Rinnooy Kan: 'Give teachers great freedom in professionalisation'
Teachers should be given great freedom in organizing their professional development and the content of their profession. They must organize themselves from the bottom up for each educational sector and make a plan for this themselves. The Ministry of Education should not make a blueprint, but appoint authoritative teachers to take the lead in this.
Image: front of the National Government report
That is stated in the advice published yesterday 'Exploration Teachers' from Alexander Rinnooy Kan. In June he was asked by education minister Arie Slob (ChristenUnie) to investigate how the teaching profession can be strengthened. He received this assignment after it became apparent that the Education Cooperative, where the AOb with other educational organizations, had too little support and is being discontinued.
Strong profession
Rinnooy Kan, also a member of the Senate for D66 and former chairman of the Social Economic Council, published the report 'Teacher!' in 2007. out. One of the recommendations at the time was that a strong professional group is important. 'So far this has not been achieved sufficiently', concludes Rinnooy Kan in his report of yesterday. 'Wide involvement of teachers is therefore essential in any conceivable follow-up,' he writes.
In order to involve teachers more in the design and design of their professional development and their professional standards, Rinnooy Kan recommends working in sub-areas. These can be educational sectors such as primary education, secondary vocational education and secondary vocational education, but also groups 1 to 3 in primary education or a sub-area of pre-vocational secondary education. A division is necessary because the education is very diverse.
Authoritative teachers should be at the forefront of professional development discussions
Then there must be an informateur, each teacher can register for this, come per area. "These must be authoritative teachers who are given the task, space and support to take the lead in the discussion about professional development," the report states. Existing trade unions and trade unions can offer teachers a helping hand, but are not given a specific role in advance.
Plan of action
What the plan of action for professional development looks like can differ per educational area and is entirely free. The ministry should interfere with this as little as possible, Rinnooy Kan advises. "I have every confidence in the strength of the profession to be able to do this job well in every area," he writes.
Public register
The report also states that a public register and the minimum requirements for it can only be considered if the sub-areas per professional group have been properly completed. If teachers feel involved, then, in conclusion, an umbrella organization can be set up to represent teachers in more areas than just their professional development.
