oa De gevolgen van de functiemix voor het psychologisch contract in het voortgezet onderwijs

Effects of the ‘function mix’ on the psychological contract in secondary education

The Dutch government tries to increase the attractiveness of the job as a teacher in several ways. One of the methods is so-called the function mix. With this instrument a relatively large group of teachers can be promoted to a higher salary scale. Using psychological contract theory, we aim to explain teacher’s attitudes towards this function mix instrument. The analysis shows that especially feelings of procedural and egalitarian justice are an important determinant of this attitude towards this new system. More specifically, our analysis shows that a system by which teachers prove their eligibility themselves for promotion, combined with a fast implementation, has a positive effect on the attitude towards the function mix instrument. The analysis also shows that effects on teacher’s attitudes (like commitment and motivation) are – contrary to the expectation – rather limited.