HBO

HBO teachers more often in scale 11 than 12

More and more HBO lecturers receive a salary in scale 11. The group with the higher salary of scale 12 is slowly shrinking, according to new figures from the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences.

Tekst Hoger onderwijspersbureau - 15 september 2021 - 3 Minuten om te lezen

Picture: Type tank

A pay scale is – according to the collective labor agreement – tailored to the tasks of employees: they receive a higher salary for more complex work. But the salary differences between universities of applied sciences are enormous: apparently directors and managers sometimes make choices outside the collective labor agreement.

This has consequences for higher vocational education teachers. At the top of scale 12, they earn 700 euros more than their colleagues in scale 11. There is even a difference of 1.400 euros with the maximum salary in scale 10.

Nationally, one in nine HBO teachers is in scale 10, the rest is above it. We do not count lower scales in this. We also leave out scale 13 and higher, for lectors, among others.

The salary differences between colleges are huge

Gap

In four years, the gap between the most common scales (11 and 12) has doubled. In 2016, 36 percent of the teachers were in scale 12 and 43 percent in scale 11. In 2020 this was 33 and 47 percent.

The unions and universities of applied sciences are in the middle of the new collective labor agreement negotiations. 'We recognize the trend, it has been going on for some time,' writes director Douwe van der Zweep of the education union AOb.

“Universities of applied sciences have hired a great many new teachers in the past two years who do not yet fulfill the tasks of scale 12”, responds the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences (VH). “In addition, many older teachers have graduated in scale 12. So there is no active policy, but a (temporary) effect of an aging population, higher outflow and more inexperienced influx.”

VH: 'There is no active policy, but a (temporary) effect of ageing, higher outflow and more inexperienced inflow'

Both say that it can also depend on the tasks: if fewer teachers are involved in educational development and more teachers mainly implement the programme, then you will get fewer teachers in that higher scale.

Shift

The shift is faster at some colleges than at others. Among the largest institutions, Inholland stands out in particular. In 2016, there were almost as many teachers in scale 11 as in scale 12 (46 and 44 percent respectively). Now more than half (51 percent) are in scale 11 and only 36 percent in scale 12.

Avans also catches the eye. There, the number of teachers in scale 12 has decreased from 41 to 35 percent in four years. It can't be the money. Avans has enough money, said retiring chairman Paul Rüpp recently.

Differences of colleges

Below are the differences between the universities of applied sciences according to the figures for 2020. Of all major HBO institutions, Leiden University of Applied Sciences is still the champion of underpayment. No less than 35 percent of the HBO lecturers there are in scale 10, with a good distance from the number 2, Hogeschool Rotterdam.

No wonder Leiden has also appointed by far the fewest teachers in scale 12: less than twenty percent, where other universities of applied sciences reward at least 30 percent of the teachers in that scale. Leiden seems to be catching up, because four years ago there were even more teachers in scale 10: no less than 43 percent.

At Windesheim, hardly anyone is in scale 10 and relatively many teachers are in scale 12: more than forty percent, just like at Zuyd, the Haagse Hogeschool and the Hogeschool Utrecht.

Incidentally, the scale does not say everything about the salary slips of the teachers, because the scales overlap. In other words, the maximum in scale 10 is higher than the minimum in scale 11.