Nicole van Os wins Academy Kiss
Nicole van Os won the Academy Kiss 2022. Van Os, study coordinator and advisor who also chairs the Delegation of Workers' Organizations in The Local Consultations of the AOb teaching union, won the award because of her commitment to the cause of giving language teachers permanent contracts, over hiring them as self-employed workers.
The Academy Kiss is an initiative of the AOb, which collaborated with the Casual Academy and 0.7 action groups this year to draw attention to better working conditions in the academic education sector.
Vulnerable
The jury praised winner Van Os, who argued that regular education should be provided by teachers with a contract and not by freelancers, because they fall outside the collective labour agreement and are therefore more vulnerable than colleagues. According to the jury, she has set a good example by charting how many self-employed workers the Academic Language Centre used for regular education, for example in the BA International Studies, and ‘turned the tide’.