News item | 17-12-2024 | 11:30
Good education depends on well-educated people in the classroom and in the school. The government is therefore working hard to combat the shortage of teachers and school leaders. For example, the number of lateral entrants remained at a record high last year. It is now important to take action, because despite a decline in primary education in particular, the shortages of teachers and school leaders remain significant. State Secretary Mariëlle Paul (Fundamental Education and Emancipation) and Minister Eppo Bruins (OCW) wrote this today in a letter to the House of Representatives about the state of affairs regarding the teacher strategy.
Mariëlle Paul: “A lot of work is being done to reduce the shortages. It’s great that results are being achieved. But all that effort remains extremely necessary. Because, just like in the entire labor market, the shortages are and will remain large. Ensuring sufficient and well-trained teaching staff requires cooperation and solidarity in the region, instead of competition. We must also continue to emphasize how wonderful working in education is and how you can develop there. As a teacher or school leader you can make a difference for pupils and students every day.”
Eppo Bruins: “Teacher training is essential for the quality of our education. We continue to work on making these courses attractive for both initial students and lateral entrants. For example, together with trainers and the professional group, we ensure a curriculum that is more in line with future teaching practice in schools. In addition, we invest in knowledge exchange between teacher trainers in order to increase effectiveness.”
All the stops
The government, together with the education sector, is pulling out all the stops in tackling the shortages. Increasing the lateral inflow is an important weapon. With 2,244 lateral entry students who applied for the lateral entry subsidy in 2024, the record of last year is approaching. The number of lateral entrants has increased sharply, particularly in secondary education.
Another result of the effort is that next year the network of education regions will have national coverage. This collaboration between school boards, teachers and teacher training courses in such a region is crucial, for example when guiding starting teachers and school leaders, as happens in Utrecht. And the Haaglanden region, for example, has combination positions: childcare employees can expand their job with hours at school. And for teachers, the combination with childcare offers growth opportunities and variety. This government is investing 214 million euros in the work of the education regions.
Increasing the number of hours worked also has the potential to make a significant contribution to tackling the teacher shortage. State Secretary Paul therefore recently made an emphatic appeal to education to get started with new options for this. That should convince teachers to work more hours. Such a multi-hour bonus does not necessarily have to be a sum of money, but also more flexibility in the work. A number of initiatives that have been tested in the past period to help teachers in this regard will be followed up on a broader scale.
Furthermore, a national campaign on working in education will soon start. A bill is also in the making for strategic personnel policy in primary education, including measures for more permanent contracts, larger contracts, and limiting external hiring.
Finally, better training of teachers is really taking shape. Over the next 10 years, approximately 60,000 teachers from primary, secondary and secondary vocational education will follow a professional development programme. Furthermore, we are working together with training courses to improve the curricula of teacher training courses, especially to provide more focus.
Temporary effect
The shortage of teachers in primary education this year is 8.1%, or 7,700 FTE. Although this is more than 2,000 fewer than last year (9.7%, 9,800 FTE), it is a temporary effect. In recent years, schools have been able to hire employees with money from the National Education Program to catch up on learning gaps among students that occurred during the corona period. Due to the expiration of these funds, many schools are now saying goodbye to these employees. They become available on the labor market again. The most recent report on NP Education shows that – about four years after corona – more than half of school leaders in primary education experience an improvement in their students in all skills.
An increase in shortages in primary education is expected in the coming years, partly due to an increasing number of students and because many school leaders and teachers are retiring. The shortage is greatest in the big cities.
In secondary education, the shortage has decreased slightly by 5.1% (3,800 FTE). Shortages there are expected to increase in the coming years, especially in subjects such as mathematics, German and Dutch. In MBO, there is an estimated shortage of between 3.3% and 5% among teachers (900-1,400 FTE).
Basics in order
Well-trained people in the classroom and in the school is one of the priorities of the plan that State Secretary Paul is working on to improve the quality of education in primary and secondary education. To get this foundation in order – with a focus on reading, writing and arithmetic – good and sufficient teaching staff is indispensable. The plan will be shared with the House in the spring of 2025.