House of Representatives: unauthorized access to class does not count as teaching time
If someone stands in front of a class or group without a teaching qualification, those hours do not count as teaching time. The House of Representatives decided this last night by adopting a motion by Lisa Westerveld of GroenLinks. “A great decision, which we also insisted on,” says AObchairman Eugenie Stolk.
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The intention to count the deployment of unauthorized persons as teaching time was part of an emergency plan to combat teacher shortages. According to that plan, unauthorized persons were allowed to teach in primary schools in Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Almere for about one day a week. This is allowed because the need is greatest in these cities. “The aim remains that pupils receive five days of education from qualified teachers”, stated Minister Slob, “but we sometimes end up in situations where that is not possible. The teacher shortage is a major battle. ”
We really need to keep track of how much teaching time can be filled with qualified teachers, so that the full extent of the teacher shortage finally becomes visible
De AOb has fundamental objections to the plan. In a letter sent in in the Algemeen Dagblad AObChairman Eugenie Stolk and Jan van de Ven of the Teachers' Collective called on the members of parliament to call the minister to order. According to them, the question is: 'Are we going to experiment or invest'?
Reward
Member of Parliament Lisa Westerveld (GroenLinks) was also critical, and wondered why it was not decided to make the profession more attractive by better rewarding teaching staff, or by bringing people with a teaching diploma back to the classroom.
Marathon session
In a letter to the House, the AOb in any case, do not count the hours for unauthorized persons with the teaching time, so that the teacher shortage is not covered up. Member of Parliament Westerveld submitted a motion on this in that night, in a marathon session before the House went into recess.
Make-do
“A great result,” says Stolk. “And now it is important to keep track of how much teaching time can be filled by qualified teachers, so that the size of the teacher shortage is finally fully visible.” Research in a few large cities recently showed that the teacher shortage there is even higher than according to the official figures. This is because the 'hidden vacancies' - shortages on the shop floor that are taken care of on a piecemeal basis, including by unauthorized persons - are not counted.
Also read: Slob wants to continue with unauthorized people in front of the class
