Shortage of teachers of Dutch and mathematics in community education is increasing

A survey at 529 GO! Schools shows that 70 percent of schools are struggling with a staff shortage. In total, this concerns 718 full -time outstanding jobs, of which 595 for teachers. The teacher shortage is smallest at the start of the school year and increases as the school year progresses. Around this time the shortage of staff is twice as large as in September.

The GO! Has less outstanding lesson assignments than a year ago due to extra efforts from the school teams to fill the gaps as much as possible. But those measures put great pressure on the school teams and the quality of education, warns the school group.

Moreover, the teacher shortage for some courses has increased further. For example, the number of outstanding assignments for Dutch is increasing by 5 percent and for mathematics by 40 percent. The number of vacancies for school managements and reception staff also increased.

Figures from the Agency for Educational Services (AGODI) show that sick leave is increasing year after year and research by the SERV shows that the share of employees with work -related stress in education is higher than the Flemish sector average. « We have to make the job more workable, » says managing director Koen Pelleriaux. The GO! again launches a recruitment campaign and cooperates with schools on sustainable personnel policy, but also hopes that the status will be made better this legislature.

Pelleriaux also wants to focus on unburdening teachers when converting curricula into concrete lesson content and learning resources. « We now leave them too much to their fate and let them do so much double work, » he says.