Schools of secondary special education are sounding the alarm
Pupils with behavioral problems or a psychiatric disorder in special secondary education suffer from the dire teacher shortage. It is so difficult to find qualified subject teachers for parts of secondary school that diploma-oriented education is in jeopardy.
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Martijn van Kordelaar, director at Horizon Youth Care & Education in Rotterdam, who is responsible for seven VSO schools with 600 students and 250 employees, warns against this. They too are officially part of primary education and fall under the same collective labor agreement as primary school teachers.
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“The worst part is that vulnerable children suffer. If it continues like this, students will only be able to make pottery here instead of obtaining a diploma. What perspective will you offer these young people in the future? As a society, we will pay the price double and cross back later. Actually, we should not close the schools for a day, but for a few weeks. ”
Scarcity
The VSO schools offer students in cluster 4 the opportunity to obtain a regular secondary education diploma, and for this they need subject teachers. But VSO still falls under the primary education sector, a legacy from the past. As a result, teachers have to provide up to 180 lessons per year more than their colleagues in regular secondary education, while they earn hundreds of euros less per month. In times of teacher shortage, certainly in shortage subjects such as mathematics, natural or biology, subject teachers can start working in a regular secondary school for much more attractive terms of employment.
This skewed 'market position' will continue to cause problems as long as VSO is not transferred to the secondary education sector, says Van Kordelaar. And the VSO institutions have noticed this, especially in cluster 4 that guide students with so-called externalizing problems: young people who can be difficult to handle. “It is a heavy target group that demands a lot from a teacher. You must not only be able to transfer your professional knowledge, but also be a very good pedagogue. ”
It is a heavy target group that demands a lot from a teacher. You must not only be able to transfer your professional knowledge, but also be a very good educator.
In order not to have to send students home, schools are increasingly forced to find temporary 'solutions' that they themselves consider undesirable. Such as merging groups, with the result that the workload increases and absenteeism increases. “In one department, we had to subdivide a class over other groups for two and a half months. That puts the pressure disproportionately on the other teachers. ”
Something that no school likes to admit, but which many (VSO) schools do have to deal with, is that, in the absence of a teacher, lessons are given by unauthorized employees, such as SPH graduates or lio trainees. Van Kordelaar does not claim to know how often this occurs at his institution. But he acknowledges - and regrets - that in practice it is unavoidable.
Secondment agencies
Van Kordelaar finds it resentful to the role of secondment agencies, which in his opinion are trying to make a profit from the teacher shortage. “They lure teachers away and then offer them again at another VSO location, for rates well above the collective labor agreement. Teachers who have just left the training and who are paid in scale LC step 6 or 7. We pay 5600 euros per month for a subject teacher. ” This creates skewed eyes within a team and, moreover, the funding is not provided for that at all.
Because the shortages are so dire, Van Kordelaar cannot avoid such agencies. Much to his regret and frustration. “Part of the education money now ends up with commercial companies. I wish we as school boards would agree together not to hire those desks anymore. But that only works if we all adhere to it. ”
