The Malta Union of Teachers' biennial general conference yesterday approved a resolution calling on the government to consult the union on the proposed state schools reform.
The resolution refers to several official statements that an agreement on the creation of clusters bringing together a number of schools had to be reached by September 2005.
It is proposed that each cluster would have a legal and autonomous status offering more support to teachers, students and parents.
The resolution also refers to a statement by the Minister of Education that the education system had to be completely regenerated and updated during this legislature.
It said that as this radical reform would mean a different organisation and management of state schools, the MUT expected consultation and negotiations on what the consequences of the reform could be.
Such decisions could affect the education system and conditions of work of current and future teachers, it expected the government to listen to teachers' experience and opinion on what they wished to see changed for the benefit of students.
MUT president John Bencini also spoke on the reform when addressing the conference. He said that as a professional union which gave a lot of importance to its educational role, the MUT supported any initiative aimed at improving the quality of education in Malta.
Now that Malta was an EU member state, teachers had a special role to play for Malta to make a success of membership.
He said that MUT officials had already discussed the minister's vision for the proposed change informally with the minister.
The union, Mr Bencini said, agreed in substance with all that was being said but it had a lot of questions.
"Does this mean that the education division would end up being just a regulator? Does it mean that another foundation would be created?
"Does it mean that these clusters would be led by principals and a board of governors? If yes, who are these people to be? Would they be employed from outside the Public Service Commission?
"What would become of directors, assistant directors, educational officers...? How are these officials to be incorporated in the system? Would a teacher in one cluster not be able to be transferred to another?
"How are promotions to be affected? What is to become of the collective agreement the MUT has reached with the government when it comes to teachers' grades?
"What is to become of current teachers? Would a collective agreement have to be reached with every board of governors? How are pensions to be affected? What are to become of teachers' conditions of work?" Mr Bencini asked.
These, he said, were natural questions to which the MUT expected clear and unambiguous answers. The union was determined not to permit the teachers' conditions of work, which had come about following big sacrifices, to be weakened.
Turning to the White Paper on the public service, Mr Bencini said the MUT did not have anything against the creation of agencies as long as these were subject to the scrutiny of the Public Service Commission to prevent corruption.
The MUT believed one had to be very careful before creating other agencies and entities. One should reflect on the results of those which had already been set up.
Experience had so far shown that some were not successful and had ended in scandal or failure. There were cases of political involvement and everyone knew the consequences.
One had to see how cost effective these authorities were. Most times, he said, the administrative expense of these authorities was bigger than had these remained government departments.