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The teacher shortage stands in the way of major educational ambitions

The government is allocating billions to tackle the declining quality of education and inequality of opportunity. But ambitious improvement plans are confronted with that all-consuming education crisis: a huge shortage of qualified teachers. A bonus for working more hours won't turn the tide, critics say.

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Picture: Nanne Meulendijks

With the sleeves of his shirt rolled up, like someone who knows how to get things done. For example, at the beginning of October, Minister Dennis Wiersma of primary and secondary education joined the De Balie debate center in Amsterdam for an evening discussion about the state of education. To his surprise, a sobering message soon rang out from the hall. Loosely translated: investing more money in education will not solve the problems. "Well," the minister laughed like a farmer with a toothache. “Do I ever have money…”

With strong ambitions, the 36-year-old VVD member has now been in the fourth Rutte cabinet for almost a year. He wants to increase equality of opportunity between children, strengthen the basic skills of students and get the rattling train of appropriate education on track. There is a lot of work to be done: the quality of education is under pressure, while the commercial tutoring industry is experiencing golden times. Wiersma puts a large bag of money on the table for his caravan of plans. Thanks to all the large and small money pots, the euros are now splashing against the plinths at the administrative offices.

This article is from the November Education Magazine. Do you want to stay informed of everything that is going on in education? Join the AOb and receive the Education magazine every month.

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But where the money ends up, the Balie room emphasized, that's what matters. And the minister has little or no control over that. “The distribution model runs through the school boards. That is complicated," the minister acknowledged. “My distance from the class is quite large.”

And then of course there is another problem that stands in the way of many ambitions.

Over the edge

“The teacher shortage is a huge education crisis,” says Jeroen Goes, director of the KBA Nieuw West foundation, responsible for seven primary schools in Amsterdam. “We're almost just going to find what's not normal. That as a school leader you are relieved that you have found someone to stand in front of the class, even if it is someone who has not yet completed an education. So many classes have no qualified teacher. Far too many children are at home. School leaders struggle daily to complete the occupation and are therefore unable to build on improvements. You can make great plans together, but you have to have the teachers for that.”

Take appropriate education. More than eight years after its introduction in 2014 - the time span of a primary school career - it looks like a slow train that comes to a halt every once in a while. There are still all kinds of improvement plans in the waiting room to patch things up. And while the trail on paper should lead to 'inclusive' education in about thirteen years, the practice will look very different. Special education is growing so fast that the counter is already higher than in 2014. In the meantime, the regional partnerships for appropriate education still have much more money hoarded in reserves than agreed.

If the pressure on regular education increases, this will be at the expense of pupils who need just that little bit of extra attention

“If the pressure on regular education increases, this will be at the expense of students who need just a little extra attention,” responds Lobke Vlaming, director of Education & Education. “The teacher shortage frustrates a lot of things you can think of to improve education. It would make you despondent. We've been saying for a long time that classes should be smaller. That would do a lot of good for appropriate education. But then you need twice as many teachers.”

Also with the AOb the worrying signals about appropriate education are known. “I have also experienced it myself in practice,” says AOb-driver Thijs Roovers, who previously worked at a primary school in a deprived neighborhood in Amsterdam. “If you don't have enough hands in the classroom, it all becomes much more difficult. Then you cannot set that one student aside for a while with that internal supervisor, because he or she no longer has time to supervise internally. You have to be able to build on your team so that a colleague can take over for a while. Now you see the consequences in the outflow to special education.”

De AOb stepped recently from the national consultation on appropriate education. Roovers: “If you have to conclude after almost ten years that things are actually getting worse and we see a number of parties at the table who want to move on to inclusive education, then that is not compatible with each other. We want to see that the basics are in order first.”

(The article continues below the illustration)

Picture: Nanne Meulendijks

Red carpet

And that starts with a plan. A broadly supported long-term plan to combat the teacher shortage is essential, Roovers emphasizes. Recently, Lodewijk Asscher has been working behind the scenes on proposals that were not yet known at the time of finishing this article. Also the AOb has put forward ideas for this. It is frustrating that such a vision has been delayed for years AOb-driver Roovers to the bone. “I think that's absurd. I can really lose sleep over this and am also very angry about it. This problem affects students directly and the vulnerable students the most. We will not solve the teacher shortage in four years and perhaps not in eight years. But only when we make clear how we are working towards this in the long term, can you talk about emergency solutions for the short term.”

One of those short-term measures received a lot of attention around Budget Day. To encourage part-timers to work more hours, the government wants to introduce a financial bonus in sectors such as education. This week invited Minister Wiersma urged school boards to sign up for a trial, with which he garnered the necessary criticism.

We need to roll out the red carpet for everyone who wants to work in education, and make sure that colleagues don't drop out after three or five years because of the teacher leak

“This is another loose measure,” Roovers responds. “It shows exactly why consistency is so important. We have to roll out the red carpet for everyone who wants to work in education, and make sure that colleagues don't drop out after three or five years because of the teacher leak. This has to do with work pressure, an important reason why people work part-time in education. You also have to look at housing, at training courses, at the personnel policy of school boards, at recruiting good school leaders. You can't get one thing out of it, we don't have any use for individual test balloons."

Realistic

But what can we expect from an ambitious minister who has rolled up his sleeves, but is miles away from the classroom in the decentralized education system?
“The short answer: not too much,” says sociologist Thijs Bol, affiliated with the University of Amsterdam, who studies the relationship between education, the labor market and inequality of opportunity. “All those ambitions are related to good knowledge transfer and support, and you need enough teachers for that. The teacher shortage will increase for the time being, so it is mainly swimming against the current. The cabinet must be realistic about this, and we as a society must also be realistic in our expectations.”

For example, reducing the inequality of opportunity becomes a difficult task due to the impact of the teacher shortage. Bol: “The teacher shortage is not evenly distributed across the schools. We see that it is greater in schools with a more challenging student population, in schools where teachers are most needed. That leads to greater inequality of opportunity.” The huge amounts that are being passed on will not solve the problems. “One of the few things the government can still do is give money. But just pumping money into the system and hoping it will work out is naive.”

The teacher shortage will increase for the time being, so it is mainly swimming against the current. The government must be realistic about this, and so must we as a society in our expectations.

In the recent education budget of Prinsjesdag states that there must be room for a discussion about the system. A guide that the AOb gladly accept. The unions recently indicated that they want to take a first step: they want to see whether they can negotiate a joint collective labor agreement for primary education directly with the ministry, outside the school boards. “I don't think it helps to focus on things. The minister is not going to solve it. We have to step over our shadow and try to figure it out together," said director-director Goes.

As far as Roovers is concerned, it is time to take a new direction. “Putting education at a distance and giving school boards control has not delivered what some expected. The Hague politicians are responsible for education, but are very far removed from it. Large financial injections do not solve the enormous problems. You have to dare to look at the system, we have to question all the roles.”

This is an abridged version of the article from the November issue of the Education magazine, which is published monthly AObmembers falls on the bus. Learn more about all the benefits of the AOb-membership? Look here.

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