Education tip
With a fresh diploma in your hand, you are ready for class. All education collective labor agreements contain agreements specifically for starters. Read that collective labor agreement, because: “It doesn't just come to you.”
Tekst Karen Hagen - Redactie Onderwijsblad - - 8 Minuten om te lezen
Picture: Rosa Snijders
'Oo, I wish I had heard this much sooner.' It is a statement that Marion van der Burg, teacher of specialized secondary education and PR consultant at AOb, is often heard from fourth-year education students when she provides information about the collective labor agreement for primary education (primary education). She lays a foundation. “It often starts with the question: what is a collective labor agreement and the explanation that it is something other than a contract.”
Being proactive helps. If you are aware, you can ask about it
Thea Schouten, Dutch teacher in secondary education (VO) and Franklin Wagner, law teacher in secondary vocational education (MBO), also provide information from the AOb. Wagner: “I emphasize that they do not need to know the entire collective labor agreement, but they should read the regulations for starters. Being proactive helps. If you are aware, you can ask about it. It would be a shame if you leave that behind. I'll give you a note: at many ROCs there is something on paper, but it doesn't just come to you.”
When are you a starter?*
The definition of 'starter' varies per sector. In primary education, everyone in the bottom three steps of the LB, LC and LD salary scale falls into that category. So the first three years of service. In secondary schools, this is the first regular appointment in a teaching position. An appointment as a teacher in training (lio) or a replacement appointment does not count. The definition in MBO is consistent with that of secondary education. In higher professional education, this concerns starting or novice employees in the first three years of their career.
Time to land quietly*
Time to land quietly*There is room in the annual task collective labor agreements po, vo en mbo the most important appointment for starters. Van der Burg: “If you start at a primary school, starters receive 80 hours annually for three years: 40 hours of sustainable employability plus an extra 40 hours for starters. You can link those 80 hours to education, by giving fewer lessons in consultation or by doing extra professionalization.”
De collective labor agreement is even clearer: Starters teach 20 percent fewer lessons in the first year. In the second year this will be a reduction of 10 percent. Schouten: “If you work full-time, it means no lessons for one day, the rest pro rata. That is very nice in the beginning, you can watch with colleagues that day. The stress in that first year is often due to the teaching tasks. Fewer lessons also mean less pre- and post-work, so double the gain.”
The secondary school teacher sees that employers sometimes already implement this lesson reduction when traineeship trainees are partly employed due to shortages. “They get a contract for 1 day a week and the rest is a traineeship. If that 20 percent is calculated over 1 day, this agreement to teach less is of little use in practice. A 5-day working week is more useful: it means no lessons for 1 day.”
If you start in secondary vocational education, you will receive 6,25 percent of the 1659 hours for 'induction activities' during the first two years: 103 hours for a full-time employee. “That's really nice, because you can use it to reduce teaching time,” says Wagner.
De CLA HBO talks about a 'soft landing'. Beginning teachers must be given enough time for professional development in the first year. They are also entitled to 45 hours for sustainable employability.
Independent coach [po]
Starters in primary education are entitled to an independent coach. “This may not be a direct manager or colleague with management tasks,” says Van der Burg. There is a lot of difference in how schools deal with this: one board hires a professional education agency, the other appoints a colleague. “At an education agency you know that the interests are independent. Make sure that the person with whom you have the guidance meeting and shares your frustrations about Snappet or talks about the struggles with the behavior of students is not the person with whom you have a performance or assessment interview. Then you cannot learn safely.”
Very full: other tasks [primary, secondary]
“Be careful about this,” Van der Burg advises. For a full-time starter job in primary care, this involves 194 hours for the other tasks. “These are study days, conversations with parents, consultations with partnerships, language and arithmetic working groups, musicals, working week, a four-day evening. I see very enthusiastic people who immediately say 'yes' to everything, but be cautious. These hours quickly fill up with things that already have to be done, such as conversations with parents or study days. The tasks that remain are divided within a team. My advice? Don't take on too many tasks and, as a starter, don't immediately join the participation council (mr).”
Guidance and introduction*
In primary education, the staff section of the participation council (pmr) must agree to the work distribution plan and the arrangement for the introduction and guidance of starters. “Look up what regulations schools have where you would like to work,” Van der Burg suggests. "The dog mandatory to discuss the starter policy in the work distribution plan. Also take a look at the information about a school onscholenopdekaart.nl or check the school guide in the starters section.” The work distribution plan, in which the team divides tasks every year, must also state how much time colleagues are given for guiding starters and lateral entrants.
From the coming school year, secondary schools must have a three-year induction program, including the time that starters spend on this. Attention must be paid to familiarization within the school culture, intervision, observation, guidance and the application of lesson reduction. Secondary education starters are not charged with a mentorship in the first year.
Secondary schools must have a three-year induction program from the coming school year
De CLA MBO demands a scheme that pays attention to starters at every institution. “If I were to receive 100 euros for every institution that has not arranged this, or where many people are not aware of it, I could go on holiday,” says Wagner. His tip? “Contact the works council or mr of your institution. Managers often have to give permission to colleagues to supervise a starter, but then they must know about it. Send an email or check the portal where the works council is located in the building.”
If I were given 100 euros for every institution that has not arranged the starter scheme, or where many people are not aware of it, I could go on holiday
In higher professional education, negotiators agreed that each college will draw up its own induction policy for starters. This concerns a period of maximum 3 years. The pmr must agree to this and the employer must 'actively' promote the policy. Employers must organize professionalization and 'adequately train' new employees. Starters must be given the opportunity to start their Basic Teaching Qualification or a preparation for it in the first year. When dividing work, the employer must take into account the induction process and the 'professional maturity' of a starting teacher.
Contract [primary, secondary, vocational]
Contract [primary, secondary, vocational]Check who the legal employer is when you sign a contract. Van der Burg has already encountered several starters in primary school who had a different employer than they thought. “Payroll organizations leave the recruitment of starters to the school itself,” she explains. "So you have a conversation with the director, but I have already seen seven examples of people whose contract ultimately included a payroll organization as their legal employer. This means a worse position for starters, because they fall under the collective labor agreement for temporary workers. So always check whether the name of the school board is on your contract and which collective labor agreement you fall under.” Furthermore, make sure that the contract is signed on the day you start. “Think of it just like a purchase contract the contract has not been signed, you can no longer negotiate anything.”
Negotiate travel costs [po, vo]
The collective labor agreement contains standard agreements about travel expenses. Teacher Schouten urges starters to negotiate about this. “I teach in Amsterdam myself, but anyone who comes from further away must ask for a full reimbursem*nt of all kilometers. That is not automatically arranged.”
Complete your education*
All three teachers emphasize that starters must complete their training, even though the temptation is sometimes great not to do so. Especially if a school does not pay an internship allowance, it is lucrative to be paid for a number of hours in scale LB, step 1. “But with a diploma your negotiating position is so much better,” says Schouten. “It ultimately yields more, because you can then immediately start in a much higher salary scale. I hear starters who start at step 7. Especially if they teach a shortage subject.”
Failure is also lurking. “You burn out before you really start if you study on the side.” Van der Burg notices that many people are honored if they can continue to work at their internship school. “But in these times you can make demands. Do they have a continuous schedule or a good starter scheme? See what suits you.”
* Texts with a star apply to the primary, secondary, vocational and higher professional education sectors. The collective labor agreement for wo does not contain specific regulations for starters.
The collective labor agreements of all sectors can be found under the heading 'CBA & Salary' To the collective labor agreements
