“End the insecurity for junior lecturers and give them permanent contracts”
That junior lecturers at the UvA are still treated like disposable staff is unacceptable, four of them argue in this opinion piece. They have launched a petition demanding permanent contracts. “Our position allows the UvA to accommodate fluctuating student numbers, while we pay the price in the form of insecurity.”
We, the Junior Lecturers (D4s) and staff of the University of Amsterdam, organised under “Casual UvA”, have launched a petition demanding that the University recognize the structural nature of our work and grant immediate permanent contracts. In less than 2 weeks, more than 700 colleagues and students have signed it, demonstrating a clear support for our cause. Whether you are a D4, a member of staff, a student or anyone in the UvA who recognizes our struggle, we ask that you sign the petition and stand in solidarity with us.
Expendable
Junior Lecturers (referred to as Docent 4, D4s, Juniordocenten, JUDOs) are primarily employed to teach with no research hours in their contracts. We teach, design and coordinate courses, supervise theses, grade exams and effectively guide students from their first weeks at University until their graduation. We are therefore their most consistent academic contact, and the advice that we dispense has a profound impact on their life choices. Our contracts, however, do not take the magnitude of our labor into account and treat us as expendable. Remorsefully, this is not new.
Four years ago, Casual UvA organised against the use of short-term teaching contracts, which often lasted six months to two years and covered less than 0.6 FTE (22.8 hours per week). This resulted in deep precarity, and, after an extensive grading strike, the Executive Board (CvB) agreed to reform the system. In 2021, our contracts were extended to four years and 0.8 FTE (30.4 hours per week), and a new Lecturer Policy (Docentenbeleid), which defined the D-line in greater specificity than before, was formulated.
This was an improvement, but not a solution.
The Lecturer Policy presents the D4s as a “starter position” which offers lecturing experience and a possible pathway to a D3 role (Lecturer) or towards a PhD. In practice, this pathway barely exists. In 2025, only 3.8% of D4s moved into a D3 position, and only 0.2% transitioned to a PhD candidate. For the overwhelming majority, the contract simply ends. Even worse, even the 0,8 FTE hour baseline isn’t upheld consistently. Four years on, we remain an adjustment variable to the University, i.e., our status allows the UvA to assess fluctuating student numbers (flexibile schill) while making us pay the price of precarity.
For D4s with immigrant status, the precarity runs even deeper. The length of our contracts determines our legal residence in The Netherlands. When our contracts run out, so do our visas. We exist in a constant state of fear of losing a job, a home and a community. Over the years, we have toiled endlessly to establish a social and professional life in the Netherlands. For some of us, the socio-political contexts of where we come from mean that packing up and going back is simply not an option.
Expendable workforce
UvA structurally depends on D4s for course design, continuity, pedagogical innovation, and student support. Our position and workload makes it possible for members of the senior staff to fulfil their research commitments as we absorb a considerable chunk of teaching duties. When a D4 contract ends, a replacement is hired immediately. The work is permanent, the worker temporary. This demonstrates that “temporary work” isn’t a function of varying student numbers: it is a structural reliance on an expendable workforce.
Thus, D4s are expected to provide consistent output in the face of contract terminations, which leaves us no space to build a research profile or plan long-term goals. This combination of high expectations and instability leads to chronic overwork, burnout, and anxiety. We need to upskill ourselves while having no pathway to use these skills. Structurally, this short-termism leads to the loss of experienced educators, who are prevented from fulfilling their commitment to education.
We chose this profession because we believe in the power and art of education. We care about our students, their intellectual interests, and their professional futures. We accept the comparatively lower salaries and a higher workload than in many other professions because we have a commitment to our discipline and to educating future change-makers. It is ethically wrong for this commitment to be rewarded with insecurity.
The University of Amsterdam prides itself on excellence, fairness, and community. Our teaching is essential. Both students and senior staff members benefit from our presence. Therefore, our contracts must firmly reflect that reality: Permanent work deserves permanent contracts.
We are neither demanding special treatment, nor nagging for favours. We are simply asking to be recognised for what we already do. Providing permanent contracts to D4s is not only a matter of fairness; it is a necessary step towards a sustainable academic community.
If we are good enough to teach, then we are good enough to stay.
This opinion piece was written by Antoine Germain (junior lecturer in political science), Sophie Nieuwe Weme (junior lecturer in interdisciplinary social sciences), Victor Alembik (junior lecturer for PPLE), and Abhiraj Goswami (junior lecturer in political science). Sign the petition here.
