Still far too few MBO teachers in LC scale
It frustrates Minister Van Engelshoven. For more than ten years, MBO institutions in the Randstad have been receiving an extra € 50 million annually to help teachers in a higher scale and to relieve the workload. A new survey by Oberon shows that only 10 of the 26 MBO institutions surveyed succeed in getting the intended number of teachers in salary scale LC.
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This morning, the education spokespersons debated MBO in De Tweede Kamer. Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven said she was 'very dissatisfied' with the results of the 'Salary Mix Scheme'. This is the name of the construction in which MBOs in the Randstad receive money for a higher salary scale and a lower workload for teachers. She wants firm agreements to be made about this in a new collective labor agreement.
Millions of euros
Every year, the 26 MBO institutions in the Randstad regions *These are the four major cities, Almere and the surrounding regions of Southern North Holland, Rijn-Gouwe, Haaglanden, Rijnmond, Gooi and Vechtstreek, Eemland and Utrecht-Midden. together almost 50 million euros extra to make being a teacher in MBO more attractive. This was necessary because there was a threat of teacher shortages, especially in those areas. The agreements and the money for this stem from the 2008 Teacher Covenant. On behalf of the ministry, research agency Oberon tried to find out whether the investment under the Salary Mix Scheme had achieved its goal. Oberon optimistically gave the report the title "Mixed Success."
25 percent of the investment cannot be traced
It is not possible for the researchers to determine whether the money will reduce the workload. This makes 25 percent of the budget untraceable. The other 75 percent of the scheme is intended for higher grading. But also promotion of teachers to scale LD, another goal of the investment, Oberon was unable to investigate. This is because half of the MBO institutions place employees in scale LD who teach little or no teaching, according to the researchers. Think of team leaders, managers and supervisors. “This biases the numbers on the number of LD teachers,” Oberon writes. A quarter of the institutions surveyed have not yet defined an LD function for teachers.
Sunny
Ten years after the Teacher Covenant - Oberon calculates with figures from 2018 - the share of teachers in scale LC at an MBO institution in the Randstad has increased on average from 37 percent to 47 percent. The differences between them are large, especially between vocational secondary education students. In total, only 10 of the 26 MBO institutions have achieved their intended goal, or are close to the agreements they made with the Ministry of Education in 2009, see page 24 of the investigation report.
In 2014 it looked a bit sunnier. At that time, 15 of the 26 institutions met their target in terms of the number - or share - of teachers in scale LC, or came close. But after that year, attention to the subject has waned, Oberon concludes. So much so that part of the progress made before 2014 has been lost.
The institutions cite new staff as one of the reasons for this. Staff turnover in MBO is high. New lecturers are usually lateral entrants or have just graduated and are appointed to an LB position. If the newcomer replaces a teacher with an LC or LD position, an LC spot will 'not always' be available for a sitting LB teacher, Oberon writes.
'Just being a good teacher' is insufficient ground for promotion to a higher salary scale in three quarters of the institutions
Sometimes institutions also see a lack of enthusiasm among LB teachers, due to the requirements formulated by the MBOs themselves for promotion to LC or LD. Think of following a course or taking on extra tasks. 'Just being a good lecturer' is the motto at three-quarters of the institutions
insufficient grounds for a higher salary scale.
Paradoxically
The researchers speak of a 'paradoxical situation'. The labor market shortages in some MBOs are so great that they accept lateral entrants without a pedagogical certificate. These lecturers do not meet criteria for LC determined by the institutions themselves. As a result, a higher salary is subsequently 'not directly usable as an instrument in combating shortages'.
At 7 of the 26 MBO institutions in the Randstad, the targets - about how many teachers should now be in scale LC - could not be determined at all: “Some of those involved state that no or unclear agreements have been made, others do not know (more) what was agreed at the time.”
The works councils are also still often in the dark. For one third of the councils it is not possible to determine whether the money from the Salary Mix Regulation is actually spent on increasing the share of teachers in LC or LD positions. Oberon concludes that at several institutions the funds have not been earmarked, as a result of which they 'are absorbed into the lump sum and the awareness of the scheme has sunk'.
The directors and HR employees interviewed by Oberon are satisfied with the effect of the scheme on the quality of the personnel policy. This is mainly due to an increase in training opportunities and the associated 'career prospects'.
LC should be the pivotal function of a teacher in MBO
De AOb sees the results of the study as a confirmation of what has been raised for years. Director Tamar van Gelder: “There is downgrading place. We already drew attention to this in 2017 with the salary step-by-step plan." The 2020 collective labor agreement contains agreements for new opportunities with regard to career prospects, in order to reverse the trend. Van Gelder: "LC should be the pivotal function of a teacher in MBO The extensive task of educating students in secondary vocational education deserves that.”
Comparable research such as that of Oberon must also take place in the short term at MBO institutions outside the Randstad regions, AOb. "We do have a suspicion how the figures are outside the Randstad, but would like to see that confirmed." Last year, the higher grading of teachers still seemed a lot more difficult than in the Randstad regions.
Investigation
Following the youngest negotiator agreement is a working group with employers and trade unions working hard to arrive at a possible new construction for career prospects in MBO, via the collective labor agreement. Around the turn of the year, the social partners, including the AOb, launched a survey on career opportunities for teachers. These results are also used for new collective labor agreements.
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- Are you interested in how the staff at your institution is divided over the different pay scales? Then check this website.
- Read Oberon's entire Investigation through this link.
