Programme Director Ron Scholte makes no secret of it: there are good reasons to be concerned about the survival of the study programme in Pedagogical Sciences of Primary Education (PWPO). But he rejects the notion that the problems will only affect this specific study programme. ‘What is happening at PWPO is also happening at Pedagogical Sciences.’

Ron Scholte begins with a disclaimer. As Programme Director, he is responsible not only for Pedagogical Sciences of Primary Education (PWPO) but also for the other study programmes within his department. By far the largest of these is Pedagogical Sciences, which accounts for about 90% of all students. Scholte wishes to stress that he also represents the interests of that study programme.

Having said that, he fully recognises the concerns around PWPO. ‘We are facing a massive challenge. There is no reorganisation plan so there are no compulsory redundancies of permanent staff. We hardly have any natural attrition (people retiring, eds.), so we are left with only one way of cutting back: not extending temporary contracts. That feels very unfair to those on temporary contracts. They are simply unlucky.’

Pedagogical Sciences and Educational Sciences (PWO), as Scholte’s department is called, has to make substantial cuts. How much exactly the Programme Director does not yet know – the amounts vary from €700,000 to €1.1 million on a budget of over €7 million. ‘We have already discontinued a number of courses. We look at the qualifications students have to meet, and use that as a yardstick to assess courses. If a course is not essential but costs a lot of money, that can be a reason to discontinue it.’

Staff at PWPO are concerned about the survival of the study programme. Is that justified?

‘We can absorb a lot. But we cannot do without all the temporary staff. We will not be able to compensate for them at such short notice. If we need to adjust or discontinue courses, this has to be integrated in the Education and Examination Regulations for next year. That is a practical problem because the EER has to be established and fixed now.’

‘In addition, people at PWPO are rightly concerned about expertise being lost if all the temporary lecturers leave. PWPO is a highly specialised programme and its lecturers cannot simply be replaced. We do not automatically have the knowledge and expertise to replace departing colleagues, which may lead to PWPO no longer being able to meet lecturer competence requirements.’

Temporary lecturers have already received a letter saying that their contracts will not be renewed, but you are saying that the study programme cannot do without them. Will you have to hire again in a few months anyway to fill the gaps?

‘We will have to. We cannot let so many contracts expire in one fell swoop – we will not be able to man the courses, because we don’t have all the expertise. That takes at least two or three years to build. We will have to use the coming year to train the permanent staff in the specialisms that are part of the study programme. After that, we may be able to let go of some of the temporary staff.’

‘Study programmes are in danger of collapsing unchecked’

‘This is what is happening on the ground because of the cuts. Study programmes are in danger of collapsing unchecked. If we cannot renew any contract, the risk of that happening at PWPO is extremely high.’

Ultimately, Scholte says, it comes down to whether the Faculty as a whole remains bound by the budget agreements with the Executive Board. These imply that by 2027, the Faculty should not spend more money than it earns. ‘If these agreements are maintained, and we lose all our temporary staff, I don’t dare to predict what will happen.’

PWPO lecturers say: in three months’ time, all the people who are now being shown the door will have other jobs.

‘I also get phone calls from employees saying: if I cannot give me clarity right now, I will start to look for another job. That is the risk. But I cannot do anything about that uncertainty at the moment.’

Emotions

Scholte recounts a meeting with all employees within his department in late February. Vice Dean of Education Jochem Tolsma was also present. They were confronted with the emotions of employees who were deeply concerned about the survival of their study programme. Emotions ran high, eventually leading up to a fit of rage.

‘I stood there as a director and I could handle the criticism. But I was told afterwards by staff from other study programmes that they felt unsafe because of the way PWPO stood up for itself. They missed a sense of solidarity.’

Do you understand why people are emotional? PWPO argues that due to its heavy reliance on temporary staff, it is disproportionately affected by the austerity measures.

‘Of course, and I took the emotions as an important signal. But what is at happening at PWPO is also happening at Pedagogical Sciences. There, we train 400 professionals a year to reduce waiting lists for children with complex care needs. The clinical specialisation in Pedagogical Sciences also employs many practitioners with temporary appointments who know everything about treatment skills, for example. We are also in danger of losing those areas of expertise.’

Could you have done anything to soothe the emotions of your PWPO colleagues?

‘I try to be as transparent as possible. I informed those with expiring contracts by sending them an email. Some people were outraged by that. But a few days later, a general email was due to be sent out stating that none of the temporary contracts would be renewed. That would have been much worse.’