Amsterdam pushes €23 mil. into tackling teacher shortage

Amsterdam is tackling the teacher shortage in the city with extra parking permits, a larger travel allowance, money for teachers coming from other professions, scholarships to improve teams in schools, and 10 thousand euros per director for support, education alderman Marjolein Moorman announced on Monday, Het Parool reports.

With this approach the municipality hopes to hire 500 extra full time teachers by 2023. The teacher shortage in Amsterdam currently stands at 175 full time teachers in primary education. This affects at least 200 classes and 500 pupils, according to the newspaper. If all goes according to plan, this shortage should be solved by 2023.

The city is also working on affordable housing for teachers. An office will be opened that will focus on matching rental housing that is not covered by social rent to public sector employees, including teachers. Most teachers earn just too much to qualify for social housing. The municipality is also investigating whether school buildings can be reallocated for housing for teachers. 

Amsterdam is making 5.8 million euros per year available for this approach. That amounts to over 23 million euros for the period 2019 to 2023. Annually, that is a million euros less than the period 2014 to 2018. 

One thing that's missing from the Dutch capital's approach, is a big city bonus. Living expenses are higher in a big city like Amsterdam, and primary school teachers' salaries are still lagging behind that of their colleagues in secondary education. "I would like to", alderman Moorman said about a big city bonus. "But I do not get the money from The Hague."