Number of MBO students teaching assistant is growing strongly
The intake in the MBO education assistant program has increased by almost 30 percent in five years. More and more boys are also opting for this training. Most students want to move on to the teacher training college. “Apparently the profession is becoming more attractive”, responds AObdirector Thijs Roovers.
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The open data files of the Education Executive Agency show that the interest in the three-year MBO training to become a teaching assistant continues to increase. With this level 4 training, part of the pedagogical work direction, graduates can work in primary education up to and including secondary vocational education. They support the teacher in the classroom, guide students individually or in groups and organize activities.
Increase
In absolute numbers, this concerns an intake of 12.946 students in 2020. That is 3.776 more than in 2016, an increase of almost 30 percent in five years. Compared to 2019 there is an increase of 12 percent.
About 24 percent of the intake in 2020 will be men, a slight increase compared to five years ago. More and more ROCs are offering the bbl variant, in which students both work and learn at the same time. The number of students entering there is relatively small, but growing considerably: from 90 in 2016 to 547 students in 2020.
The vast majority choose this course because they want to become a teacher
Freek Boswinkel, team manager of the teaching assistant training at ROC van Twente, has seen the training grow from 240 to 540 students. “The vast majority choose this course because they want to become a teacher,” he says. "In the third year, two-thirds follow the elective course Transition Pabo that we offer together with Saxion University of Applied Sciences."
According to him, the image of the teaching profession among young people has improved considerably. Boswinkel: "The interest is also increasing among boys. With us, more than one third of the students in the first year are boys. The challenge is to retain them by making the education, which is now often aimed at girls, more attractive to them. to make."
Interest is also increasing among boys
The number of teaching assistants who have graduated is also increasing, as has already been shown the report of the Labor Market Platform Primary Education. Since 2016, the number of graduates has increased by 18 percent to 3.220 in 2020. About half of the graduates move on to higher professional education and about 45 percent to the labor market. Once they start working, about 13 percent of teaching assistants want to start with the PABO. The figures are slightly different in the Twente region, according to Boswinkel. “Almost all students move on to higher professional education, despite the fact that there is more and more work for teaching assistants in Twente.”
Almost all students move on to higher professional education, despite the fact that there is more and more work for teaching assistants in Twente
According to the Labor Market Platform, the number of vacancies in primary education for teaching assistants has increased sharply throughout the Netherlands. This is partly due to the fact that schools mainly use the extra money to reduce the work pressure in primary education, the so-called 'work pressure resources', for extra teaching assistants within the school. On the other hand, according to the report, the number of teaching assistants is increasing because more and more schools are organizing their education differently. 'For example, the number of concept and profile schools has risen sharply in recent years.'
We applaud the fact that hands are involved in the school
AObdirector Thijs Roovers is pleased that employment for teaching assistants has increased and that the training courses are growing. “We applaud the fact that more hands are coming into the school. Teaching assistants therefore contribute to the quality of education and a good atmosphere at school."
"We just have to make sure that they independently replace the teacher. Because of the teacher shortage does that already happen, while they are not authorized to do so and are not paid for it. That is unfair and does not benefit the quality of education.”
Fantastic job
He calls the fact that most want to move on to the teacher training college and that the proportion of men is increasing. “Apparently, the profession is becoming more attractive,” he says. “It is also a fantastic profession and if we close the pay gap with secondary education, there is also a great salary in return. Money isn't a reason to do it, but it won't be a reason not to.”
You can read more about the use of teaching assistants in the article 'Educational support staff often work outside their own range of duties'
