HBO teacher wants to pay for work
At the Hogeschool van Amsterdam there are 125 teachers with a master's degree in scale 10, while they do the same work as their colleagues in scale 11. “The rules are completely unclear. It looks like favoritism. ”
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Asking for a master's degree means paying for scale 11. In short, that is the agreement that education unions and universities of applied sciences have laid down in the collective labor agreement for higher professional education this spring. “Desperately needed”, says Roelf van der Ploeg, sector manager of higher professional education at the AOb. In 2011, universities of applied sciences made performance agreements in which they promised that by the end of 2015 at least 80 percent of lecturers would have a master's degree. A number of large universities of applied sciences, including Hogeschool van Amsterdam and Hogeschool Utrecht, went a step further and announced that they would only teach master's degrees. “But those higher requirements have not led to higher salaries,” says Van der Ploeg.
Every HBO teacher should be in scale 11
“Universities of applied sciences require a master's degree, but often offer scale 10 positions that boil down to pure teaching. This is at odds with our quality vision: a good teacher is also responsible for educational development. For this you need an academic level of work and thinking and then you belong in scale 11 according to the job evaluation system. We therefore believe that every HBO teacher should be in scale 11. "
It is far from that yet. Figures from the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences show that last year 13 percent of all higher vocational education teachers were in scale 10. When they reach the end of their scale, they earn 700 euros less per month than in scale 11. The variation is great. While Windesheim and Avans University of Applied Sciences hardly have scale 10 teachers, at Hogeschool Rotterdam, Saxion and Hogeschool van Arnhem and Nijmegen one in five teachers is in scale 10. At Hogeschool Leiden, this is even 35 percent. “There are universities of applied sciences that separate teaching and educational development. That is allowed, but then you should not use teachers with a master's degree for the implementation work, ”says Van der Ploeg. "Such a person is really overqualified."
Fallacy
“The unions have made a mistake of thinking,” says Cees Endhoven, director of human resources at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. “I have difficulty linking scale 11 to a master's degree. The classification is not about a teacher's diploma, but about the job content. But of course we are going to implement that collective labor agreement. ” This means that, with a few exceptions, the AUAS is only recruiting scale 11 lecturers, says the HR director. "Because we don't have many teacher positions without development tasks in the bachelor's programs."
Although the collective labor agreement was signed in May, there was a problem AObdirector Van der Ploeg this summer on dozens of job advertisements in which a master is requested, while scale 10 is being paid. But he mainly encountered a lot of vague texts that artfully revolve around the requested educational level. 'You preferably have a relevant master's degree', 'You have completed or are working on a master's degree' or 'You have a higher professional / academic work and thinking level and a first-degree teaching qualification'. He also found statements in AUAS advertisements such as 'it is a plus if you have a master's degree'. "That is unclear", Endhoven admits. "That has to change and we are going to take care of it."
If your team leader has a soft spot for you, you're more likely to get into Scale 11
Favoritism
“When I heard last summer that new teachers with a master's degree would immediately enter scale 11, I felt cheated,” says a teacher at the AUAS, who does not dare to publicize her name. "I have a good relationship with my supervisor, but when it comes to money he can be very unpleasant."
She has been a teacher of communication skills for over ten years and already had a master's degree when she started working at the AUAS. The teacher has been at the end of scale 10 for six years, but she has not managed to get to scale 11 so far. While she does the same work as colleagues who are in scale 11. “I am the coordinator of the course I teach. This means that I take on all the control jobs and make sure that the content of the course remains up to date. I adapt the teaching material and ensure coordination with other subjects. And I was part of the team that rewritten the curriculum for our study program. ” Real scale 11 work, says the teacher.
But when she indicated during an appraisal interview that she wanted the matching salary, she was told to wait for a scale 11 position to become available. “The following year it was 'you have to be on a committee' and after that 'you have to coordinate'.” After she had been out for a while due to a combination of work pressure and difficult private circumstances, her supervisor asked, "Are you sure you can handle it?" “It's offensive. You feel unappreciated. Nor is it transparent. There are colleagues who also started in scale 10 who were already in scale 11 after a few years. The rules are completely unclear. It looks like favoritism. If your team leader has a soft spot for you, you are more likely to get into scale 11. ”
On trial
The communication skills teacher is not the only one who encounters these problems. She knocked on the door along with nine other frustrated Scale 10 teachers AObconsultant Marieke Goede. "There is a lot of concern at the AUAS about the scale 10/11 issue," says Goede. “But it differs per faculty and program. For example, it hardly plays a role in economic education. It usually concerns teachers who entered scale 10 and who have been given new tasks. When they raise this, they are told: 'we are not negotiating about money here'. Or: 'not every master is in scale 11.' ” This creates insecurity and tensions in teams, the AObconsultant.
After much hesitation, I set scale 11 as a condition. I found it really scary
Good people know from their own experience how difficult it is to stand up for yourself in such a situation. She is a social work teacher herself and managed to climb to scale 11 with a lot of patience. “I had already had scale 11 tasks, but was always told that scale 11 was full. When I applied for a job on the assessment committee, after a long hesitation, I set scale 11 as a condition. I was afraid that I would miss out on that job. I thought it was really scary. ” She was given the position, but first had to do a six-month trial in scale 11. "It came down to me receiving a scale 11 reward, but officially stayed in scale 10 to see if I was functioning."
Lecturers who always get zero response can ask their supervisor for an official job re-evaluation. They can contest a negative decision with the internal complaints committee of each university of applied sciences and after that they can still appeal to the National Job Classification Committee. Those committees are not very busy. The AUAS committee only receives one or two cases a year and the last complaint from a university of applied sciences lecturer to the National Objections Committee dates from 2016. Not surprising, says Goede. “Requesting a reappraisal from your team leader is quite a step. Then going to an objection committee is a motion of no confidence towards your manager. ”
Three colleagues of the AUAS lecturer dropped out in despair
Three colleagues of the AUAS lecturer were already afraid to take the first step. “They dropped out despondently,” she says. “They are exhausted begging for appreciation. They say: I will only do scale 10 work. But then you go crazy, then you are in front of the class all week. ” Two colleagues have now received scale 11. The other five, including the teacher herself, already asked for a revaluation before the summer holidays, but did not respond to that request in mid-October.
Shy handling
AObdistrict manager Hayo Bolkhen has now raised the issue with the AUAS. "I have eight universities of applied sciences in my portfolio and nowhere is there so much unrest about the job classification as at the AUAS." HR director Cees Endhoven acknowledges that mistakes are made 'here and there'. “When a teacher's range of duties changes, the grading should also be considered. Money does not play a role in this at all. But I don't have all managers on a string and there will probably be team leaders who are shy about this. ”
An AUAS-wide solution will soon be available, based on the new collective labor agreement. “What applies to the recruitment of new teachers should of course also apply to current staff,” says Endhoven. "A teacher who has a master's degree and who functions at master's level belongs in scale 11." About half of the 250 scale 10 lecturers at AUAS have a master's degree. “We know who they are and where they work. We will reassess the grading of those lecturers and I expect that it will show that the majority should be in job grade 11. ” The AUAS will soon be discussing the details of the collective labor agreement with the unions and other universities of applied sciences. "I assume that we can start this operation before the end of the year."
Read here more about the current collective labor agreement in higher professional education.
