The intern is outlaw

Tekst Lisette Douma - redactie Onderwijsblad - 19 november 2019 - 8 Minuten om te lezen

picture: Type tank

'I don't have a contract… didn't know it existed for lio. Neither does my internship school. There is a lot of confusion, unfamiliarity. ' A fourth-year teacher training student writes this in the open answers of one AObsurvey that was distributed at the end of October among 219 student members. It is characteristic of how teachers in training (lio) are treated. Agreements are ignored en masse - on purpose or out of ignorance. In both primary and secondary education, about four out of ten trainees receive no compensation for their final traineeship. While they also teach without the guidance of a teacher.

Weird situation

In fact, the Guide to teacher shortage in primary education, released by the Ministry of Education and Inspection at the end of last year, recommends using trainees as replacements for qualified teachers when a primary school is struggling with the teacher shortage. “This deployment is only permitted within a temporary employment contract,” the Guide states. Lio trainees should be pleased with this addition, because in primary education the strange situation occurs that there are two types of contract: students can be appointed as 'lio as employee' and as 'lio as trainee'. According to the CAO, those who have the first contract form are entitled to 50 percent of scale L10-1 for a full-time appointment. The salary is then 1281 euros. Those who have the second contract form do not have to expect any money from the internship school. On paper, the 'student as trainee' is not allowed to teach independently. In practice, this distinction does not exist. “There is no difference in tasks between the trainee as a trainee and the trainee as an employee,” explains AObsector manager Anton Bodegraven. “Both internships must meet the same conditions set by the teacher training colleges. The primary schools can choose which contract they offer. "

Do you get paid for your fourth-year student internship?

Total number of respondents: 219

Arbitrariness

Pabo students are at the mercy of primary schools. Of the 140 teacher training college students who take the AObsurvey, 63 percent has an internship contract, the other 37 percent is appointed as an employee. 38 percent of PABO respondents do not receive an internship allowance. A substantial proportion of the trainees who do not have to receive an internship fee according to their contract, will therefore receive it, but that compensation is lower than agreed in the collective labor agreement. Almost one in ten interns gets more than agreed in the collective labor agreement. That's how it works: schools in deficit areas see the traineeship internship as an opportunity to recruit staff. 'If you go to work at the foundation after the traineeship internship, you will receive a one-off 1000 euros after six months of work,' writes one respondent. 'If I wanted to teach a class other than my own internship class because they didn't have a teacher there, I could get a fee, but not if I stayed with my own class. I chose my own class after all, 'writes another.

Precious

“During the first years of their studies, students are approached for their final internship,” Josien Booy of the iPabo in Amsterdam knows. “During my third-year internship, I was soon asked if I would also like to do my trainee researcher here,” says trainee trainee Briënne Bojoh, who is doing the iPabo part-time training. “The director then said that I would be paid for it. I really enjoyed my school, but if there had been no salary for the fourth-year internship, I would have looked further. ” Bojoh's internship school is located in Amsterdam, she knows that all students in the capital, ravaged by teacher shortages, are paid for their fourth-year internship. “But I also have a fellow student who was looking for an internship in the Schagen area and he really was looking for a paying school. This is also possible today. We know we are precious. ”

I would find it complicated to apply for guidance if I were paid in full

At the same time, Bojoh emphasizes that she does not want to be paid more than half of a teacher's salary. “I would then become too hard on myself. It would make me feel like I shouldn't make mistakes. I would find it complicated to rely on guidance if I were to be paid in full. ”

Small vacancies

“More important than that he is paid, we think it is that the trainee is well supervised,” says René Grommen, chairman of the Green Golf, the AObgroup for young teachers. He is a geography teacher and did his final internship five years ago. “Geography is not a shortage subject, so the chance that I would be paid was not great. But I was lucky that there was a small vacancy when I started my traineeship internship. I got paid for those six hours, but not for the other internship hours. When I studied at the University of Applied Sciences of Arnhem and Nijmegen, that was commonplace: about half of the students received a payment. If they received money, it was based on small vacancies, not because schools wanted to pay the internship fee as agreed in the collective labor agreement. ”

I couldn't pass it on. Other lios did not receive an internship allowance

In secondary education, the contract 'lio as trainee' does not exist. There, all fourth-year students should receive an apprenticeship agreement. According to the collective labor agreement, a full-time appointment equals 50 percent of scale LD-1. That is 1345 euros. While out of the AOb- a survey among 61 senior secondary school students shows that no less than 45 percent receive no compensation at all; 18 percent do receive compensation, but less than agreed in the collective labor agreement. A quarter of the respondents will receive what has been agreed in the collective labor agreement and 12 percent will receive more than agreed, ie the trainees in shortage subjects. 'As a junior I had nine lessons and one mentor hour. I got 0,5 FTE for this as a junior, 50 percent LD-1, 'writes one respondent. 'However, I had to do a strong, fierce negotiation for this. It was certainly not self-evident. I was also not allowed to pass it on. Other lio's didn't get it. '

No other choice

"I would get a compensation first," said another lio. 'But one day before the summer holidays I got a call with the message that unfortunately this reimbursement could not go ahead. I could still stay to do an unpaid lio. Because I had no other choice, I stayed there then. '

Schools just do something. And students make it happen

'Many schools take advantage of trainees', another sighs. This is endorsed by AObsector consultant and teacher educator Wim Borghuis of the Hogeschool Utrecht. “The differences are enormous. Also within schools. It may be that as a junior in mathematics you are paid royally and at the same school as secondary school in history you don't get a cent. ” Borghuis has been in contact with colleagues from all over the country on this subject. “I know how things are going from The Hague to Almelo. Schools just do something. And students make it happen. It is also difficult for them to raise the salary. Especially students who teach a subject without shortages are often happy that they have an internship and do not want to be too difficult with a view to a possible job in the future. Conversely, I now also hear from students who teach in shortage subjects that they are trying to get the most out of it and that they are negotiating about their salary. ”

Schools have a responsibility to provide an attractive profession

“I think there is a task here for the teacher training courses”, responds AObdirector Henrik de Moel. “They have contacts with the schools, they must ensure that students are treated properly.” At the same time, the education unions - including the AOb - and the employers have made a collective agreement that is poorly observed. “Schools have a responsibility to provide an attractive profession, which includes treating trainees decently,” says De Moel. “Lio trainees who do not receive compensation can report this to the AOb, we can then hold the boards to account. "

Confusion

In a response, employers' organization VO-Raad says that there is a lot of confusion about the term LIO. But: 'As soon as regular (productive) work is performed, where there is no difference between the work of a normal employee and the trainee, there must also be a reward,' writes spokesman Stan Vermeer.

As a lio I was also entitled to a budget to purchase a laptop and headphones

It is more difficult to map out the position in MBO with regard to the payment of trainees. There is no teacher training for many MBO subjects. And there are relatively few students from first and second grade teacher training courses who do an internship in MBO.

In order

In accordance with the collective labor agreement, the trainee researcher in MBO is entitled to 50 percent of scale LB-1, which is EUR 1344. A large majority of the MBO respondents say they also receive that amount; 38 percent receive compensation, but less than in accordance with the collective labor agreement and only 6 percent receive nothing at all. A side note: only 18 senior secondary vocational education trainees completed the survey. One of them writes: 'As a junior I was also entitled to a budget to purchase a laptop (800 euros) and headphones (35 euros). During the completion of my initial competence file, I was (provisionally) hired as an instructor. '

The MBO seems to have its affairs reasonably in order, says Chris Smits of the Fontys teacher training college in Sittard. "Almost all students in MBO receive an allowance, in secondary education this is almost only the case for the shortage subjects."