News item | 20-12-2024 | 2:55 PM
Education is not only eager for more teachers, but also for more men in the classroom. In order to make teacher training courses more attractive, in particular for them, the government wants to make specialized training courses possible for young and older children in teacher training courses. State Secretary Paul (Fundamental Education and Emancipation) and Minister Bruins (Education, Culture and Science) will send an outline letter about this to the House of Representatives. In primary education, only 13 percent of teachers are male. This is 17 percent among graduates from teacher training colleges.
State Secretary Paul: “More good teachers for the classroom are desperately needed, especially more masters. Because it is important that students can recognize who is in front of the class. It is important that there are male role models. And that the school is a reflection of society. That is why I am pleased that we are removing an obstacle for future teachers to start their training. We must leave no stone unturned to address the teacher shortage.”
Declining diversity
People who want to work specifically with one target group may be discouraged from taking a teacher training course due to the current breadth of the training. Men are generally more attracted to teaching upper secondary education. On the other hand, relatively many women actually want to work more on primary education. Primary education had only 13 percent male teachers last year. With equal intake, this diversity will probably decrease further in the future, because male teachers are relatively older. Only 17 percent of graduates from teacher training colleges are men. Teacher training colleges are already working on more age profiling, but more is needed to increase and diversify the intake. The government wants students to also be able to choose separate, specialized courses for young and older children. This is in addition to the existing, broad training. The government therefore wants to make it legally possible for teacher training colleges to start these new courses.
These new courses make it possible to focus on a specific target group from day one. Working with that target group will have specific requirements. There is more scope in specialized training to meet these requirements. A student will then only receive authorization for either the young or older child. Experts believe that this limit should be around 8 years. A specialist-trained teacher can later obtain a qualification for the other age group.
Both ministers want to discuss the choices in the outline letter with the House. Teachers, training courses and schools are also closely involved in the development of the plans. Taking into account how long the legislative and regulatory process and all necessary preparations take, the first students could start the new courses in September 2029.
Role of men in information provision
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science also supports the Divers voor de Klas Alliance, founded to increase gender and cultural diversity in education. For example, together with various teacher training colleges, this Alliance works on information activities that specifically involve men.
A national campaign on working in education will soon start. The intention is to appeal to everyone for the teaching profession, especially men. Finally, the government is also investing in the status of the profession in a broad sense. Consider salary, image and career opportunities.