Education Council: 'Connect National Education Program to structural investments'
The billions for the National Education Program should be a prelude to sustainable investments in education. That is what the Education Council advises. “That is taken from the heart”, responds AObchairman Tamar van Gelder.
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With the National Education Program (Npo) 8,5 billion euros will be made available to combat corona arrears. However, that money is largely an incidental investment that is mainly aimed at the short term, according to the Education Council. However, according to this council, education has been struggling with deeper problems for much longer, such as declining educational performance, rising inequality of opportunity, a shortage of teachers and school leaders, and excessive work pressure.
Recovery alone is not enough. Link recovery measures to sustainable improvements as quickly as possible
Let the NPO therefore be a prelude to structural investments in improving education, advises the Education Council. “Remedial measures are now needed to tackle the consequences of the corona crisis,” said chairman Edith Hooge. “But recovery alone is not enough. Link recovery measures to sustainable improvements as soon as possible and put the basic conditions for good education in order.” According to her, all this should also be laid down in the coalition agreement.
One-off
This advice is the AOb taken from the heart. “That 8,5 billion euros is a lot of money,” says AObchairman Tamar van Gelder. “But it is a one-off multi-billion dollar investment, while our call to tackle the structural problems has been heard since 2017. And structural problems require structural funding.”
This call makes the AOb – together with the education unions CNV Education and FvOv – also in a position paper about the NPO.
Duration
The unions also believe that 2,5 years is too short to implement the NPO. “We argue in favor of extending the term to four years,” says Van Gelder. “This enables schools to target the money more effectively to bet and support students in the medium term as well.”
The Education Council agrees. 'The duration of two and a half years limits the feasibility of the program. Schools need time to arrive at a thorough analysis and an evidence-informed plan.'
teacher team
According to the Education Council, time is also needed for consultation between professionals within the school, 'so that everyone feels ownership of the objectives and the plan'.
The unions also insist on this. “It is very important that the education team is directly involved in spending the money and making a plan, so that it can count on support,” says AObPresident Van Gelder. “The involvement of the team must be guaranteed by a test that is carried out by the pmr.” The AOb currently also holding a survey in primary education to find out to what extent teachers are involved in the NPO, and what they need for this.
NRC
The newspaper NRC reported yesterday - on the basis of documents that she requested via the Government Information (Public Access) Act - how the Npo came about in just under a month and a half. For example, at the last minute, under pressure from other ministries, the duration of the support program was shortened from four years to 2,5 years. This short implementation period has since attracted much criticism.
“The timeline shared by the Ministry of Education based on the Wob request also clearly shows that employers were involved in the Npo at an early stage,” says AObchairman Tamar van Gelder. "We were only involved two weeks later, so we were already 1-0 behind."
Teachers know better than anyone what their students need in order to get rid of the corona arrears
According to Van Gelder, it is and remains crucial that the teaching team is in charge of spending the money. They know what students need when eliminating possible corona backlogs.”
Incidentally, this week it turned out that not all measures are covered because of the support package, contrary to what education ministers Slob and Van Engelshoven said to the House at the end of February told. The unexpected cutbacks in the funding of MBO and higher education due to corona support for students is a cause for concern angry reactions us.
Read more? You can find everything about the NPO on our NP Education page.
