Report: Dutch need 9,000 secondary school teachers; Burnout rates high

Secondary school teachers' workload is so high that 9 thousand extra teachers are needed just to get all teachers not working over time, according to a study done by the general education union AOb, BNR reports. Teachers also have a very high burnout rate. About 1 in 5 teachers suffer a burnout, compared to 1 in 7 a few years back. A third of young teachers leave the sector within five years. The AOb study showed that teachers work an average of 6 hours over time per week. According to union vice-president Ben Hoogenboom, that is 15 percent more work than is expected from them in their contract. 15 percent of the total teacher supply is about 9 thousand, thus 9 thousand extra teachers are needed. The study was conducted among 1,800 teachers. It looked at what work exactly the teachers did on a daily basis, how much time they spent on it and how much pressure the work load put on them. According to Hoogenboom, teachers have the most trouble with parent evenings, contact with parents and supervision during break time. Preparing and giving lessons are the easiest for them. Hoogenboom feels that both the schools themselves and the politicians in The Hague need to take action to solve this problem. "I think those are two sides of the same coin", he said to the broadcaster. "Schools should look at whether the funds they receive are guided towards the classroom as much as possible, and The Hague should look at whether the permanent overload is justified and whether more money should go to education."