The matter in summary There is a great need for more staff in the nurseries, and the poor staffing leads to high attrition and high sickness absence, which in turn leads to an even greater need for substitutes. Norwegian municipalities spend around NOK 1 billion on hiring temporary workers from agencies. Rødt has calculated that one could pay for 1,270 permanently employed full-time pedagogues, 1,359 skilled workers or 1,652 assistants a year for the same sums that were spent on temp agencies in kindergartens in 2022. But there is disagreement about how this can be resolved. The Education Association proposes to increase the basic staffing in the departments in the kindergartens, in addition to bringing in at least one additional kindergarten teacher in each kindergarten. KS believes that it is necessary to recruit more people to choose the professions in schools and kindergartens, and that it is important to show how valuable the job is. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – The numbers say two things. One is that there is a massive need for more people in the kindergartens. The second is that the poor staffing leads to high attrition and high levels of sickness absence, which leads to an even greater need for substitutes, says Hege Bae Nyholt. She is a parliamentary representative for Rødt and chair of the Education and Research Committee. Norwegian schools and kindergartens are struggling to get hold of enough substitutes. Kindergartens are the hardest hit. At the same time, Norwegian municipalities also spend large sums on temporary workers every year. Some provide temporary workers themselves, others use staffing agencies. Following a request from Rødt, the Storting’s investigation section has ordered and reviewed figures from the supplier database for the Municipal report, to see how much the temp agencies associated with Norwegian municipalities make in the year. news has gained access to these figures, which show that the municipalities that have registered their expenses spent around one billion kroner on substitutes for schools and kindergartens in 2022. Something Hege Bae Nyholt thinks is unfortunate. Unfortunate but important? – When you constantly have to buy temporary services from commercial companies, it leads to greater expenses. These companies have to make money too, so the costs will be extra high, she says. – In addition, the high use of temporary workers leads to instability. Not only for the permanent employees in the nursery and for the children, but also for the temporary workers who have to wait to be told whether they are going to work or not. Rødt has calculated that one could pay for 1,270 permanently employed full-time pedagogues, 1,359 skilled workers or 1,652 assistants a year for the same sums that were spent on temp agencies in kindergartens in 2022. This is how Rødt has calculated According to the figures from the supplier database of the Municipal Report, the municipalities used 825, NOK 3 million for substitutes in kindergartens and NOK 101.8 million for substitutes to strengthen the offer for pre-school children in 2022. A total of NOK 927.2 million. According to the calculations from the Finance Committee at the Storting, a year’s work in kindergartens costs the following, including employer’s tax and other social costs: Kindergarten teacher: NOK 730,000 Skilled worker: NOK 682,000 Unskilled assistant: NOK 561,000 They then divided 927.2 million at the different rates and then got 1,270 pedagogues , 1,359 skilled workers or 1,652 assistants. SMARTER USE OF MONEY: Hege Bae Nyholt in Rødt believes that the municipalities get more for their money if they employ more people in the kindergartens rather than spending large sums on temp workers from agencies. Photo: Marthe Svendsen / news Kristin Holm Jensen is department director for upbringing, culture and education in the municipal sector’s organization KS. She says that substitutes are needed to make everyday life go round in schools and nurseries. – The best thing is of course to use the resources to ensure stable and good staffing. But in some cases you need these services, and then there is a necessary expense, she says. – What are the advantages and disadvantages of using temporary workers from agencies? – The advantage is that it can cover a short-term need for a substitute, for example in case of sick leave. The disadvantage is, of course, that there will be more instability and a higher expense than if you manage to have more stable and permanent staffing. NECESSARY: Kristin Holm Jensen in KS believes it is difficult to avoid temporary employment. Photo: Press photo Turnover of several hundred million Pedagogisk vikarsentral and Adecco among the very largest players. For letting to schools and kindergartens, they had a turnover of several hundred million kroner in 2022, according to the figures from the Supplier Database. Executive director of Adecco, Bjørn Wiik, believes they are doing an important job to close gaps in the duty schedules in Norwegian schools and kindergartens. – Schools and kindergartens are hit hard by the fact that there is a shortage of labor in Norway. We are a small country, and we simply do not have enough people to fill all the gaps in the private and public sector. Especially now that labor immigration has almost stopped completely, he writes in an e-mail. He says that they make thorough requirements for training and police certificates for their substitutes. And that they try to the greatest extent possible to send the same people to the kindergartens they have attended in the past, in order to create stability. “Unfortunately, there is nothing to indicate that the challenge with staffing within schools and kindergartens will decrease in the coming years,” he writes further. And there we enter a field where both politicians, KS and the Education Association disagree. How are we going to reduce the use of temporary workers? Difficult to increase staffing Ann Mari Milo Lorentzen is incoming deputy chair of the Education Association, with a long career in kindergarten behind her. She believes the most important move is to do something with the basic staff. – In practice, the nurseries only have full staff between 4 and 5 hours a day. This causes wear and tear on the employees, which in turn can lead to a vicious spiral with more sickness absence, she says. The Education Association proposes to introduce a model where they increase the basic staffing in the departments in the kindergartens, in addition to bringing in at least one extra kindergarten teacher in each kindergarten. Price: between NOK 4.9 and 5.3 billion. HIGHER REQUIREMENTS: Ann Mari Milo Lorentzen and the Education Association want a higher staffing standard in kindergartens. Photo: Utdanningsforbundet In its proposal for the state budget, Rødt will spend NOK 900 million on what they call peak staffing. Like the Education Association, Rødt wants to start by bringing in one extra educator or professional worker, on top of the basic staff. – It is an attempt that has been carried out in several places, including in Trondheim and Oslo, says Hege Bae Nyholt in Rødt. – The signals are that more qualified people at work lead to lower sickness absence, increased well-being and that there are more people to share at work. But Kristin Holm Jensen in KS does not think it is that simple. – We are already struggling today to get hold of enough people to meet the requirements for staffing in schools and kindergartens. So the way we see it, we must first of all try to recruit more people to choose these professions, she says. – Then we have to show how important and valuable that job is. The vast majority of people in such jobs enjoy themselves and find it very meaningful to work with children and young people. And then we have to work on strengthening the team around the nursery and the school, because many people experience a challenging work situation with many tasks. Uddanningsforbundet and Rødt, on the other hand, believe that there is already a market for getting enough labour. – There are many kindergarten teachers who have moved on to other professions. In several surveys, many of them have answered that if there are more kindergarten teachers and increased basic staffing, then they may not come back, says Ann Mari Milo Lorentzen of the Norwegian Education Association.
ttn-69
Schools and kindergartens spend around NOK 1 billion on temp agencies – news Nordland
