Workload money evaporates due to teacher shortage

Tekst Joëlle Poortvliet - redactie Onderwijsblad - 18 januari 2019 - 3 Minuten om te lezen

Image: Pixabay

Cindy van Gorp - her real name is known to the editors - works as a teacher in secondary special education in the east of the Netherlands. She is angry because she went on strike last year and then heard nothing more about the workload money that her team is allowed to use. “Before the summer I heard from friends who also work in education: we are going to spend the money on a music teacher or a PE teacher. It all sounded really nice.” But her school remained silent. So far there has been no consultation, let alone spending the resources. The board of her school says in a response that they are busy with 'primary tasks to keep the school running'. Think of 'finding enough staff and gaining influence on absenteeism'.

Miss Petra*: 'In practice, the people who have been hired solve the teacher shortage and the substitute problem. So no work pressure reduction...'

Struggle

Also at Ellen Scholten's school, she works two days a week in primary education and two days for the AOb, the workload money has not yet been spent. “There are simply no teachers to be found,” she sighs. At the beginning of this school year, her primary school Krugerstee in Vaassen was looking for a teacher for group 5 and one for group 8. For a long time there was also no replacement for the pregnancy of the teacher in group 7. Scholten: “We eventually found a replacement, she stopped two weeks later because she could not handle the work. ” It is a daily one for her director stream to get people to teach, she knows. Scholten: “I understand her position. It is of course great that there is a workload agreement, but unfortunately the fulfillment of that agreement is not a priority when there are still so many ordinary vacancies. ”

Former master Leo*: 'Dividing up groups, taking over tasks: this actually creates extra workload and is actually the evaporation of workload resources'

The amount that all schools receive together against work pressure is structurally 237 million euros per year, and could rise to 430 million euros annually in 2021. On the website of the AOb is a tool that you can use to calculate how much your school will receive.

Circle

AObdirector Eugenie Stolk states that the major problem of the teacher shortage must first be solved if the money from the agreement is to lead to less workload. Stolk: “More people are needed who want to become teachers or return to primary education. And for that, the government must make a long-term investment in better working conditions. Otherwise we will never get out of the vicious circle. ” Stolk points to the action week in March, in which all education sectors protest against the workload and shortages. "Primary education is not the only sector where problems are piling up."

Juf Marjolein*: 'Our school opted for an itinerant teacher who can offer students extra help or replace teachers so that they can do administration. Unfortunately, due to the teacher shortage, this is not going well yet'

Participation

"Did you have a say in what happened with the work pressure equipment?" This question posed the AOb in a poll in December 2018 on his facebook page. 18 percent of the five hundred voters answered 'no'. AObdriver Stolk says that this result does not correspond with the reports to the reporting center of the Platform Werkdruk PO, there are a lot less. She does, however, urge teaching staff: “Get your rights! You can put this topic on the agenda in the team meeting. The personnel section of the participation council can also raise this issue. In any case, it is good to publicize this, because then the minister will know at which schools the work pressure pay has no effect. This can be done, for example, by sending an email to meldpunt@werkdrukpo.nl. ”

* The statements come from voters on the poll of the AOb in December 2018