Fewer side entrants due to corona
The number of side entrants to primary education is declining. In Amsterdam, the target of 160 lateral entrants 'in the profession' will probably not be achieved this year.
Picture: Type tank
Corona plays a major role in the stagnation of this type of side inflow. Employers have less time and focus for recruiting and guiding lateral entrants into the profession, says PO council spokesperson Claudia Verhoeven. “The supervision capacity is also smaller and there is less room for learning on the work floor.” The employers' organization does not yet have figures for this year, but the council is receiving 'signals' from all over the country that the lateral intake is declining.
Verhoeven: “A concrete example is Amsterdam. There - in response to the regional emergency plans against the teacher shortage - the goal has been set to train 160 lateral entrants. They indicate that they are probably not going to make it all the way. This does not apply to Rotterdam and The Hague; they do expect to achieve the objective.”
Passion
Jenny Minderman from Hoofddorp decided around this time in April last year to trade in her career in the media for what turned out to be her passion: teaching in primary education. After about three quarters of a year of preparation and dozens of rejections in the Amsterdam region, her uncle - a former school administrator - came to her rescue on Twitter:
Via the tweet, she found a place at the last minute, at the Polsstok primary school of the Zonova foundation, which is hiring her for the two-year work and learning trajectory. Incidentally, it was important for Minderman to start in April. That is not a national deadline for side entrants. Minderman: "It would have become different after the summer and I really would not have made it financially."
Scarce
Minderman, who soon realized that the number of places is scarce, enlisted the help of a commercial agency. "You want to maximize your options." At Het Schoolbureau Amsterdam she followed a crash course: participating in a school for a week, where assessors watch how you teach. Cost: a little more than four hundred euros. She was then linked to primary school where she did a four-month internship. All this in preparation for the official suitability assessment for the side-entry program. Minderman: "You must then show a portfolio and demonstrate that you have recent work experience in education."
In a recent Q&A about corona and side entry states that at the moment, suitability tests for the side intake are only conducted among people who have been performing 'teacher duties' for at least four months. According to Barbara de Kort of the National Consultation on Teacher Training for Primary Education (Lobo), this is unfortunate. De Kort: “Read it like this: the point is that your experience should not be more than four months old. And a teacher's task can also be: guiding a group of children. ” Although Lobo also sees that corona scatters sand into the wheels of potential side entrants. De Kort: "At the moment people are not given the space to gain that work experience."
It's all much less romantic than it seems
In particular, Minderman is very happy that she can finally start. She is, however, critical of the preliminary phase. “It has all taken a lot longer and is much less romantic than is suggested. I also informed Het Schoolbureau of this. It is not 'within two years you will have your paperwork' and 'you will earn what you got in your old job'. You must be very motivated and have a benefit or wealthy partner. Otherwise you will drop out. And the places in the Amsterdam region are certainly not for the taking. ”
Temporary dip
The PO Council emphasizes that the dip in the number of side entrants in the profession is a temporary matter. Spokesperson Verhoeven: “After corona and with the resources released through the National Education Program, demand will increase again. Also because the number of children is increasing, which means that more teachers are needed. ”
In the next issue of Education Magazine there will be a more extensive article about lateral entrants and about the teacher training courses that - just like the other courses in higher education - need to become more flexible. Every month the Education magazine in the mail? Become a member of AOb!
