'Schools must be smart about replacement'
Many substitutes receive a one-year appointment instead of separate substitute contracts. Just as the law means work and security. The AOb wants for the new collective bargaining negotiations to map out exactly how the law is used.
“Substitutes, just like their permanent colleagues, are entitled to good working conditions,” says José Muijres, primary education director at the AOb. For the short term, schools in the flu-prone months are now getting a temporary solution for invaders. In the months of January, February and March, they can receive a separate contract more often for unforeseen and short-term leave.
The replacement in those three months then does not count towards the maximum chain of six contracts that the unions and employers have agreed in the collective labor agreement before a permanent contract must be offered. “Really a temporary solution,” says Muijres.
Smart handling of replacement
“We have to make sure that schools deal smartly with replacement and that a replacement job is also attractive. There are enough school boards that have arranged this well with replacement pools and cooperation. In those places we see that substitutes get a good contract, instead of waiting on the phone to see if they can come in for an hour. ”
In the agreement for the weekend it has therefore been agreed that education unions and employers will look very closely at how the Wwz works out. What is the effect of replacement pools? Where do or don't schools work together and how many schools use the new contract forms for short substitutes and why others don't?
Explorer
Mid-November suggested Minister Asscher of Social Affairs Jacques Tichelaar as scout. Tichelaar will talk to the schools about the problems they experience with substitute teachers in response to a motion submitted by the ChristenUnie (CU). Member of Parliament Carola Schouten (CU) wants to debate the scout's report before Christmas. 'I am pleased that there will be an exception for substitute workers until the elections', says the MP on the CU website. 'But there must also be a structural solution for other periods of the year.'
“Groups of invaders continued to work through revolving door constructions for years,” says AObdriver Muijres. "We should not want that. Not for the substitutes, but also not for the quality of education. Children have a right to teachers who are given the opportunity to continue their education. This works better by working together. This breathing space offers schools the opportunity to better design that invasion policy."
Replacement pool in Eindhoven
An example where it works well is Salto in Eindhoven. “The replacement pool has been re-established, so that 30 to 35 young teachers have a one-year contract instead of being hired through payrolling, a kind of temporary employment contract. That also saves hundreds of thousands per year ”, says Hans Nieuwkerk, GMR member and teacher at Salto-school Reigerlaan in Eindhoven and chairman of the primary school sector board of the AOb.
The Regional Transfer Center (RTC) Midden-Brabant is a large partnership of fifteen school boards. The RTC has a permanent shell of sixty permanent replacements and a flexible shell of 250 full-time jobs for flexpoolers who are deployed on temporary contracts. Gerard Langeraert, administrative coordinator of the RTC, thinks that even more gains can be made by increasing the percentage of permanent replacements. “A permanent shell of 4 percent is insufficient, because the average replacement requirement in primary education is 10 percent.” RTC Midden Brabant is therefore considering expanding the permanent layer from 4 to 6 percent.
New jobs
For example, the Wwz creates new jobs, with new replacement pools with fixed (annual) contracts. Thirty full-time jobs at Salto, 30 at Kindante, 7 at Haal-VeluwePlus, 45 at Transfer Center Education Zeeland and 60 fte at RTC Midden Brabant. Langeraert: “Previously, these young teachers were flex-poolers who sometimes got temporary substitute contracts for years on end. It provides more permanent jobs and in that sense the Wwz works for the education sector. ”
