Schools lure young teacher out of training too early
Nearly 60 percent of starting teachers in secondary education are still offered a job in the classroom during teacher training. Seven out of ten students who take such a job choose it partly because of the money. Even though they often find themselves insufficiently prepared. This is shown by research by the Platform for investigative journalism Investico and the AOb.
Picture: Type tank
Since 2009, the Ministry of Education has released around 1,2 billion euros to combat the teacher shortage in secondary education, according to a report. numeration of government grants by Investico. Subsidies have been used to set up collaborations between schools and study programs to soften the 'landing' of young teachers in education and to prevent dropout.
Nearly half of the teachers surveyed say they are not well prepared for a career in education during their training opleiding
That did not work out, according to the young teachers themselves. At Investico's request, the AOb in the spring of 2021, a questionnaire was conducted among members working in secondary education and not older than 35 years. Just over six hundred of them completed the survey.
Both training and supervision are lacking. Almost half of the teachers surveyed say that they are not well prepared for a career in education during their training. They lack pedagogical tools; have not learned to deal with special needs pupils and feel especially unprepared for teaching in pre-vocational secondary education, where half of the Dutch pupils attend.
Impossible
"The training was in complete denial about it being a vocational training," one teacher said in the survey. 'The program develops teachers who can provide the ideal education, but they do not mention that it is virtually impossible to do so within the time and possibilities that you have as a teacher', a science teacher from South Holland writes at a answer in the questionnaire.
More than one in five teachers say they had no supervision at all during their first teaching job. Those who did receive this, gave the guidance an average of 6,3. The differences between schools and even departments are enormous. While one teacher goes through a whole process, the other is put in front of the class 'without a key and lists of names'.
Study delay
Nearly 60 percent of starting teachers in secondary education are still offered a job in the classroom during teacher training. Seven out of ten students who take such a job choose it partly because of the money. Even though they often consider themselves insufficiently prepared for the profession.
The fact that students are already being appointed poses problems for both themselves and the study programme. They don't get to study enough, so delays often occur. More than half of the teachers surveyed suffer from a study delay, partly due to their teaching job. This in turn costs teacher training courses money and supervision capacity.
A perhaps even more undesirable effect: secondary schools that rely heavily on ungraduated students for the classroom can, in the worst case, no longer take on trainees at all, because they may only be supervised by a qualified teacher. "It's very strange that there is a huge teacher shortage, but that I can't even get my math students placed anymore," says Els de Bock, director of the Institute for Teacher Training at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences.
Difficult
Meanwhile, almost three out of ten teachers in secondary education still drop out within five years, according to figures from the Education Executive Agency. For the exact sciences – often shortage subjects – only 37 percent of second-degree HBO students obtain a qualification within five years. “You would like to gradually let novice teachers grow into the profession,” says Elsbeth van der Laan of Minkema College in Woerden, who supervises young teachers. “But due to the teacher shortage and the workload, it is very difficult to do that.”
Putting non-graduate teachers in front of the classroom is a very worrying trend
AObdirector Henrik de Moel responds: “The fact that schools feel compelled by the teacher shortage to teach teachers who have not yet graduated is a very worrying trend. As a result, as a starter, you enter education insufficiently prepared. While I know – also from my own experience – that good preparation and guidance are essential to get through the first few years.”
The also fears AOb that due to insufficient preparation, starters will burn out even more often and will leave the teaching profession again. De Moel: “As a result, teacher shortages are increasing and schools are going to put even more non-graduates in front of the class. That will be a negative spiral. And let's face it: the days when beginners are only sent to a class with a list of photos and names should really be over. with 'sink or swim’ you harm beginners and you increase the teacher shortage.”
Read more about the research into starting teachers in secondary education on the website of Investico and in the next issue of the Education magazine.
Also daily newspaper Trouw en The Green Amsterdammer pay attention to the research today.
