More students register for teacher training in Netherlands

Teacher training colleges received significantly more applications this year than in previous years. The increase is most pronounced in part time training, with 1,735 people registering before the summer holidays. That is 30 percent more than last year, NRC reports.

Shortened part-time courses did even better, with registrations doubling to 350. Full-time courses saw an increase of 11 percent to 7,864 registrations. These figures come from mid-June.

The newspaper attributes the increase at least partly to media coverage on teacher shortages in the Netherlands. According to NRC, the improved collective bargaining agreement for teachers likely did not play a role, as it was only presented early in June.

For many years the number of students at teacher training colleges decreased. Between 2006 and 2015 the number of first-years studying to be teachers halved. Over the past three years, the number of students started to increase again.

"There are still many people who consciously choose to stand in front of the class", Henk Verheijde, secretary at the national consultation for teacher training in primary education LOBO, said to the newspaper. "They do not opt for the big money, but want to contribute to society from an intrinsic motivation."