“Fantasies, ill-considered measures and recipes from the past”: education unions will take five days of action in May

On behalf of Flemish Minister of Education Ben Weyts (N-VA), the Committee of Wise Men, led by Dirk Van Damme and Paul Yperman, developed seventy proposals for the professionalization of the teaching profession. When its report was published in December, the unions already responded critically.

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ACOD Education, COC and VSOA Education have now decided to take action against the recommendations in the report. They dismiss them as “fantasies, ill-considered measures and recipes from the past”, which will not help to make education “high-quality and attractive”. “For many staff members, the proposals of the Committee of Wise Men are the opposite of what is necessary. The 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 us the opportunity to make that voice louder,” it said.

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Antwerp, Ostend, Leuven, Hasselt, Ghent

In concrete terms, in May they organize demonstrations on five different days in five different cities in all Flemish provinces. Antwerp is the first to come on Tuesday, May 7, followed by Ostend on Wednesday, May 8, Leuven on Monday, May 13, Hasselt on Tuesday, May 14 and finally Ghent on Wednesday, May 15. The actions will be accompanied by strike notices.

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However, the inconvenience for school children will probably remain limited. “The intention is not to strike for the sake of striking, but to participate in the demonstration,” says Koen Van Kerkhoven of the ACV. “And I don’t expect education staff to participate in all five demonstrations, but probably only in the nearest one. Everyone is free in that. People may also choose the day on which they do not have lessons.”

Objections

In terms of content, the unions mainly have a problem with one of the spearheads of the committee’s 70-point plan: the introduction of a 38-hour week for teachers. This should replace the current teaching assignments of at least 20 hours per week, but according to Nancy Libert of ACOD, it is free. “Research has shown that teachers work much more than 38 hours,” she said recently. “If that happens, there must be a system for time registration or to compensate for overtime. Now there is nothing in return.”

“COC does not find an appropriate answer in the report to the real concerns that staff members in education have been struggling with for years,” it said at the time. “The members made it clear that they are once again hungry. An answer to the loss of quality, the increasing demand for care and aggression, complex class groups, permanent ‘plan burden’, the lack of respect for the teaching staff, work pressure, etc. remains missing. Terminating the statute does not provide a solution to all these concerns nor does it make the profession more attractive.”

Weyts: “Just an advice”

In a short response, Flemish Minister of Education Ben Weyts (N-VA) emphasizes that the report of the Commission of Wise Men is only advice for the next Flemish government. “Because everyone is calling for a reform of the educational organization,” he says. “But if you get into stitches when you receive advice, you make every conversation impossible. What is next: to strike against an idea, against an opinion?”