Petition must give ignored teachers a voice in Arnhem's educational vision

Tekst Karen Hagen - Redactie Onderwijsblad - 25 maart 2024 - 3 Minuten om te lezen

Picture: Type tank

The social studies and philosophy teacher could use the control-F function to find the word 'lecturer', 'teacher' or 'teacher' in the Arnhem education agenda exactly zero times. The word 'knowledge' also gave no results. “Isn't that strange when it's about education?” he says. The sentence stating that the Arnhem education boards ensure that all children in Arnhem have the opportunity to grow up to be happy and resilient global citizens was particularly wrong. “I really thought: come on, you can't be serious. It is the teachers who do that and not the school administrators,” he says.

The teacher was able to use the control-F function to find the word 'lecturer', 'teacher' or 'teacher' in the education agenda exactly zero times.

In addition to being a teacher at the Pantarijn secondary school in Wageningen, Roelen is a member of the municipal council on behalf of the Arnhem SP. “We were actually presented with this document as an appendix - 'a background' - and more for information purposes on the subject about the housing plan," Roelen explains. It is not the intention for the council to debate this and serve as a working document.

Deciding

Nevertheless, it contains key points the education agenda. “It is an opportunity to offer a recruiting perspective on the teaching profession and to guarantee and strengthen the position of teachers, but instead the profession is not mentioned at all.” The councilor wants the municipal council to help decide on the education agenda. "The education agenda must not only be presented to the municipal council for information, but from now on for discussion and adoption," it says. in the motion that Roelen wants to submit.

It is an opportunity to offer a recruiting perspective on the teaching profession and to guarantee and strengthen the position of teachers, instead the profession is not mentioned at all

And that's not all. He also asks the mayor and aldermen in another motion to make teachers and lecturers active to involve in the education agenda. "If you only talk to educational administrators, you are not doing justice to the interests of the profession," the motion states. “Education is not just the school boards, many people see that as one encompassing thing, but that also includes teachers.”

Petition

In addition to the motion, there is last week a petition posted online, which has now been signed more than 430 times. That is a collaboration between the AOb and the teacher. “We see that in many municipal authorities only the school boards are seen as a source of nutrition,” says AObregional director Philippe Abbing. “While such a document applies to the whole of Arnhem and to the affiliated municipalities, it determines what will happen in the field of education in the coming years.”

Do you also think that teachers deserve a say? Sign the petition! 

Abbing points out that it may also include matters that school administrators think about completely differently than the professional group. “I'll give an example: they say this is not a cutback, but an open learning center is being set up, where large groups of students can go if classes are canceled due to illness or teacher shortages. In practice, this changes the educational offering and whether the profession is happy with this? Too often, educational staff are not involved in agreements that influence the primary process. This is also an example: a vision was collected without asking teachers what they think about education.”

Hand over

The petition and motion must be filed according to the AOb-regional director to ensure that educational staff are no longer passed over and ignored. Next Wednesday, the petition will be presented to Mayor Ahmed Marcouch (PvdA), mayor of Arnhem. The council meeting will then follow.