Easter holiday with us, Week of strikes in French -speaking education: reforms of vocational education and teacher statute are source of resentment
© Belga
This week, the French -speaking educational unions are going to strike against, among other things, the planned reforms of vocational education and the teacher status. Every weekday teachers put down the work in other provinces.
While the Dutch -language education of two weeks of Easter holidays enjoy, there are actions in French -speaking Belgium throughout the week against the planned educational reforms of the French community government, consisting of MR and Les Engagés.
The educational staff in the provinces of Liège and Luxembourg will start on Monday, on Tuesday it is the turn of the provinces of Namur and Walloon Brabant and French-language education in Brussels. A demonstration is therefore planned at the seat of the French community government in Brussels, while teachers will occupy the famous Citadel in Namur. On Wednesday, the trade unions will hand out « Gazettes » to the general public in which teachers testify to « the reality of their profession ». On Thursday there is a demonstration in Bergen, in Hainaut, on the agenda – officially a « carnival of the people sacrificed ».
Permanent contracts
The trade unions, among other things, against the planned changes to the teachers’ statute. The French -speaking education minister Valérie Glatigny (MR) wants to fight the teacher shortage in French -language education by new teachers immediately offering a contract of indefinite duration and a higher wage, since one in three teachers currently opts for another profession within five years after the employment. The distinction between teachers with a contractual and coveted fixed appointment would therefore disappear in the long term.
Walloon education minister Valérie Glatigny (MR) immediately wants to offer new teachers a contract of an indefinite duration and a higher wage. – © Belga
However, the trade unions are of the opinion that the current system with fixed appointments offers sufficient prospects in terms of pension and employment conditions and that the termination of that system will lead to a liberalization of education. « For some teachers, a permanent appointment is still a holy grail. It makes it easier to get a loan from a bank, the leave system is different, not to mention the certainty and stability that such a permanent appointment entails, » says teacher Vincent Ryckoort in La Libre Belgique.
Seventh year
The abolition or curtailment of the seventh year in technical and vocational education is also a tricky point for the trade unions. According to Minister Glatigny, this is above all a choice of pedagogical considerations, according to the trade unions a disguised saving measure that will lead to many students in (more expensive) adult education. « Many students will fall without school next year. They will then have to go to adult education or the private sector for a course, » says trade union secretary Jorre Dewitte to VRT NWS. « In addition, there will be a saving of 3 percent on the support of the students, which will increase the classes. »
French -speaking education already went on strike for the first time in November. Two more strike days followed on January 27 and 28. According to the RTBF, parent associations understand the social actions. « Parents are generally very positive about the strikes, » says Véronique de Thier of Fapeo, the umbrella organization of parent associations, to the French -speaking public broadcaster. « We mainly received reactions from parent associations who asked us how we could support them, and even from parent associations who asked us if we could protest with the teachers. »
