Billions in Covid support not helping schools fill teaching vacancies

The government made some 5.6 billion euros available to primary-, secondary- and special education to help work away learning arrears caused by the coronavirus pandemic. But this isn't helping schools deal with the teacher shortage. In fact, its making it harder for some schools to find teachers, NRC and AD reported.

The sector council for special education GO and the council for primary education PO-Raad told NRC that special education schools and schools in poorer neighborhoods in particular are having difficulties finding teachers, as less challenging schools now have extra money to lure teachers away. AD found something similar when surveying dozens of primary school directors and administrators.

"We're getting 400 thousand more than we expected. We would like to hire additional staff, but that is not possible. Nobody responds to vacancies," Martijn van Minnen of the Nicolaasschool in Rotterdam said to AD.

Karel Beke, director of a primary- and asylum seekers' school in Burgum in Friesland, called the extra money a "disinvestment". "A capital that we have to spend in 2.5 years. When it became known that billions would be handed out, I thought: this is going to turn into a war for teachers. That turns out to be the case."

Freek ten Klooster, director of school umbrella organization VCO Hardewijk-Hierden, was also critical. "If you really want to give education a serious boost, you have to spread the money out over at least five years. We will soon look back on this as a gigantic political failure."

"The corona pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities in the education system: the shortage of teachers and school leaders, the inequality of opportunity, and declining results," PO-Raad spokesperson Claudia Verhoeven said to AD. "It is important to get structural funding to solve these problems."