Collective labor agreement increases the scale of hundreds of higher professional education teachers

Tekst Karen Hagen - Redactie Onderwijsblad - 21 maart 2024 - 6 Minuten om te lezen

Picture: Type tank

Page 134 of the HBO collective labor agreement is a page far back in the appendices. Yet this table is important, says Marijke Kamphuis, HR director at Saxion. It states in black and white when teachers should be in salary scale 11. Kamphuis used the table for a plan to reassess teachers, which resulted in almost two hundred of them moving up a scale.

The table contains tasks such as 'developing education', 'guiding students' and 'assessing tests'. Teachers who perform one or more of these tasks and who have the Basic Teaching Qualification (BDB) with the Basic Examination Qualification (BKE) belong in salary scale 11.

Trots

AOb-director Roelf van der Ploeg is proud of the agreement. “A long-cherished wish has come true,” he says. “We believe that a broad teaching position belongs in scale 11.” When the master's requirement (which was linked to salary scale 11) was removed from the collective labor agreement, it was an opportunity to record this agreement and take a major step. “It really leads to change at universities of applied sciences because a large group of teachers automatically increases in salary, without having to enter into an individual battle with managers about this. Scale 10 caused unrest, great dissatisfaction and the difference was often difficult to explain.” Universities of applied sciences have until September 1, 2025 to reassess their teachers.

A long-cherished wish has come true

Energetic

Saxion University of Applied Sciences got to work energetically. “It was quite a bit of work,” says HR director Kamphuis, who was given the task of reassessing the 286 higher professional education teachers in collaboration with directors, managers and executives at the courses. Kamphuis: “A total of 199 teachers have been upgraded to salary scale 11. That is 70 percent of our teachers in scale 10.”

At Saxion, just like at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, Arnhem-Nijmegen University of Applied Sciences (HAN) and Leiden University of Applied Sciences, there were still quite a few teachers in salary scale 10. Van der Ploeg: “It is good that Saxion quickly started reassessing. Windesheim, for example, did not have one teacher in 10.” The table from the collective labor agreement provided support and clarity, according to HR director Kamphuis. She knew that in some departments there had been a desire to go to 11 for some time. “We wanted to do it all quickly, but above all carefully. It's about salary, which is close to people's hearts and I didn't want to keep them in the dark for long. That is why we were able to confirm before Christmas 2023 whether colleagues would indeed receive the upgrade.” Kamphuis says that at Saxion they implement the collective labor agreement, but that it does affect the finances. “We are also in a shrinking area, so we have to keep an eye on the financial situation. This is what comes next.”

Few objections

Saxion has twelve academies, including 'Health Care', 'Pedagogy & Education' or 'Creative Technology'. “All colleagues at those different academies had to face the same assessment. It should not matter which academy you attend,” says Kamphuis. “The managers had a personal conversation.” Those who disagreed could report this to their manager. According to the HR director, few objections have been received. “Three in total, with one of which an agreement has been reached and the other two are still being processed.”

Other colleges with many scale 10 teachers are, just like Saxion, working on the collective labor agreement. For example, Rian van den Hout, HAN spokesperson, says that they will start the reassessment process in February and hope to be ready before the summer holidays. "A total of about 400 employees are being reevaluated," Van den Hout said by email. It is not yet clear how many of these will move up a scale.

Research

At the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, more than 400 teachers were in salary scale 10 at the time of the collective labor agreement change. Ten percent of the current teachers will remain in their former teacher position scale 10, says Carmen Mo-Ajok, spokesperson for Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. “They meet the requirements for this scale.” The rest will move to scale 11. “The majority has been completed,” said the spokesperson. At Avans University of Applied Sciences in Brabant, of the 35 teachers (2 percent) in scale 10, 25 will move to scale 11.

There are also colleagues who remain in scale 10 at Saxion: 87 employees, 30 percent of those who were reassessed. According to the HR director, this concerns employees who have a position in which they largely do research and not teach. Or employees who provide support. The current group that remains in 10 may continue to use the title of teacher, but this does not apply to newcomers. Universities of applied sciences may decide for themselves which job titles they give to positions under scale 11, but the collective labor agreement stipulates that the title 'lecturer' or 'lecturer' will from now on only be reserved for 11.

Serious money

For teachers who transfer, advancement in salary scale 11 is particularly important in the longer term. “The final salary is considerably higher, which makes a difference of 900 euros gross per month at the end of the scale,” says Van der Ploeg. “So serious money.” There is also a difference in the starting salary - which is important for all new teachers who are recruited by colleges. In salary scale 10, teachers start with 3370 euros gross, in 11 this is 4234 euros gross.

Femke Welink-Nijhof, professional communications teacher at Saxion, is making a salary increase thanks to an agreement in the HBO collective labor agreement regarding the reassessment of teachers. Image: Herman Engbers

One of the teachers who is now taking a step up is Femke Welink-Nijhof, professional communication teacher at Saxion. She thinks it is mainly a 'nice appreciation'. “I made a career switch from Rabobank to higher education in 2021 and was rated high out of 10 during the salary negotiations. That made sense to me, because I did not yet have an educational background and after a while I graduated from BDB, BKE and BOO (Blended). Education Design). When I had obtained those qualifications, I thought: come on! I think I now meet all the requirements to be allowed to move up a grade. But it was also not that the higher scale was a reward linked to achieving the qualifications. I regularly had open and honest conversations about this with my manager.” She does think that the collective labor agreement resulted in an accelerated progression to scale 11. “That list is very clear: the BDB, BKE, administering tests to students. The timing worked out well for me.”

Come on. The timing worked out well for me

Welink-Nijhof sees that colleagues feel recognized. “It is very nice that it is laid down in the collective labor agreement, because the distinction between when the classification in scale 10 or 11 took place was not always clear.” Yet her pay slip last January did not look 'earth-shattering'. “There is now more room for improvement and I have some perspective again; that is motivating.”