School rejuvenates: benefits and pitfalls
For a long time the terms 'aging population' and 'education' were inextricably linked, but in recent years the average age of teachers in the Netherlands has been falling. What is it like to have a young team?
Image: Herman Engbers
It is quiet in primary school De Kubus in Zwolle, school is out, the children have gone home. The entire team is seated at the round table in the auditorium. What immediately strikes you: they are young faces, all of them. “I'm the oldie here, with my 42 years,” laughs director Marja Tijs.
Let's take a look at the figures: at the end of last year the average age in Dutch primary education was 42,8. In secondary education this was 43,9 years. The average age of the Cube team is 32,9 years. The youngest is junior teacher Ilse Bakker (21) who, as a fourth-year teacher, is allowed to teach independently (with a qualified teacher as ultimately responsible). The 'oldest' team member is Miss Alieke Benjaminsen, who is 44 years old. And that's not even counting the two interns; they would bring the age down even more with their 18 and 20 years.
It was not that we thought here: we only hire young people. It happened in a very natural way
“It was not that we thought here: we only hire young people,” says director Tijs. “It came in a very natural way.” Four years ago there was a bad assessment by the Education Inspectorate. Something had to be done, rather today than tomorrow. “We changed our vision, sharpened our learning goals, reconsidered our ideology, our mission and decided to focus more on behavior instead of language,” says Tijs.
What the team now calls 'a clear tipping point' emerged: a few older teachers retired, a few teachers moved to another school with a vision that suited them better. And then all of a sudden Tijs and her colleagues were confronted with all kinds of job applicants, who were all good, suitable, educated, inquisitive, pleasant ('really very important'), and also: young, fairly fresh from the teacher training college. “I was looking for teachers with an open, curious and inquisitive attitude. You can see that now: we have many people in our team who, in addition to their job, are also doing a master's or have completed a master's. That suits our school and I think that's why we have a relatively young team."
The average age of the team of the Cube in Zwolle is 32,9 years. Image: Herman Engbers
Variety
“Rejuvenation and aging alternate in cycles,” says Frank Cörvers, professor of the educational labor market at the universities of Tilburg and Maastricht. “If you have an aging population for a longer period of time, you can be pretty sure that there will be a rejuvenation at some point, because the older guard leaves and vacancies arise.”
The rejuvenation that is now taking place has been going on for a few years. In the Trend report Labor market teachers in primary, secondary and secondary vocational education of the Ministry of Education: 'The figures for the most recent years show that in all three types of education (..) the aging of the population has already been converted into a decrease in the average age for years.' According to Cörvers, what we are now seeing is that the younger teachers are replacing the older ones. Subsequently, this younger generation also gets older, and even older, and grayer, and yes: then there will be an aging population again. Cörvers: “And that keeps repeating itself.”
How beneficial is the current rejuvenation in education? “There are great advantages and serious pitfalls,” says Marc van der Meer, professor by special appointment of the educational labor market at Tilburg University. “First of all, the financial side: young teachers are generally cheaper. That is not a nice argument for hiring teachers, but if they are good candidates and they are cheaper than older, perhaps more experienced staff, it can be beneficial for schools to choose younger teachers.” It is not uncommon for young teachers to receive temporary contracts and a school may find that attractive as well. “The disadvantage is that people also leave more easily on their own initiative: you generally have a faster turnover within your school.”
Energetic
According to Van der Meer, the great thing about young teachers is that they are 'generally' agile, flexible and energetic. “They are full of ideas and recent scientific insights, because they have often just finished their studies. This can be a great asset for a school with mainly older teachers, who might prefer to stick to how they have been doing it for years and prefer not to change the culture of their school. It can improve the quality of education.”
But, says Van der Meer, there is also a (well-known) disadvantage: those who have a young team naturally have less experience in-house. “Various studies show that beginning teachers have more difficulty with more complex tasks,” says Van der Meer. “More experienced teachers possess the 'silent knowledge': they can automatically respond to whatever happens at a school, they recognize from their own experience the differences in the behavior and learning task of their students and are often more balanced in their shoes.”
More experienced teachers possess the 'silent knowing': they can automatically respond to whatever happens in a school
Director Tijs agrees that young teachers generally need more guidance. “Everyone in this team is aware of that and that's what we offer, we often ask: What do you need?” Within the foundation there is a project in which young teachers are supervised during their first years in education. Meetings are organized and courses are offered.
Former junior teacher Sander Dussel (26), also present at the table, is the driving force behind the project. He thinks it is important that peers visit each other. “As a young teacher you feel less alone when you hear other young teachers sigh after a tough lesson. And then you can then ask each other: Hey, you had that too recently, how did you solve it then?”
But, the Cube team says: you have to be careful, even watch out, that you don't cling too much to the stereotype 'young, inquisitive teacher' versus 'old, ingrained teacher'. Christiane Bloem, 32 years old and a teacher of group 5/6, says: “Age is not sacred. It's about who you are, how you act, how you work together. You can live as an older teacher on your own island and do it how you always do, but younger teachers can do it just as well, especially if you are inexperienced and like to stick to how you learned it on your internship.”
Age is not sacred. It's about who you are, how you act, how you work together
Bloem already worked at this school when the old team with more experienced teachers was still there. “It was nice to be able to watch them. This was mainly due to the type of colleague: those older teachers saw me as an equal, there was a difference in age and experience, but I didn't feel it that way."
“Whether you can learn from each other is not just a matter of age,” says Yvonne Kogelman, 33 years old and a teacher in group 5/6. “If the culture at a school is safe and open, you are much more likely to fall back on the other.”
Cube director Marja Tijs (center): “Everyone took a breath of fresh air and felt like putting their shoulders to the wheel.” Image: Herman Engbers
Fresh wind
It worked for the Cube, a young team. After a year of 'bikkelen' (Tijs' words) the bad assessment was over. “I noticed with this team: they all took a breath of fresh air, they all felt like putting their shoulders to the wheel and creating something new. And also nice: young people are more often full-timers than older people, barring all maternity leave, of course, which will undoubtedly come. If you have to pull a school out of the pit, full-timers are good for your continuity.”
Ester Kraal, school leader of a secondary school in Geldermalsen, the School Voor Personal Education (SvPO), has also experienced this. A third of her team is in their twenties, a third in their thirties and the rest are older. Six years ago, the school was the third school in the Netherlands to be established according to the SvPO concept: small classes, long lessons (85 minutes), little homework, doing a lot in class, a lot of guidance while doing homework. “Through those plans you naturally attracted young teachers, or, above all: teachers who were young at heart.”
What Kraal has learned: a school mainly needs teachers who can ground themselves at school. When she announced her transfer from her previous school, there were colleagues who said in awe, but also with a little sigh: Geez, then you have to start all over from scratch. “You can't get very far with people like that. Whether they are young or old: it is about the mindset.” Kraal is convinced: every team needs experienced people who can blow along with the new winds, but who also have the experience that they and their younger colleagues can fall back on. “And on the other hand, you need young teachers who create such a new wind.”
That is also the open door that Professor Cörvers still kicks in: it is about the mix, balance, between young and old. And, conclusion of the conversation around the table on the Cube: it's not just about those two numbers, it's mainly about the type of person you bring into a team.
This article appeared in the November issue of the Education magazine, which is published eleven times a year AObmembers falls on the mat. Learn more about all the benefits of the AOb-membership? Look here.
