Legal advice: The professional status
Every school board should have a professional status since August 1, 2017. The AOb however, is regularly asked when and why schools should have a professional status, and what it benefits teachers.
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The professional status is part of the Teaching Profession Act that has been in force since 1 August 2017. There should be such a statute for each school board in primary, secondary and special education and MBO. But this is not yet the case everywhere. “This school year the inspectorate is not yet actively carrying out checks, but it will be checking from August 2018,” says Jeroen van Andel, policy officer at AOb.
“The statute guarantees the professional space of teachers and lecturers,” says AObpolicy officer Jeroen van Andel.
In a professional statute, teachers, school management and administrators lay down agreements on the say that teachers have over their subject. “The statute guarantees the professional space of teachers and lecturers”, says Van Andel. The statute stipulates that teachers must be consulted on matters that directly affect education. “It concerns agreements about the content of the teaching material, the choice of teaching materials and how the teaching material is offered. This also includes the pedagogical-didactic approach and agreements about professionalization and maintenance of competence ”, explains Van Andel.
De AOb regularly receives questions about how, when and why a professional status should be established. To support teachers and schools in this, the AOb with other education unions the Professional status guide. In addition, trainers have been trained who can hold an information meeting or supervise the development of a statute.
