School strike

Today, most of the schools in Flanders are closed. No teachers present, so parents have to find a solution for their kids.

It's been about 20 years past that there was such a general strike in education. Teachers are tired of the pressure that's placed on them. Big classes, always more administration (all kind of reports to be written about what happens in the classroom, , about each individual student), stress, ...

A decree of some years ago - the M-decree - added to the problems as well. This allows kids with a mental or bodily handicap to come to ordinary schools instead of special ones. Having such a kid in the classroom brings extra work, for which the teacher doesn't always find the time. Normally, such kids should get extra help but in reality this doesn't always work out. For instance, someone comes to help out for 2 hours a week, while a normal school week is 28 hours...

I can understand that teaching has become a hard profession. It was already so when I took my pension. I always liked to be in the classroom, but all the other stuff became a bit too much. So much is expected of a teacher. Not only have to bring knowledge to the student, but you also have to be a psychologist, a doctor or nurse, a social worker, a parent... No wonder so many people stay home with a burn-out or depression! And to add to the problems, the government expects they work longer than we had to do.

Let's hope the new government will have an ear to the complaints of the teachers and try to do something about it!