A new bill proposes that educational institutions in the Netherlands may spend a maximum of 5% of the budget on self-employed persons and temporary workers, reports Zipconomy. The bill, ‘Strategic Personnel Policy' was put forward by ministers Robbert Dijkgraaf (Education, Culture and Science) and Dennis Wiersma (Primary and Secondary Education). It is aimed at primary education, secondary education and partly at MBO (secondary vocational education). The law is set to come into force in 2024.

An earlier trend report from the ministry shows that primary and secondary education is still below that 5%. The education ministers want to make it more attractive to choose a job in education. The ministers also want to prevent school employees from leaving the education sector and the implied consequence that there are ‘constantly changing faces’ in front of the class. For primary and secondary education, the draft bill contains a number of labour law measures. From now on, qualified teaching staff will receive a permanent contract after a maximum of one year. In addition, school boards must ensure that at least 80% of the staff have an employment contract for an indefinite period. On average, schools are now above that 80%, according to the trend report. The Ministry is collecting responses to the bill through the internet consultation on ‘Strategic Personnel Policy in Education’.