House of Representatives and ministers in debate about education budget.

House of Representatives and ministers in debate about education budget.

Last week the House of Representatives debated with education ministers Slob and Van Engelshoven about the 2022 budget. The different parties in the House respond to the plans and make their own proposals. Due to the caretaker status of the cabinet, the budget contains no striking plans other than the announced billions from the National Education Program.

Teacher shortage

The debate naturally focused a lot on the teacher shortage. Beertema (PVV) noted that education is in a permanent state of crisis. Although 500 million euros were released during the General Political Reflections in September to partly close the wage gap between teachers in primary and secondary education, many parties say more money is needed to tackle the teacher shortage. Van Meenen (D66): ‘Politics has been putting bandages on for too long. It is time for real healers.’

From special secondary education to specialized secondary education

Almost every faction paid attention to the petition by the action group ‘From special secondary education to specialized secondary education’. They want special secondary education to change into specialized secondary education and to fall under the collective labor agreement for secondary education. Van Meenen got the most attention for the plans by wearing a sweater of the action group during his speaking time. Read more about the idea and the petition.

An amendment by De Hoop (PvdA) and Westerveld (GL) to close the salary gap between special secondary education and secondary education was discouraged by the minister.

Tailored education and Duty of care reports

Westerveld also submitted a motion to release 3 million euros for the improvement agenda for Tailored Education, if money remained from the budget. The minister gave a positive opinion on this motion and said it is likely that money will remain.

Simons (BIJ1) questioned minister Slob about the problems with Veilig Thuis reports at families that keep their child(ren) at home due to a high medical risk from corona. The minister said he does not recognize these situations. Simons will send her examples to the minister. Ouders & Onderwijs has also been in contact about this with the ministry.

School costs

Shadow education such as tutoring and the inequality it causes were also mentioned. Especially Kwint (SP) and Westerveld took time for this. Kwint called it ‘a quick and quiet privatization of education’. Not every parent can afford to buy extra education. According to the parties, the quality of regular education should be so high that extra tutoring, for example, is not needed.

De Hoop submitted an amendment to release 100 million euros for digital learning tools such as tablets and graphic calculators for children whose parents cannot pay for them. The minister also discouraged this amendment because an evaluation of the Act on Free School Books is still upcoming.

Amendments travel costs practical education track and adult education

Westerveld and De Hoop submitted an amendment to arrange a student travel card for students in the Practical Education Track and adult education, because these students often have to travel further to school. The minister discouraged this because the submitters did not cover the costs well financially.

Intermediate vocational education

Regarding intermediate vocational education there was mainly attention for internship shortages, internship discrimination, and shortages in technical and care sectors. Many parties also said there should be more respect for skilled workers. Van der Plas (BBB) submitted a motion to stop using the terms ‘highly and lowly educated’.

Votes on the motions and amendments will be on Tuesday, 23 November. The budget itself will be voted on in early December.