There is much unrest among the staff at the study programme in Pedagogical Sciences of Primary Education (PWPO). The cuts are hitting so hard there that there are concerns about the programme's survival. Lecturers are sounding the alarm.

Karlijn van Weele is one of the lecturers in Pedagogical Sciences of Primary Education (PWPO) whose time at Radboud University is coming to an end next summer. She completed the study programme herself and is now the coordinator of the arts and culture course, which includes visual education, drama and children’s literature – all compulsory topics for prospective primary school teachers.

She is sorry that her contract will not be renewed due to budget cuts, especially for the study programme. ‘I would have liked to stay to help further develop the study programme. Fortunately, I also work as a remedial teacher, which also gives me an outlet for my skills and qualities.’

Young study programme

Primary schools face both a quantitative and qualitative shortage of teachers. With this in mind, Radboud University launched its own study programme specifically for primary school teachers in 2018. That way, the University could not only provide additional lecturers but also raise the standard of teaching.

Now, seven years later, the future of the Pedagogical Sciences of Primary Education (PWPO) study programme is hanging by a thread. If the Faculty’s announced austerity measures go through, the study programme will no longer be able to deliver skilled teachers, say the staff at the Maria Montessori building.

‘We are a study programme with many young lecturers,’ says Professor Eddie Denessen, who is responsible for PWPO. ‘Many of our staff are on temporary appointments that only involve teaching. In that sense, we are not yet well anchored within the Faculty, which makes us vulnerable.’

All lecturers with expiring contracts, such as Van Weele, have received a letter of dismissal in recent weeks. This is a Faculty-wide measure for addressing the financial shortfalls. Inflation, higher staff salary costs, and budget cuts from The Hague mean purse strings must be tightened.

This greatly worries Denessen, who is responsible for next year’s timetables. If PWPO dismiss all their temporary staff next summer, they will lose 35% of their teaching staff in one fell swoop.

‘The consequence for the study programme is that we will have to make do without all the good people’

These gaps can be filled by transferring lecturers from other study programmes, such as Pedagogical Sciences, to PWPO, as suggested by the Faculty’s governing bodies. But it is not that simple, sighs Denessen. PWPO employs lecturers with very specific areas of expertise, many of whom are teachers themselves. One of them knows everything about teaching arithmetic, another one about classroom management, and a third one about teaching handwriting. ‘You can’t just transfer someone from Pedagogical Sciences to PWPO and expect the quality of education to be maintained.’

Long-term plan

‘The consequence for the study programme is that we will have to make do without all the good people,’ says Kim Cordewener, PWPO lecturer since the early days and former programme coordinator. She refers to the turbulent early days of PWPO, when the study programme faced a lot of criticism – in particular from secondary schools that resisted the idea of a purely academic study programme for primary school teachers. ‘But we have everything on track now. Our student intake is stable (around 50 to 60 a year, eds.), our students are incredibly loved in the professional field, and we have been earmarked as a top programme based on the results of the National Student Survey. Every day, we are engaged in our passion: making education better.’

Cordewener is struggling to accept the fact that budget cuts are now jeopardising everything that has been built so far. ‘All alarm bells should be going off, but it looks as if awareness of the consequences for the study programme has not dawned on administrators.’ What is missing, says Cordewener, is a long-term plan. ‘I understand the need for cuts, but this needs to be done in an intelligent, sustainable way. Not like this.’

‘When you reorganise, at least you have a plan. That is completely missing now’

‘Rücksichtslos,’ is what lecturer Linda Reus calls the present approach. ‘They are simply terminating all temporary contracts. No distinction is made between study programmes, while this measure is hitting some programmes much harder than others. PWPO is being hit ridiculously hard.’

Lecturers are told that this is how the Faculty Board is trying to avoid a reorganisation, which would also put permanent jobs at risk. That sounds laudable, but according to Reus, the current approach is not much better. ‘When you reorganise, at least you have a plan. That is completely missing now.’

Social problem

What is downright insulting, according to lecturers Van Weele, Cordewener and Reus, is that the added value of PWPO is now under discussion. ‘Whereas you only have to open a newspaper to read about the teacher shortage,’ says Reus.

Cordewener: ‘We see that our study programme works – we are delivering good teachers and contributing to reducing a social problem.’ She also criticises the provision of information from the Board. ‘The hollow answers we get don’t help us feel like we are being taken seriously. We all agree: if these measures are not taken off the table, PWPO will disappear.’

Should the study programme get the green light in a few months to fill the gaps with temporary staff, it will struggle to do so, the lecturers argue. Around this time of year, primary schools are completing the formation for the coming school year. PWPO lecturers who have received a letter of dismissal will have to choose for themselves and put in more hours in the classroom, they expect.

PWPO will probably also not need to bother calling Van Weele. ‘If I get the chance to extend my contract at my other job, I will not hesitate to do so.’