The Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) is willing to accept and cooperate with government reforms that would improve schools, make them more autonomous and benefit the education system.
It will not, however, accept "cosmetic reforms" aimed at slowly moving towards the privatisation of state schools, MUT president John Bencini said yesterday.
In a statement that marked Teacher's Day, celebrated by some 29 million teachers worldwide today, Mr Bencini said that the MUT would resist reforms aimed at the privatisation of state schools, the dismantling of the education division or the doubling of teachers' workload.
Mr Bencini was speaking in light of government reforms that had been mentioned in the past few weeks.
When contacted by The Times to enquire about the nature of these reforms Mr Bencini explained that the union had been presented with an informal discussion paper entitled Establishment Of School Groupings Leading To The Formal Creation Of School Clusters.
The union replied to the discussion paper and asked for a formal meeting with Education Minister Louis Galea in order to get a full picture of the implications of the proposed reforms. The meeting is to be held on October 13.
In comments made on radio the minister had mentioned that teachers may fall under the board of governors of their respective cluster.
Mr Bencini said the union was very worried about the possible repercussions of the proposed reforms as there were a lot of questions to be answered.
The union intended to keep all parties concerned informed about the outcome of the discussions. The MUT, he added, was also organising a rally for MUT school committees at the Teachers' Institute on October 22 at 4.30 p.m.
In yesterday's statement, Mr Bencini said the MUT wanted to make it clear that it would not accept anyone dismantling teachers' work conditions, neither would it accept teachers falling under an authority outside the Public Service Commission.
Today, Mr Bencini said, millions of teachers worldwide, who were members of the Education International (EI) will be celebrating Teachers' Day.
This year the EI insisted on the recruitment of qualified teachers who continue attending courses throughout their career to remain up-to-date on new teaching practices.
Like other teachers' unions around the world, the MUT insisted on the respect that students and their parents should show towards teachers, a respect that had diminished, Mr Bencini added.