From next school year, lateral entrants and other starting teachers will be able to be exempted up to 3 hours a week with full pay to follow a teacher training course. With this “teacher bonus”, Minister of Education Ben Weyts (N-VA) wants to tackle the teacher shortage.
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Nowadays, lateral entrants can take seniority with them when they make the transition to education. Up to 10 years of seniority is provided for 20 bottleneck courses and 2 bottleneck positions, for some practical courses up to 20 years of seniority can be included. Also, lateral entrants and all young people who have obtained a higher education diploma (bachelor or master) can immediately stand in front of the class, while at the same time they follow a teacher training course to obtain a pedagogical competence certificate.
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Weyts is now introducing the teacher bonus for all those starting teachers – lateral entrants and others – who do not yet have a pedagogical competence certificate. From next school year they will be able to receive up to 3 hours per week leave for their teacher training with full pay. They will also be able to save those hours and bundle them into certain (exam) periods, when they are most needed. They will then be able to make agreements about this within the school.
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Teacher shortage
The measure fits in with the fight against the teacher shortage, says Weyts. “With the teacher bonus we pamper our lateral entrants and other novice teachers. They earn the time and space to complete their teacher training, while they are already earning money as teachers. We also ensure that teacher training courses become even more flexible and practice-oriented, tailored to the lateral entrants.”
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Schools are entitled to a replacement for the hours of educational leave, which, like the bonus itself, will be paid by the Flemish government. At cruising speed, the cost of the new system is estimated at 4 to 5 million euros per year.
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