Various Flemish education unions have called on teaching staff to take to the streets for five days of protest in May to express dissatisfaction about a report which presented several proposals to tackle the chronic teacher shortages in the region.
Hundreds of Dutch-speaking schools in Flanders and Brussels are still struggling to fill staff vacancies, a persistent problem that is impacting the quality of education and also staff wellbeing. Last December a report put forward 70 proposals to tackle this shortage but it was furiously rejected by staff and education unions. Three Flemish unions (ACOD Education, COC and VSOA Education) will now organise several demonstrations in May to openly denounce the report.
"With fantasies, ill-considered measures and recipes from the past, we are not going to make education qualitative and attractive in the future," the unions wrote in a statement. "That is why we are organising actions on Tuesday 7 May in Antwerp, on Wednesday 8 May in Ostend, on Monday 13 May in Leuven, on Tuesday 14 May in Hasselt and on Wednesday 15 May in Ghent."
The unions called on teachers to take to the streets to express their anger and added that strike notices would be submitted for the actions.
Opposite of what is needed
The contested report of the so-called 'Commission of Sages' (Commissie der Wijzen) was commissioned by Flemish Education Minister Ben Weyts (N-VA) in 2022. The group of experts, teachers and school headmasters came up with 70 proposals at the end of last year to tackle the teacher shortage and outline a vision for a modern personnel policy in education.
Recommendations included a 38-hour working week (down from the current average of 43 hours), extra pay for teachers working in difficult schools, more focus on starting teachers and ensuring new teachers are taken on for an entire year to guarantee stability.
But despite the apparent sense in such proposals, the three unions were immediately critical, arguing that the report fails to substantiate the proposals or explain how they will be achieved and measures. Subsequent surveys conducted by the unions found that teaching staff were also widely dissatisfied with the proposals. "For many staff members, the proposals are the opposite of what is needed," they argued.
Related News
- Cry for help: Brussels' teacher shortage forces children to change schools mid-term
- The ultimate taboo? What Belgium teaches children about its colony in Congo
"Staff members – the real experts – are once again not being heard by policymakers. With our actions, we want to give our members and anyone who wants to join them the chance to make that voice louder." It is unclear what the impact of the strikes will be on school opening hours.
In a reaction to the announcement of the five-day actions, Weyts stressed that the report is purely to advise the next Flemish Government. "Everyone is calling for the educational system to be reorganised," he said in a statement to The Brussels Times. "But if you react so strongly to advice, you shut down the possibility of any dialogue. What's next: a strike against an idea, against an opinion?"
