Cabinet does not want to discourage online education
Universities, colleges and MBO institutions can decide for themselves whether they will teach online. On further consideration, the cabinet does not want to draw up guidelines for the use of distance learning. Something where the AOb argued for: the choice for digital education should be made by the teacher himself.
Image: Nino Maissouradze
That stands in a letter that ministers Dijkgraaf and Wiersma sent to the House of Representatives. Last autumn, the cabinet promised to draw up a 'framework for assessment', but that has not been forthcoming.
AObchairman Tamar van Gelder has several times by mail urged the cabinet and the House of Representatives to refrain from such an 'assessment framework'. It affects the autonomy of the teachers to determine their own education and is therefore contrary to the Teachers' Profession Act. This law applies to foundation education and senior secondary vocational education. In higher professional education and university education, lecturers have the freedom to determine the content and method of the education provided within certain frameworks. 'An assessment framework can be experienced as a steering tool by many teachers and can also be used as such by administrators or school leaders,' says Van Gelder in the letter.
An assessment framework can be experienced as a steering tool by many teachers and can also be used as such by administrators
So give the teachers confidence, was the message of the AOb-chair. They can decide for themselves whether to use physical or online education. The education ministers are now responding to this by not drawing up guidelines.
Cheap
Online education has taken off in the corona crisis and some institutions are seeing the benefits: they don't want to go back to the situation before the lockdowns. Politicians are looking at it with suspicion, because perhaps administrators will use distance learning because it is cheap?
Recently, for example, this seemed to be the case at the University of Groningen. Energy prices would lead to a new assessment of the use of online education and working from home.
Maybe drivers will use distance learning because it's cheap?
Do not mix
However, the government does not want to get involved in that discussion. There is a great deal of knowledge available in MBO and higher education 'about the well-considered use of distance learning', the government believes, and there are sufficient guarantees for the quality of education. Moreover, the institutions were already working on innovations.
Programs make their own assessments, and students also have an influence on them through participational bodies. There are laws, but otherwise the educational institutions are autonomous. 'The quality of education should always come first when considering a form of education', according to the letter.
The quality of education should always be paramount when considering a form of education
For secondary vocational education there is a helping hand including tips for distance learning, but not for higher education.
Groningen
And the situation in Groningen? In view of the rising costs of gas and electricity, the University wants to use energy more efficiently, and the institution is also thinking of hybrid working and 'blended' education, reported the ScienceGuide website.
SP en Green Left asked written questions, but the minister is far from passing judgment on the situation. The impact of rising energy prices on educational institutions mainly depends on their variable or permanent contract, and the RUG itself must also know how it organizes education.
'Blended education is already part of the RUG's educational vision, which is why there is no reason to enter into discussions with the RUG now,' says the minister.
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