Vacancies galore: teacher shortage most dire in primary education
Every disadvantage has it's advantage. The teacher shortage is disastrous and offers opportunities for starters and people who want to change schools or sectors. However, the sector with the greatest shortage of primary education is not very popular.
Picture: Type tank
The job boards count hundreds and hundreds of teaching jobs. At Meesterbaan, half of the jobs for primary school teachers consist of vacancies in and around Amsterdam. The place where the teacher shortage now hits the hardest. But that is only the beginning: almost all of the Netherlands is faced with unfilled vacancies, including the Maastricht and Zeeland region.
In secondary education, things are a bit different, there are gaps in the well-known list of subjects: physics, chemistry, mathematics, German and classical languages. That shortage also offers opportunities. For starters, returners and for all those people who already work in education.
Anyone who wants to switch to another school or even to another educational sector can take that step. Plenty of jobs. Chances are you will be welcomed with open arms. School boards will be happy to expand part-timers who want to work more. And if you are willing to continue working partly after retirement, then you have the choice. But is all that going to help enough?
Career wishes
In AObmember survey in early February included a number of questions about teachers' career aspirations. To begin with, we asked whether part-timers would like to work more hours if there is a shortage at their school. This willingness is lowest in primary education - the sector with the greatest deficit. Almost three-quarters do not think about it, just over a quarter would like to expand their job. This is much higher in secondary education and MBO, four in ten would like to do so.
Solution
The full-time bonus is mentioned as a solution to the shortage. Those who start working full-time get paid better. A financial incentive could tempt people, but it simply cannot. Equal work must be paid immediately, and a full-timer should give a higher hourly wage, will probably not hold up if someone has it tested by the court.
Apart from that, the question is whether teachers want to work longer. The part-time job sometimes has to do with care tasks, but it is often also a self-chosen solution for the high workload.
Perhaps the older ones want to fill in the gaps in the formation of the school. Retired, but still a part-time job after reaching the state pension age. Only a small group wants that, and again primary education scores the worst.
Change
And perhaps people want to change education sector? After years of working in MBO, a kindergarten group or at a university of applied sciences? One in six would like to, but those figures differ per sector. HBO graduates are the most stable: only 10 percent want to make the switch. In primary education this is twice as high. In other words: one in five is thinking about leaving the sector. It peaks after about ten years of working in primary education, when more than one in four wants to leave the sector.
One third of the group that would like to transfer would prefer to go to secondary education or to work as a self-employed person, also called a counseling service. Conversely, there is little need from the other sectors to work in primary or special education. Not surprising, because that is a big step back financially due to the lower salaries there.
For example, the switch from primary to primary level is from primary education to secondary education, and from higher professional education to higher professional education to another field of study within a university of applied sciences
Worry child
According to the participants in the survey, salary and work pressure are sometimes a barrier. But above all, an expensive study that is necessary to obtain the right qualification in another sector deters teachers. 'I can't use my salary to pay for the training that goes with it.' There is also a reluctance to exchange a permanent job for a temporary contract at the start of a career in another sector. 'Losing a permanent position is a major risk', one of the potential switchers writes about it.
If we look at all career options, primary education remains the biggest source of concern. In this sector, the fewest part-timers want to work more hours and a whole-hearted yes for continuing to work after the state pension age is lowest. In addition, more than a quarter of the experienced over-35s want to leave the sector, while the switch to primary education is slow to occur. And all this while the teacher shortage is already the greatest there.
