A lack of available primary school teachers forced the Rudolf Steinerschool in Haarlem to put an early end to its Group 7 class on Thursday. The students from the Waldorf-style education program will be redistributed among similar schools in Haarlem, Hillegom, and Hoofddorp, up to 15 kilometers away.
"We've searched all over the country," said Lida Berkhout, the school's deputy director. "From Groningen to Brabant," she told the Volkskrant.
Teachers of all levels of education are striking on Friday for more investment in education, because the quality is under pressure. More than half of primary schools are closed today. The teachers will gather on the Malieveld in The Hague to protest, NU.nl reports.
A teacher was suspended from the Hoofdvaart College in Hoofddorp in January for insulting the Prophet Mohammad, the Telegraaf reports based on the suspension letter from the school management, which the newspaper has in its possession.
According to the letter, the teacher said that the Prophet Mohammad was married to an 8-year-old girl and that this is seen as pedophilia in the Netherlands. The teacher contradicts the accusation, according to the newspaper.
General education union AOb and trade union FNV Onderwijs en Onderzoek are planning a national strike in primary, secondary and higher education on March 15th. Various action groups, including PO in Actie and WO in Actie, support the strike, the Volkskrant reports.
The Alfa college in Hoogeveen will be running school-shooting drills next week, the school informed pupils and parents in a letter. The school wants to train pupils how to react if they are ever faced with such violence. General education union AOb is baffled by the exercise, but the police applaud it, AD reports.
Most primary schools in Limburg and Noord-Brabant are closed on Friday as teachers in these provinces strike for higher salaries and lower workloads. This is the third in a relay-strike by primary school teachers in the Netherlands, following strikes in the center of the country last month, and in the north the month before.
Parents who feel that their children received a too low advice on which level to continue secondary school, are increasingly having their children take an intelligence test to pressure primary schools into giving their children a higher advice, RTL Nieuws reports.
Primary school teachers across the Netherlands are striking today for the second time this year. They want the government to push more money into increasing their salaries and decreasing their workload. PO in Actie, the action group that organized the strike, expects that more than 90 percent of primary school teachers are participating, NOS reports.
The millions of euros the new government set aside for primary education in its government agreement, is not enough for primary school teachers. The majority of them want to plan another strike, according to a survey by general education union AOb, the biggest union in primary education in the Netherlands, RTL Nieuws reports.
Teacher union AOb thinks that all 6,500 primary schools across the Netherlands will not open today as primary school teachers strike for a higher salary and lower workload. The strike continues, despite reports published on Wednesday night that the new government set an extra 500 million euros aside for primary education. Around 90 percent of primary school teachers are participating in the strike, NOS reports.
"We hardly hear of any schools that will not close. And if we don't get enough money soon, we may close for two days", an AOb spokesperson said to news wire ANP.
If a primary school teacher strike organized for Thursday does not have the desired effect, the teachers will follow it up with another two days of striking, protest group PO in Actie announced.
Primary school teachers across the Netherlands will strike on Thursday, October 5th in an attempt to push the government to increase their salaries, unions CNV Education and FNV announced.
"Politicians really need to pay up, we want a fair salary and less work pressure in primary education", CNV Education chairman Loek Schueler said to news wire ANP. "The vague commitments politics made so far are insufficient for structurally better education."
Primary school teachers in the Netherlands are demanding higher salaries and smaller class sizes. If the new government does not address both these issues in their coalition agreement, the teachers will strike for a week. "The willingness to act is greater than ever before", Jan van de Ven, teacher in Overloon and spokesperson for primary school teacher action group PO in Actie, said to newspaper AD. The strike will be "probably in September, and not in a nice week that matches with the holiday."
Primary school teachers are demanding the same salary as their colleagues in secondary education with a grade two teaching qualification, according to a manifesto written by action group PO in Actie. They want the next government to release money specifically for increasing salaries and decreasing workload for primary school teachers, the Volkskrant reports.
Almost 90 percent of Dutch teachers buy supplies for their classroom out of their own pocket, according to a poll by education union AOb. This includes stickers, books, filing cabinets and craft supplies. Some of them even spend more than 200 euros
Secondary school teachers' workload is so high that 9 thousand extra teachers are needed just to get all teachers not working over time, according to a study done by the general education union AOb
There seems to be a fight over teachers between the big cities. In an effort to solve their teacher shortage, Rotterdam announced a 5 thousand euro bonus for new teachers teaching difficult subjects like mathematics and science. Amsterdam alderman Eric van der Burg is advocating for a salary increase for teachers, police officers and nurses in the city.
Most schools in the Netherlands will be keeping Zwarte Piet in his traditional appearance during the Sinterklaas celebrations this year and in the years to come. About 34 percent of respondents find the racism debate surrounding the Sinterklaas helper not a concern for their own organizations, with 32 percent saying they do not find the character discriminatory, a survey of teachers by general education association AOb revealed on Tuesday.
The PvdA may lose half of its support from teachers who are members of the AOb union in the Provincial Election on March 18th.This is according to a survey the union did among more than 5,800 of its members.
According to State Secretary Sander Dekker of Education and the Central Planning Bureau (CPB), grade repetition should be a thing of the past.
Hundreds of teachers and staff in intermediate vocational education institutions are going on strike Thursday.
One in every six schools has classes with over 30 students. At very large schools, with more than 500 students, this is true for every one in five schools.
Teachers and school principals have little confidence in the National Education Agreement that was concluded last week between the government and the Education Foundation. This is evident from research by DUO Education Research Office under a thousand teachers and principals in primary and secondary education.
