Wiersma is changing course: more grip on education
A political tipping point: the government, which withdrew for decades, will once again have more say in basic education. Education funding with the lump sum will also be overhauled, if it is up to Minister Dennis Wiersma. How exactly, that should become clear in the coming year.
The decentralized education system with great freedom for school boards is due for a "fundamental review", as Wiersma put it. calls in a letter to the House of Representatives. The interests of the student come first, according to the minister. The declining quality of education and increasing inequality of opportunity demand a 'more involved' government.
Wiersma thus responds to, among other things, a new interdepartmental policy study (IBO), which cracking hard nuts about the current education system. The great autonomy and financial freedom of school boards clashes with the political need to continuously - and indirectly - make adjustments. This can lead to a 'control overload, resulting in a certain degree of policy resistance, as a result of which policy interventions have little effect and even more policy measures are introduced', according to the study.
The report identifies four pillars that must be in place to manage effectively, including clear goals and a view of performance. 'The working group finds that these conditions are not met and that is no longer acceptable.'
Director
Wiersma mentions control, terms of employment and lump sum funding as important subjects 'that have been left untouched for too long'. Since taking office, the minister has already hinted that he wants to give the government more control over education The counter, in the House of Representatives en with Prince's Day.
'In the past year I have seen many examples, had conversations and gained insights. For me, therefore, the question is not whether we need to make further adjustments to the issues mentioned, but rather how and in what direction. So that we will continue to do everything we can to provide the best possible education in the future,' said the minister. First steps have been taken on several fronts.
System errors
Education financing - an important management instrument - is also under scrutiny. Criticism of the funding has been heard for a long time, including from the Court of Audit and the AOb. Education money does not always end up where it is needed, there is often too little insight into and a say in how it is spent. In addition to the freely disposable lump sum, school boards are angling for a whole series of mostly temporary subsidies. To be able to impose more conditions on the funding, Wiersma is working on a new funding instrument, which should be presented to the House of Representatives in the first half of 2024. Before then, he wants to talk to educational organizations about management and financing.
"It's great that this minister finally dares to denounce the major system errors," responds AObchairman Tamar van Gelder. “In broad terms, things are not going well in many areas. Continuing on the current path will increase the mutual differences and make it increasingly difficult to intervene. The government has a constitutional responsibility and it has been abdicated too easily and for too long.”
It is great that this minister finally dares to denounce the major system errors
Van Gelder points, among other things, to the teacher shortage, which was warned about long ago. "The government has not focused on the main issue, sufficiently well-trained qualified teachers with sufficiently stable funding. The excessive autonomy of school boards led to administrative hobbyism and grabbing. The road to more central control from the government is therefore only logical."
"At the same time: an involved government should not go too far in a kind of government that the how determines with an advanced measurement and settlement culture and performance-based funding,” says Van Gelder. The AOb will be happy to talk to the members about what the management model should look like in the coming period.
Motion
Just last week, the House of Representatives passed a - previously held - motion from D66 to which the minister sits at the table asks for the collective bargaining about one collective labor agreement in primary education.
The other sectors - intermediate vocational education, higher professional education and university education - are being scrutinized by responsible minister Robbert Dijkgraaf, for which other routes have been mapped out.
Also read: The education polder gets bogged down in a meeting swamp
