Aldermen for Education G4: 'Minister must avert education crisis'
The education councilors of the four major cities are once again making a cry for help to education minister Arie Slob to avert the educational crises in their cities. They argue for structural resources, allowances for working in the big city and Slob must provide space for 'unorthodox measures'. According to the aldermen, the minister has too rosy a picture of the shortages.
Image: Municipality of Amsterdam
Today, Aldermen of Education Marjolein Moorman (Amsterdam), Said Kasmi (Rotterdam), Anke Klein (Utrecht) and Hilbert Bredemeijer (The Hague) sent a letter with their cry for help to the minister and the House of Representatives. All four are very concerned about the teacher shortage in their city and how it threatens the educational opportunities of children. "There is no guarantee of good education," write the aldermen. 'And that affects all students.'
Structural investments
In order to cope with the acute problems, the aldermen are urging the minister to make structural investments in education. Only incidental money does not solve the problems in the cities. 'The large outflow of teachers from the big cities cannot be stopped by an incidental million. The crisis is far too big for that, 'the letter states. Without structural investment, schools have to resort to emergency measures.
The large outflow of teachers from the big cities cannot be stopped with an incidental million. The crisis is far too great for that
Slob should make it possible for teachers in primary and special education in the big cities to receive a higher salary. 'After all, teaching in a metropolitan context demands more from a teacher than teaching outside the G4', write the aldermen. Also, the cost of living is higher in the city. Now the ministry is making € 63 million available per year for secondary education so that teachers can progress to a higher salary scale. As a result, the salary gap with primary education is wider.
In addition to these measures, teaching assistants must be given more opportunities to follow the teacher training college and better guidance programs must also be set up for lateral entrants.
Teacher shortages are rising in the big cities. According to the councilors, there are 662 too few teachers in the four cities. Moreover, the number is much higher, because schools are now reaching for emergency solutions, such as unauthorized people in front of the classroom and fuller classes and people without teaching duties in front of the classroom.
Rosy
In his estimates, the minister also has too rosy a picture of the deficits, the councilors believe, because he does not include all current deficits in his calculations. The large cities will therefore continue to monitor the shortages themselves.
In the coming weeks, the school boards from the major cities will present their emergency plans. These are emergency measures that should provide a solution for the short term, such as increasing classes or introducing a four-day teaching week. 'Adhering to the legal hours standard with the current shortage of teachers is now at the expense of the quality of the lessons and the health of the employees,' write the aldermen.
The contingency plans threaten the educational opportunities of children in big cities. 'We fear a situation in which not only the quality of education as a whole deteriorates for all children, but this mainly affects the children for whom good education makes the biggest difference.'
