A fund to help schools hire career-changing professionals as teachers has been very effective, Deputy Education Minister Marja van Bijsterveldt has said.

Earlier this year she made available 6 million euros for a scheme to stimulate people in other careers to change over to teaching. Many schools have used the facility, leaving the fund all but depleted.

Schools are expecting huge teacher shortages in the near future. The scheme ensures that schools receive a subsidy when they hire career-changers as teachers. People who made a career in other professions often earn more than teachers who are the same age; the subsidy enables schools to make up the difference. Because of the shift that people make, from one career ladder to another, they are informally referred to as "side-entrance" teachers.

The scheme allows these new recruits to begin teaching even before they have completed their mandatory qualification course, from which they are not exempt despite their previous work experience.

Two-thirds of the "side-entrance" schoolteachers find a job in secondary education, while one-third teach in mid-level vocational training colleges.

(NOS, www.aob.nl)