the past ten years. Relative and absolute. This can only be changed with a sound investment plan.
