Netherlands

Training & Qualifications: Primary school teachers are qualified to teach all subjects, but they specialize in one subject area. Teachers complete a four-year teachertraining degree at an HBO institution. Secondary teachers specialize in one subject area and are qualified to teach the lower years of VMBO, HAVO and VWO. Teachers who complete a one-year postgraduate course at a university or a three-year part time program at an HBO are qualified to teach at all levels of secondary education. ICT training is emphasized, especially with primary school teachers. In 2000, the eventual goal is to use ICT for 50 percent of teaching time, and teacher-training institutions need to build this expertise.

Between 2001 and 2004, the Netherlands will need approximately 8,500 new primary school teachers a year, 5,500 secondary school teachers, and from 2,500-3,500 vocational and adult education instructors. There is a teacher shortage in the Netherlands, and not enough teachers are being trained to keep up with demand. Steps are being taken to bring ex-teachers back to the profession and to recruit new teachers from college graduates in other fields. The teacher shortage is most pronounced in the large cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague and Utrecht.

The government understands that it needs to make the teaching profession more attractive by offering competitive working conditions and salaries, making time and money available for in-service training, and to lighten teacher load by increasing support staff. Teachers want more time for innovation and student counseling. In addition, more efforts towards decentralizing working conditions in primary education are needed. The "Professions in Education Act" will be sent to Parliament at the end of 2001, outlining necessary reforms in the teaching profession in the hopes of curbing the national teacher shortage.