Despite a decrease in the total number of teaching vacancies within the Community Education system compared to last year, shortages in Dutch and mathematics teachers have worsened, according to a survey conducted across 529 Community Education (GO!) schools.
The survey indicates that 70% of these schools are struggling with staffing shortages, with a total of 718 full-time vacancies, 595 of which are teaching positions. Staff shortages are least severe at the beginning of the academic year but increase as the year progresses, with current figures double that of September.
GO! attributes the reduction in vacancies compared to the previous year to the extra efforts by school teams to fill gaps, although this has put significant pressure on staff and the quality of education, the school group warns.
Teacher shortages have nevertheless grown in some subjects, with Dutch experiencing a 5% rise and mathematics seeing a 40% increase in vacancies. Vacancies for school directors and support staff have also escalated.
Data from the Agency for Educational Services (Agodi) reveal a yearly increase in sick leave, and a survey by SERV shows that work-related stress among educational workers exceeds the Flemish sector average. “We must make the job more manageable,” says CEO Koen Pelleriaux. GO! is relaunching a recruitment campaign and collaborating on sustainable staffing policies with schools while hoping for improvements in employment status during this legislative session.
Pelleriaux also aims to reduce teachers’ workload by assisting in the translation of curricula into concrete lesson plans and resources. “We currently leave them too much to their own devices, making them do unnecessarily repetitive work,” he asserts.
