Women less often opt for teacher training

The popularity of teacher training among girls is declining, according to figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). In the 15s, more than a quarter of all girls in higher vocational education opted for teacher training, but this has now dropped to XNUMX percent.

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If wages remain low, women will also ignore education, so predicts the American education economist Eric Hanushek. This trend is already visible in the Netherlands. More and more women are continuing their studies, at the same time the choice behavior of girls in higher professional education is changing, according to an analysis of the CBS figures over the past decades.

Decline

In 1990, for example, of the total number of female students in higher professional education, 28 percent were still in teacher training for primary or secondary education. In 2014 that had dropped to 18 percent.
Since Statistics Netherlands has used a different classification of the programs since then, it is not possible to compare later years properly with the period 1990-2014. But if we look at the percentage of women who started their first year of teacher training in 2017, the trend seems to be continuing. Only 15 percent of all girls opted for education.

The choice for the healthcare sector has remained more or less stable at around 30 percent over the years. It seems that communicative and economic studies in particular are gaining in popularity among women.

Stable

Education among boys lost popularity around the turn of the century, but has since gained steady interest. Between 8 and 9 percent of all boys opt for primary or secondary education in higher professional education. In 2017, the same percentage will also return to the freshmen.