Vso teachers standing up for the sector with manifesto and petition
Special secondary education (VSO) is still subject to the collective labor agreement and legislation for primary education. This skewed situation harms the interests of pupils, say VSO teachers who want their sector to be included in secondary education. To reinforce that wish, they have drawn up a manifesto and launched a petition.
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Under the motto 'From secondary special education (vso) to specialized secondary education (gvo)' they appeal to politicians. The collective labor agreement for primary education - a legacy from the past - is a burden on the sector. Vso teachers have significantly more lesson-related hours than their colleagues at regular secondary schools, receive a smaller surcharge for lesson preparation and are lower on the salary ladder.
In recent years, this has increasingly been problematic for - especially diploma-oriented - secondary schools. It is more difficult for them to find and retain subject teachers and therefore not always offer students the education they deserve. “Things are still going quite well at our school, but at other schools I see the struggle. Pupils who can handle VWO sometimes end up on secondary school. They are being neglected because there are not enough subject teachers with a solid background ”, says biology teacher Nanda van Hoek-Kreuger of the Axia College in Amersfoort and one of the initiators.
First step
VSO is a sector with different faces. About a quarter of the students follow the daytime activities profile, another quarter the labor market profile. The other half is in the diploma-oriented segment. There will be one from this year for VSO teachers who train students for further education salary improvement agreed. A small first step, according to Van Hoek-Kreuger, which does not go far enough. As far as she is concerned, it is high time that special secondary education received the recognition it deserves and is placed in the secondary education sector. "That is the only structural solution."
You will find the manifesto here (short version).
And read the Education Magazine report about the Axia College, a cluster 4 school in Amersfoort for students with a mental disorder or behavioral problems.
