Amsterdam tackles impending teacher shortage

The city of Amsterdam is tackling an impending shortage of teachers in the city. On Monday the municipality presented its plan to do so, which includes a campaign to recruit teachers, researching the cause of the shortage, guiding new teachers and affordable housing, among other things, Het Parool reports.

For this plan to be effective, the municipality of Amsterdam is teaming up with primary schools, secondary schools and teacher training institutions. 

Next year Amsterdam primary schools will have 171 vacancies. That number will increase to 415 in 2020 if nothing is done. Secondary schools wil have at least 70 unfilled teacher posts by 2020. 

This shortage is attributable to a number of contributing factors, such as the aging population, lack of affordable housing, a decline in students in teacher training colleges and an increasing number of school students. 

Education alderman Simone Kukenheim hopes to primarily have Amsterdam residents fill the open teacher vacancies. "People who know the city well, who are not afraid of he students here and who can conduct the conversation with parents, who can deal with pupils with a language deficiency."

The alderman herself admits that this plan is still a work in progress, but "it is a start".