Government policy on teacher shortages remains stuck in patchworks

Tekst Robert Sikkes - Redactie Onderwijsblad - 3 september 2018 - 5 Minuten om te lezen

Picture: Type tank

In May, the Education Council issued an urgent letter to the Ministry of Education calling for a taskforce for the teacher shortage. Simply because safeguarding the quality of education is a constitutional task of that government. And because the government must come up with solutions for the teacher shortage, the high workload and the relatively low salaries, so states the council straightforward. The ministry must therefore 'take control and take responsibility'.

Education minister Arie Slob (ChristenUnie) does not like that, was his preliminary response shortly before the summer holidays during a parliamentary debate on the collective labor agreement for primary education. "I have hesitations about a national task force, because that will again be a whole group of people who are probably very busy," said the minister, who sees more in a regional approach with an "important, major role" for employers.

His final letter at the end of August on addressing the shortages suggested due to the lack of structural solutions hugely disappoint.

Minister Arie Slob: 'I have hesitations about a national task force, because that will be a whole group of people who will probably be very busy'

Emergency solutions

This regional approach is often reflected in the reports about the teacher shortage. Yes, the shortage is still fairly regional and most noticeable in the Randstad, but it is a matter of time before the lack of qualified and competent teachers strikes the whole country. Up to and including Zeeland and South Limburg. Because the urgency is still not felt in The Hague, there is nothing left for schools but plasters. Emergency solutions are tumbling over each other. The mutual competition to get the last teacher in is increasing. For example, the municipality of Leiden reports, following the example of Rotterdam, The Hague and Amsterdam, that they are also thinking of baiting incentives such as reimbursing parking fees, job guarantees and extra training. Nice for those who can use it, but it does not yield more teachers.

In the reports in the newspapers you can read about schools struggling with the formation. One of the advancing emergency solutions is putting together double-sized classes where, next to a teacher, a class assistant coming. It is the model that the ministry is researching and propagating carefully, as a definitive and 'innovative' solution. Comments about workload or the influence of large classes on the quality of education are not addressed. The double-sized class is inevitable, according to top officials, because it will never be possible to attract enough people to education.

Pabo de Kempel will announce before the summer that it wants to put lateral entrants directly in front of the classroom, a process in which other teacher training courses have already preceded them. Now they often bring a lot of life experience with them, but can they immediately start working independently? And will they stay? It is certainly gratifying that the registration for part-time teacher training courses is rising sharply, but we also know that the dropout rate among this group is relatively high.

Double-sized classrooms are an advancing emergency solution

Pathetic

Apparently the cabinet wants to solve the teacher shortage regionally without additional investments. And all that is so sad because the shortage was predicted. In 2007, the Rinnooy Kan committee wrote in the acclaimed report Teacher! that we were on the eve of a 'quantitative and qualitative teacher shortage'.

Then a strong boost in professionalization and salary was chosen, money evaporated through the zero line during the economic crisis of the following years. Moreover, the teacher shortage came less quickly than expected, because the shift in the state pension age meant that people continued to work en masse longer. Also in education.

But the postponement of the pension wave is only temporary. As early as 2013, Center data in the labor market monitor predicts that it will turn into a shortage. Due to the low enrollments at the teacher training college, the researchers wrote five years ago, there will be at least 2025 teachers shortage by 6500. Five years later, the forecasts are for a deficit of nearly 11 thousand. Lost five years.

The Rutte cabinets have always hesitated to resolve the pay gap between education and the labor market for the higher educated. It was towards the end of Rutte-II that during election time the PvdA hammered out a salary boost for primary education. 270 million euros was put on the table, which Rutte III was allowed to spend. But this cabinet is limited to reducing workload and does not come across with salaries. A Delta Plan for the increasing teacher shortage, such as the AOb advocated? No interest in. A task force such as the Education Council currently recommends? No, we are going to solve it regionally.

With a large demonstration in Rotterdam, primary education is once again asking the cabinet to really cross the bridge

Action Calendar

The cabinet makes wonderful choices. Don't invest in education, despite all the criticism, stick to the abolition of dividend tax for large companies. Something that causes the government to structurally miss out at least 1,4 billion euros in tax revenues. While the gas tap is shutting down, all that remains is knowledge. Invest in education, too the OECD. This club, which compares rich industrial countries, explicitly points to the low salaries in Dutch education.

Action is therefore the only answer. On September 12 -shortly before Prinsjesdag- primary education is on strike again in Zeeland and South Holland. With a large demonstration in Rotterdam, primary education is once again asking the cabinet to really cross the bridge. If a serious answer is not forthcoming in the Speech from the Throne, a budget for millions or an education budget, follow-up actions on the way to the Provincial Council election in early 2019 are the only solution.

Teacher shortage in the US: 'It doesn't pay very well'

More young people would choose to teach if education pays better. It is that simple, according to research by the ACT, the American agency that conducts admission tests for higher education.

In terms of education labor market, the United States is very similar to the Netherlands. The salary gap of teachers compared to other higher educated people is almost as high in primary education, around 25 percent. The teacher shortage is therefore large and persistent.

The ACT investigated the main reasons among young people who are interested in the teaching profession, but who nevertheless do not opt ​​for teacher training. First, with 63 percent: It doesn't pay very well. Out of two, with 43 percent: Not much opportunity for career development. Young people indicate that considerably more must be paid if they want to make the switch to education. After all, a good salary for the higher educated is achievable in other professions.