Faculty of Education is no Cinderella

As a genuine educator, Joe Agius (The Sunday Times, October 3) is assuming that Ibn Campusino is interested in teacher education.

Mr Agius may not be aware of the fact that this commentator is part of a well-known clique of academics who are on a mission to undermine the Faculty and its impressive achievements. The group in question is a relic from the inter-faculty turf war that dominated the University scene in the Eighties.

Far from being the Cinderella, the Faculty's activities are central to the University's annual calendar of events. The Faculty runs 20 different courses concurrently.

The range of the courses is as impressive as the number. It includes: pre-service education; adult education; adult training and development; counselling; psychology; youth studies; computer education; ICT in education; inclusive education; community learning; education administration and management; seven different specialisations at Master's level; and Ph.D. Six new courses will start next year.

Hundreds of students, close to a quarter of the University's student population, attend the courses organised by the Faculty. In general, student evaluations and external examiners' reports are very positive.

Research is considered by top-level universities as the benchmark of success. The Faculty is blessed with a concentration of high-profile academics. A keen observer of the local academic scene would know that the individual academic output of some of us beats the yearly output of some of the 300-year-old faculties put together.

The Faculty considers the present Master's route to teaching as an insult to the thousands of fully-qualified teachers. The Faculty's opinion on this professional non-qualification is public knowledge, and has been for years.

Inferiority is in the mind. The Faculty is extremely proud of its achievements and is anything but humble before those who are trying to lure the minister into a direct confrontation with it.