School boards are wringing out invaders
Despite the teacher shortage, there are teaching staff who have worked as a substitute for years, without any prospect of that coveted permanent job. Anyone who graduated around 2010 and still 'flexes' will become discouraged or drop out. "It's unimaginable that I can't get a normal classroom job at this time."
Picture: Type tank
A Swiss cheese resume. A speck. Or, as substitute Renske describes: “I'm probably not young, hip and flexible enough anymore. I am being overtaken left and right by younger colleagues because directors now want a 'fresh' team.” Renske is 34.
The Education magazine collected stories and reactions from thirty group teachers and supporters who have been working on temporary contracts for years. Someone on Facebook responds: "Let's look each other in the eye: if you don't get an appointment after ten years, you may lack skills." Yet that is not the image that emerges from the interviews. The common denominator can better be summarized in the words: bad employment practices.
I am a teacher at heart, but not a day-sitter
Settle down
Kees has seen internal raids about four hundred schools in seven years. At the end of the summer he gets another substitute contract for three days a week at a school in Drenthe. For this he must be available all week. But Hendrik's mobile does not ring. After a few days, he himself contacts the employment agency that arranges the replacement for the school board. There are no sick people in the school, so his services are not necessary. And oh yes: he has to make up for the days he does not work this week. Kees is seriously thinking about quitting. “I am completely done with it. I want to settle down in a school, settle down somewhere. ”
Eveline also recently took the plunge. After twelve years of temporary contracts, she has said goodbye to education for the time being: “I am a teacher through and through, but not a daycare worker. I want to build something. With students, with colleagues. ” Substitute Renske from Groningen expresses her need after seven years of flexible work as follows: “I want my own pens in the drawer and my own reading book on the desk. I miss a home, where I can sometimes tell my story, share the ups and downs of life with colleagues. ”
My employer is an expert at coming up with new rules and constructions so as not to have to employ anyone on a permanent basis
The long-term uncertainty has a major impact. Teaching assistant Simone did not dare to start a family for a long time without a permanent contract. At the age of thirty she could no longer ignore the wish and became a mother of two. She still stands in for the same school board. “My employer is an expert at coming up with new rules and constructions so that no one has to hire on a permanent basis. It was already said when I was appointed: you will have a permanent contract within three years. It is now eleven years later. ”
Crisis
The substitutes in this story will enter the labor market around 2008-2012. At that time, starting your career with substitute work is very normal. The credit crisis has erupted and vacancies for permanent jobs are hard to find. They think that it is fun and educational for a while. You see many types of schools, teams and students. But then it starts to chafe. Take the work area of teacher Bea. That covers a large part of the province of Gelderland. In the morning at 07.00 a.m. the telephone can ring with the request to replace a sick teacher in Doetinchem. For her, that means XNUMX minutes to an hour in the car. During the interview, Bea is pregnant with her first child. It makes her sleep badly. “How should that be when I have to leave the house at seven in the morning? Then I don't have any care for my child. ”
After more than seven years, all the reports about the teacher shortage and the questions from her environment about why she still does not have a permanent job, Bea is 'quite done with it'
After two good reviews of the replacement pool, she qualifies for a permanent contract, but in the pool. She doubts. “If I do it, I will be the first to receive the vacancies in my region. But now I can sometimes put myself on 'unavailable'. That gives a lot of peace. ” After more than seven years, all the reports about the teacher shortage and the questions from her surroundings about why she still does not have a permanent job, Bea is 'quite done with it': “I would like to stay in education, but it will not get there. more attractive. ”
The invaders regularly feel that they are being held on a leash. Especially after a longer replacement job, the permanent appointment hangs in the air like a sausage that they never get a hold of. Verbal promises are made, but not kept. Miss Renske was still very close in 2018. Her duo colleague retired and she would get the permanent contract. But in the merged school, hassles arose in the team. A director disappeared, a new one came. Long story - it's all long stories - short: the new director chose another. And Renske will be working again this school year for another foundation, on a temporary contract: “In the first meeting with my current director, it was immediately said: we do not know if you will go to the new building next year. Such a sentence is spoken carelessly, but I am off the hook for the rest of the day. ”
Demotivating
Almost all invaders have seen tricks that ignore the desired employment. Simone's school board hired many teaching assistants on a permanent basis last year. "But unfortunately, at that time I was not working on a formation place, so I stood by and looked at it." Nadine did raid work for two years through an employment agency. “At the end of the school year you will be fired and you will be hired again in the new school year. Other holidays and public holidays are also not paid unless you are seconded. For example, it may happen that you work full-time for the salary of a part-time job. Very demotivating. ”
My application letter is rejected, while the same board advertises with a call for lateral entrants
Especially since the Work and Security Act, it has been a slog. This law was introduced in 2015 - the education field was postponed until July 2016 - and stipulates that the fourth contract for the same employer must be a permanent contract. Since then substitutes become even more than before from school board, to summer-ww *Temporary contracts often expire at the end of the school year. A possible new contract then usually starts in September. As a result, many teachers still end up on unemployment benefits in the summer. 'Primary education teacher has the strongest seasonal pattern, with a strong peak in the summer', according to the UWV this spring. The numbers are decreasing, but the benefits agency also registered 336 teachers and masters in unemployment benefit last summer. In August 2017 there were 415. Most of them live in Overijssel, Gelderland and Noord-Brabant. , funneled to employment agency. Kees: “My application letter is sometimes immediately rejected, while the same board puts out advertisements with a call for side entrants. For myself it is also unimaginable that in this time, in which there is supposedly a shortage, I simply cannot get a normal job in the classroom. ”
Loose sand
Permanent positions are on the rise. But it is not said that the long-term substitute is eligible for this. Robert from Noord-Brabant states that he is 3-0 behind in applications. A resume of loose sand, an age that, compared to someone fresh from the teacher training college, requires a higher grading and the long-term lack of education, play tricks on him. Robert: “Only now do school boards consider training and supervision of temporary staff more important. That is too late. I think this is sloppy of them. ” He blames employers for laziness. Other invaders express themselves more fiercely. They feel that school boards have a 'throwaway mentality' when it comes to their temporary staff. Substitute Lotte: "If schools had been more economical with their substitutes, there would have been many more teachers now."
After nine years of filling in, I'm considering retraining
Robert "ironically hopes" that the shortages will increase further. He does not know whether that will be in time for him. “After nine years, I am considering retraining. There are now vacancies in my area, but they are jobs with too few hours, in special education, or in upper secondary education, while I specialize in lower secondary education. Employers want all-rounders and all-willers, but I am no longer that. ”
The substitutes in this article fear that their statements will have negative consequences for their further career. Their names have been changed in consultation with the editors.
