Strengthening the occupational mix in education – 2011

In 2007, the Dutch government launched the action plan ‘Teacher of the Netherlands’, that contains proposals for a better salary, a strengthening of the teacher’s position and a more professional staff policy within the school. One of the payment arrangements that is part of the action plan is the strengthening of the occupational mix. School boards receive extra money to reward more teachers in a higher pay scale. In October 2011 there was an important evaluation of the strengthening of the occupational mix. At that time, a number of sectors of education had to meet the intermediate objective. Sufficient teachers should have moved to higher pay scales. Besides evaluating the actual number of promotions, you may ask to what extent the different sectors make progress in the process towards it. Are new promotion criteria established? Ensure they a fairer promotion process than before? And what about the communication with teachers?

Primary education and secondary education made the most progress in promoting teachers to higher pay scales. In the process towards it, the vocational and adult education made great strides over the past year. Universities of applied sciences are lagging somewhat behind. Like last year, newly established promotion criteria refer above all to properly functioning, specific tasks and relevant education qualifications. They are fairer than the criteria used previously according to the teachers. Teachers stay teachers after promotion. They still spend an important part of their time in front of the class.