Belgium the pits for teachers pay

22 June 2004

BRUSSELS – Belgium is the only European country that does not give bonuses to its teachers, it was reported Tuesday.

A study by the Eurydice information service on European education found that just about every other country gave cash perks to teachers on top of their basic salries.

The bonuses were awarded for things like working overtime, moving house in order to take up a teaching post or long service.

Denmark, Greece, Poland and Slovenia were at the head of the class in this area, and were found to use a “maximum amount of criteria” to calculate bonuses. At the other end of the spectrum was Belgium, which was found to be at a “complete dead-end” on the subject.

Not surprisingly, Belgium did not rank among the group of countries undertaking initiatives in the area of teacher training.

The Netherlands and England were found to be particularly pro-active teacher training, by for example setting up independent certification and evaluation centres for future educators.

Subject : Belgian news