General

Political agenda offers opportunities for new actions

With elections on the way, 2020 will be a troubled education year. Because campaigning helps, especially now that it is becoming increasingly clear that the quality of education is at risk.

Tekst Robert Sikkes - Redactie Onderwijsblad - 6 januari 2020 - 3 Minuten om te lezen

Picture: Fred van Diem

'VVD with its back to society.' No, that is not an opposition statement, but a recent headline on the front page of The Telegraph. Two months ago, political analysts still praised the Prime Minister's approach, but this autumn's wave of action has turned the picture. The VVD has lost its way. Panic football instead of vision.

Suddenly the flame hits the pan. Angry farmers because the magnitude of the nitrogen crisis has been underestimated. Furious builders because strict standards delay construction of roads and residential areas. Angry lawyers because legal aid would be cut. Worried healthcare workers due to staff shortages and high workload. And of course the education sector itself, where the campaigns already started before the start of Rutte III.

This massive resistance was foreseeable. Simply because this cabinet constantly underestimates or ignores social problems. The seed of this lies in the coalition agreement itself. Let's go back to the beginning of Rutte III, in October 2017. VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie put together a coalition agreement with four shopping lists. There was some quartet and blackjack so that each party had to give up something and was allowed to shine somewhere. Those agreements were cast in concrete to prevent arguments in this wonderful coalition.

Typically

Striking for education: the word teacher shortage did not appear in the coalition agreement. Nor in the speech from the throne. There was money for the workload in primary education, but at the same time there were cutbacks for the entire education sector. Typical of the entire coalition agreement without a broad social vision, more of a head-in-the-sand approach.

It is an approach that also appears in the covenant that Minister Arie Slob tried to conclude with the sector. The most vicious sentence comes at the end. 'This covenant will take effect on 1 November 2019 and will continue until the end of this cabinet term.' Implicit message from the minister: it is this 460 million, if you do not want to complain, campaigning is no longer useful. How so? Doesn't education itself make a difference whether we still want to take action?

This 460 million is it, if you don't want to whine any further

Champion

Campaigning and striking does make sense. With nine strikes in a row - regional and national - education is campaigning champion this cabinet term. With some success, although the turnaround in political thinking is not yet in sight. So the actions continue. To put the current cabinet under pressure to invest more in education. But certainly also to convince political parties to come up with structural solutions in the next cabinet.

The street - the countless strikes and other educational campaigns - cannot do without the state. At some point, there will have to be a change in the thinking of politicians in order to maintain the quality of education. Hence, the political agenda and the action agenda have everything to do with each other. The willingness to take action in education will not be the result, according to the polls below AObmembers it only grows. This is also reflected in the participation. For example, secondary education was hesitant to participate last March, but in November more schools were closed and more strikers from secondary education.

At some point, politicians will have to change their thinking in order to maintain the quality of education

Crucial

2020 will be a crucial year for education. Political parties are working on their election programs. After the summer, the campaigns start very carefully. To intensify from January 2021 until the elections of March 17 that year. The coalition negotiations and the new coalition agreement are important political and action moments afterwards. 2020 will be another troubled educational year.