Work pressure money brings relief to most schools
The money from the workload agreement has ensured that the workload has decreased in almost 90 percent of primary schools last school year. Most schools, 84 percent, were able to implement the plans made. Still, some of the boards suffered from unfilled vacancies.
Picture: National government
That appears from a report of Duo Educational research among just over three hundred school administrators. The PO council, the representative of the boards, commissioned the investigation.
Greenhouse slide
In February 2018, the AOb together with the other educational organizations to reach an agreement to deal with the high workload. In the 2018/2019 school year, 237 million euros became available. For next year it will come through a cash drawer from Education Minister Arie Slob an additional 96 million euros to this amount. School teams can decide for themselves what they want to spend the money on.
School boards most often spend the workload money on appointing more teaching assistants
The top three where the money goes is the same as last school year. Most often, schools appoint more teaching assistants (78 percent). This is followed by more teachers (56 percent) and subject teachers (49 percent). Some of the school teams use ICT for administrative relief.
Unfilled vacancies
The money has been used successfully and helps to relieve the workload in most schools. Yet one in twenty school administrators thinks that the money will not lead to a lower workload this school year. 12 percent of the schools also failed to implement all plans. This was mainly because they wanted to hire more people, but they were difficult to find due to the teacher shortage. Larger school boards in particular indicated this more often.
The teacher shortage overshadows the money available for workload
AObdirector Eugenie Stolk sat a year ago on behalf of the union at the negotiating table for the workload agreement. “I am very happy that the school teams have control over the money. They know best where the workload is and what they need to reduce it. ”
Still, according to the AOb-driver. “Especially because the shortage always disrupts the workload in schools. All of a sudden you get half a class. Or you have decided with the team to schedule everyone a few days a year, but that is not possible due to a lack of temporary staff. In addition to reducing workload, the cabinet must really invest to make the profession more attractive. We have been saying this for a long time, also together with other educational organizations. ”
