Education Council: 'Lowering workload requires structural investment'
The government must structurally invest more money in primary education. School teams should distribute their work better and set priorities. According to the Education Council, these are the solutions to reduce the sky-high workload.
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The recommendations are in the opinion published today: 'Time for focus' . The Education Council is the government's most important advisory body and has been instructed by the House of Representatives to review the workload. There are major concerns in the House about the quality of education, the workload and the teacher shortages.
In any case, lowering the workload is not achieved by lowering the hours standard. The council rejects this idea. 'The relationship between teaching time, quality and the workload of teachers is unclear,' writes chair Edith Hooge of the Education Council.
The relationship between teaching time, quality and work pressure of teachers is unclear
In the report, the council does come up with two other recommendations. The first is an assignment for teams and executives to establish clear priorities in the work of teachers. Focus is badly needed to take the pressure off the kettle. 'Better demarcation means that the school makes choices in terms of ambitions - taking into account what is possible within the team and the budget,' says the council. Teams must do this demarcation together with the school management and administrators. Teachers cannot do this alone.
Focus
Teachers now spend a lot of time teaching lessons, but as a result do not have enough time to develop education. That is why teams should make better use of teaching assistants and subject teachers, the council believes. These colleagues can ensure that teachers have more time for educational development.
School teams are also used to discussing organizational matters, such as timetables and administration. They also talk about teaching materials, but they are less used to talking about their pedagogical and didactic approach. Teams still use too little of the options available from the division of labor plan, as agreed in the collective labor agreement. In addition, the administration must be examined.
Education council: 'Without extra resources, the workload of teachers will remain too high and the quality of their education will remain under pressure'
The council sees that schools adhere to the idea that one teacher is fully responsible for one class. According to the council, this picture is no longer tenable because more teachers are working part-time, the curriculum has become much broader and more accountability is required.
Expectations
Every year more was expected from schools. They had to contribute to all kinds of social themes, such as citizenship knowledge, road safety, mental resilience and climate. And then schools must also offer extra support to pupils with an educational disadvantage and to pupils with a disability.
Due to the higher ambitions and the standard of hours that remains the same, according to the council, people need to be added to primary education. This requires structurally higher funding from the government, and that is the Council's second recommendation. 'Without extra resources, the workload of teachers will remain too high and the quality of their education will remain under pressure.'
