No performance-related pay for teachers in The Netherlands
The Dutch government announced today that it will no longer pursue plans to introduce performance related pay. Education Secretary Halbe Zijlstra has decided that the 80 million euro budget providing for performance pay experiments will be reallocated.
EI member organizations in The Netherlands, AOb and CNV Onderwijs, had raised strong objections to the Government’s performance pay plans. The unions believe performance pay gives a perverse incentive to school boards and teachers and does not improve education quality.
“It was a useless experiment and we welcome the withdrawal of these plans,” says an AOb spokesperson. The government also revoked a 200 million euro cutback in the country’s special education budget which was the subject of a one day strike by the union members earlier this year.
