Sick leave has risen among teachers in secondary education, according to educational labour market expert Voion.

In a new report, it cites government figures showing that 6% of staff were sick at any one time last year, a rise of 0.2%. The average sick leave has increased by almost half a day to 14 days a year – although just over a third of staff did not take any sick leave at all that year.

Voion reports that average illness leave has been creeping up in the past decade. In 2015, an average of 5% of employees were sick at any one time and the number of days taken off was 12.9. The proportion of employees who did not call in sick during the year has also dropped from 39.3% that year to 35.6% in 2024.

Teacher sick leave is higher than the Dutch average of around 5.2%, reports the Telegraaf.

Abhilash Swegobind, head of education at the CNV Onderwijs union, told the paper the figures were concerning and linked them to a lack of teaching assistants and work pressure. “They mean that the pressure for other colleagues only increases,” he reportedly said. “And then there is a danger that the next teacher falls out too.”

The number of temporary contracts has been rising in secondary education and part-time work has also been increasing, according to secondary education council the VO-raad.

Although schools are required to provide a minimum number of hours, there are indications that some secondary schools in the Netherlands are failing to meet their legal requirements. National levels of maths, science and reading have been steadily declining.