Development time: 'More schools will succeed'
Teachers must have time to develop curricula. An agreement about this development time has been made in the collective labor agreement for secondary education. A difficult assignment. A big step has been taken at the Over Betuwe College in Elst.
Image: Angeliek de Jonge
“To be honest, we were not at all happy with this collective agreement,” says director Charles Lohnstein of the Over Betuwe College in Elst. He spent many hours at the conference table in his office to work out the 2018-2019 collective labor agreement (which is still ongoing). This collective labor agreement stipulates that the workload for teachers will be reduced by making time available for developing lessons and tests. Often teachers don't get around to reviewing tests or updating curricula. The CLA should now provide for this. Full-timers would give 30 hours less teaching and 20 hours off their job responsibilities. In total 50 hours to update or deepen their profession. "But", says Lohnstein, "it had to be all budget neutral."
I still do a lot in my spare time, because I think it's fun and important, but these hours help
A difficult task that many schools struggled with. From a poll of the AOb among nearly 3500 members in April last year, it appeared that less than 20 percent of the schools had completed the plan. More than 10 percent even indicated that they did not implement the measure at all. It worked in Elst. Lohnstein: “At our school, too, we see that teachers suffer from work pressure. We think it is important to listen to this and look for solutions together. ” Compact test weeks instead of staggered testing is one of the measures taken. And, says Lohnstein, this collective labor agreement can also contribute to this.
After the break
A working group with teachers and management set to work devising plans. For example, how could you write down 30 hours of technical class without employing new staff? Teachers had almost returned the assignment to the negotiators because it seemed impracticable. Ultimately, however, another proposal came up: six times a year a development afternoon has been scheduled since this school year. On that day, a shortened class schedule from 45 to 40 minutes applies and the seventh and eighth class hours are canceled. After the big break, it is up to the teachers themselves to take their time for what they think is necessary to work on. With these six development afternoons, the school is not yet reaching the 30 o'clock mark, but together with a lesson-free development day on a traditional holiday in Elst during the horse market, things are already moving forward. The remaining development hours are allocated through the task policy, for which the school has deployed part of its financial reserve.
Trust
History teacher John Arts was in the working group and is very happy with the development afternoons. He uses them to set up a new curriculum for his subject. "I still do a lot in my spare time, because I find it fun and important, but these hours help." His colleagues indicate that it is wonderfully quiet at school on these afternoons and they are indeed able to clear up arrears. Finally revise that test. It had been on a to-do list for so long.
According to the history teacher, the most important thing is that the school leaves the teachers free on these afternoons. "I am grateful to the management for that." According to him, it gives confidence. And if you gain confidence, it works both ways: teachers feel seen and supported by the management and are not likely to put it to shame.
The release of teachers was a point for me
Relief
Team leader Menno van der Ree sighs deeply. "Releasing the teachers was a point for me." He thought it was quite exciting to see if they would get to work without his interference. “Of course that worked”, Van der Ree looks back. A touch of relief in his voice. He was very happy when he saw groups of teachers sitting together enthusiastically and concentrated on the first development afternoon. "I immediately got back from teachers that they had finally got around to things they wouldn't have time for otherwise." Teachers who had not looked carefully at the annual calendar and only found out on the day that their lesson was canceled, were sometimes disappointed. Van der Ree: "That is part of the deal, we expect you to keep a close eye on the planning."
Where the management devises a program for the teachers, it gives pressure rather than relief
From the AObsurvey showed that in many schools the management determines the program for the development afternoons. And that is precisely not the agreement. Or the solution is found in shortening class hours throughout the year. This does not reduce the workload for the teacher, but rather more: the entire module has to be completed in less time, according to a response in the survey.
Lesson hours
“We are now almost a year after the survey and fortunately many schools are a lot further than then,” notes AObdirector Henrik de Moel. Many schools use the model à la Elst. The driver had hoped for one lesson less per week for everyone. "Then we would really make a difference when it comes to reducing workload." Unfortunately that did not work. "We knew it would be a difficult agreement because it had to be implemented in a budget-neutral way." According to him, the success of this measure depends on the extent to which the management releases the teachers. “Where the management devises a program for the teachers, it rather creates more pressure than relief. These hours are really there for the teacher. ”
The Education Magazine wrote this in June 2019 about the development time: 'CAO agreement barely reduces the teaching task'
