Higher salary will not solve the teacher shortage | Commentary

The government is allocating nearly a billion euros a year to align salaries in primary education with the salaries of teachers at secondary schools. Primary school teachers will improve by an average of 10 percent in the coming years, which is about 5300 euros extra per year for those who work full-time. At a time when there are glaring staff shortages everywhere, this will help schools retain teachers who are considering changing careers. But it has not solved the teacher shortage. By 2024, we will be heading for a shortage of almost 5000 full-time jobs in primary schools. The need is great, especially in the Randstad. Especially now that too many children are leaving school with insufficient arithmetic, reading and writing skills, it is important that we focus on more and, above all, better teachers.

It is therefore good that the cabinet is also allocating extra money for schools with many disadvantaged pupils and for refresher courses for teachers. But we won’t be there with more money alone. At primary schools in particular, an enormous number of teachers work part-time: 55 percent. About 15 percent themselves work less than half a working week. Few sectors have as many part-time employees as primary education. It has already been calculated that if all those part-time teachers would work half an hour more per week, the teacher shortage would be largely solved.

According to the Labor Market Platform for Primary Education, about 30 percent of teachers definitely or very much want to work fewer hours. The step to do that will only become easier for them now that salaries are rising and they therefore have more left over if they continue to work part-time. This makes the teacher shortage even worse. Higher salaries are important to do something about the quality of education. But as long as so many teachers are not willing to work a little more hours, it’s a waste of time.