Tens of thousands of education jobs remained vacant last school year

There were more than 41,000 primary school, secondary school and special education vacancies in the Netherlands during the 2022-2023 school year, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS). Roughly 18,000 of the vacancies were for full-time roles, while the remaining 23,000 were part-time positions.

The jobs would have combined for the equivalent of 29,000 full time vacancies. "Of all people working in education, 42 percent had a full-time job in the 2022-23 school year," the CBS said.

There were roughly 18,000 vacancies in secondary school education alone, and another 15,000 in primary education. This accounted for about 80 percent of all unfilled teaching roles, the CBS stated.

"More than 40 percent of the vacancies in secondary education were looking for a teacher for a compulsory subject, a subject in which every student must take a final exam," the national statistics office wrote. There was a high demand for Dutch and mathematics teachers, representing 12 and 9 percent of all vacancies, respectively. Dutch teachers were also in demand in secondary vocational education, as well as those who can teach healthcare and welfare courses.

There was a disproportionately high number of primary education vacancies in the Randstad region, including Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht, the three cities with the most primary school students.

"In addition to teachers, vacancies in education can also be for teaching assistants, other support staff and directors."