Work pressure arranged, now the salary
The promise of Minister Slob to allocate resources to reduce workload more quickly is proof for the parties in the PO front that campaigning helps. This means that one of the parts of the claim of the PO front has been largely granted. Now it is time for the next hurdle: the salary for teachers must increase. That is why the strike of February 14 in Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe continues.
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For the sake of education quality, the salary requirement of the primary education front remains unabated: extra money is needed to make the profession attractive. Every day, thousands of students are not taught because there are too few teachers. According to the sector, an additional 900 million euros is needed to turn that tide. Government parties VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie think that an investment of 270 million euros is sufficient.
Ally
The PO Front sees Minister Slob as an ally in the fight for stronger primary education. His lobby to divide the workload budget differently for the coming years is the first proof of this. The cabinet thus largely complies with one of the requirements set by the PO Front: work is now being done on reducing work pressure as quickly as possible. An important step has thus been taken and primary education can start creating a healthier work climate. At the same time, Slob is also bound by the coalition agreement: he has no extra resources to distribute.
Workload
All parties in the PO Front - PO Council, AVS, PO in Actie, Algemene Onderwijsbond, CNV Education, FNV Government and FvOv - agree with the minister that this process should be implemented at school level as much as possible. Smaller groups and more support staff or specialist teachers are obvious interventions with which the workload of the existing teaching staff can be reduced.
Teacher shortage
For the primary education front, it has been established that combating work pressure is most effective if there are enough teachers to be found. Unfortunately, one of the two obvious interventions - smaller groups - remains out of reach of many schools for the time being, because it remains far too difficult to find more teachers. After all, the deficit will rise sharply in the coming years because coalition parties VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie have failed to expand the salary margin in the coalition agreement further than the 270 million euros that had already been promised. Prospective students who have doubts about a career in education will continue to check off PABO as a study program as long as the salary prospects in other sectors are better.
Salary Level
That is why primary education in Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe will be shut down on 14 February: more financial scope remains necessary in order to align the salary level with that of secondary education. If the government factions then still refuse to accommodate primary education, another regional strike will follow on 14 March in Utrecht, Flevoland and Noord-Holland.
