Revaluation of supporters is not getting off the ground

Tekst Joëlle Poortvliet - redactie Onderwijsblad - 20 december 2021 - 5 Minuten om te lezen

Picture: Fred van Diem

School boards in primary education were given a postponement due to corona, but they really had to review the work of their support staff and directors before November 2020. What tasks do they perform? And do they get the right reward for that?

Teaching assistants are far from always, according to inquiries on social media. “Our board would prefer not to have teaching assistants higher than scale 4, because then we would be too expensive,” says Nikita Kamphorst. “If I want to get to scale 5, I have to go through a development process, although I already function at the level of scale 5.”

Teaching assistant Rianne Otten says: “We only have teaching assistants type A*The PO council and the trade unions have described three types of teaching assistants: A, B and C. Assistant A (scale 4) provides pupil guidance and educational support that has been agreed in advance with the teacher. Type B (scale 5) does the same, but adopts a proactive attitude, among other things, by making proposals for improvement. And teaching assistant C (scale 6) is again a bit more autonomous by acting according to one's own insight and cooperating in the design and planning of learning activities, teaching methods and assignments. In the example functions, teacher assistants are assigned scale 7 (type A) and 8 (type B). The school board determines which support functions are included in the job classification system and whether - and under what conditions - it is possible to hold these positions. The extensive job descriptions here.. (scale 4, ed.) or type C (scale 6, ed.). While as a former teacher I certainly qualify for B (scale 5, ed.).” Inge Broekman is a teacher assistant. According to the collective labor agreement for primary education, this is a scale 7 or 8 function. She is paid in scale 4. Broekman: “The teacher assistant is not listed in the job classification system of my school board.”

Rosalinde Stins, herself a teacher supporter and active for oops within the AOb, explains that a school board may choose not to include a type B teaching assistant in the job classification, for example. “But then the assistants at their schools wouldn't have to perform type B tasks either. Think of choosing your own approach, or making suggestions for improvement for student guidance.”

Illusion

In practice, the separation between tasks is often an illusion. Especially given the teacher shortage. “Still no revaluation here”, says Marieke Koolen. “The foundation insists that type B is for HBO students or for people with a specific condition associate degree. But they do want you for the class.” Wendy Wagemakers also tries to get into scale 5 as a result of the collective labor agreement, but gets zero on the request: “I no longer put any energy into discussions about this. This should be independently assessed.”

Employers' association PO-raad says in a response that they hear these sounds more often, but also says that they 'have the impression that most employees have been revalued according to the agreements'. The council says it does not have any options for checking this. Employers have not been surveyed about this subject, 'because then probably only school boards will respond that have it in order', according to PO council spokesman Harm van Gerven.

way out

The original collective agreement from 2019 therefore offers employers a way out. Officially, they could also decide that new job descriptions for oopers - and the associated revaluation - were not necessary. Bianca Mulder's former employer opted for this. Mulder retired as a teaching assistant in November. “I was presented with many roots, but it appears that the foundation has chosen that all teaching assistants remain type A. Whatever you do in addition to extra tasks. I dropped out because of the lack of recognition and appreciation.”

This agreement made an urgent appeal to being a good employer

Thijs Roovers, director at the AOb, states that the revaluation should have taken place long ago. “This agreement made an urgent appeal to good employment practices. As a trade union, we cannot sit down with every school board and arrange for them to update their job classification system according to the agreements.”

However, the GMR personnel had to agree to the board's decision on the revaluation of oops. Roovers: “Didn't that happen? Let us know. Then we can make a case for it.” According to Roovers, this subject underlines the importance of oops in the (g) mr. He also emphasizes: “Are you a member of the AOb and if you have any doubts about your scaling, please contact with us.”

The revaluation of support functions in primary education has led to an increase in the number of objections, states the National Objections Committee for job evaluation. Until the beginning of October this year, the committee dealt with fifteen cases concerning job evaluation in primary education, seven of which concerned oop positions.

CLA commitment

In a new collective labor agreement for primary education, if it is up to the AOb is a fixed allowance of just over EUR 700 gross for the replacement of teachers by a teaching assistant or supporter. This allowance is then in proportion to the scope of employment and duration of the work.

By closing the pay gap with secondary education, the OOP students also benefit

Another bright spot: oops in primary education also benefit when the pay gap between primary and secondary education is closed. That is one of the plans from the coalition agreement that was published this week. Roovers: “The pay gap is being closed for everyone. As a result, all employees in primary education benefit, including the oops. We don't know yet how this will play out on an individual level. This differs per function, per scale and per step. All of that still needs to be researched.”

Are you lid of AOb? Then you can join the network open.