Openings for teachers to work in EU countries

Graduate teachers who as yet have not succeeded in finding a teaching job in the educational set up here and practising teachers who may wish to exercise their profession in another European country are being given the opportunity to do so through an Employment and Training Corporation initiative in collaboration with the Malta Union of Teachers.

Unlike the situation in Malta, a number of European countries, particularly the UK, face a shortage of teachers and therefore the initiative, apart from possibly easing the surplus in Malta and that of a foreign shortage, would enable Maltese teachers to gain the experience of working in an EU country, MUT president John Bencini said.

A meeting being held by the ETC in collaboration with the MUT at the Teachers' Institute, in Valletta on Thursday at 4.30 p.m. is aimed at giving information to qualified teachers who are interested to work in a European Union country.

A private employment agency will also be present to give information about job opportunities in the UK.

Mr Bencini said there was a surplus of teachers in the secondary sector who graduated in the last year but no surplus existed in the primary sector. All the 30 teacher graduates who ended up without a teaching job last year were incorporated in the primary education sector this scholastic year, he said. The problem is mainly of surplus graduate teachers in the secondary sector.

Mr Bencini said the problem was expected to worsen after the next scholastic year when about 100 teachers in the primary sector and more than that number in the secondary sector would graduate and start seeking a teaching job.

"It appears that we have reached saturation point. One has to bear in mind that the birth rate is slowing, contributing to a lower student population in kindergartens and primary schools," he said.

He said that secondary school teacher graduates in social studies, European studies, geographical communication, history, geography and business studies who ended their four-year university course are still without a teaching job.

Graduates in science subjects and computer studies have all been employed while only a few graduates in Maltese and religion have found a teaching job.

Mr Bencini said there were various openings in European countries, particularly the UK, which were seeking to recruit teachers from Commonwealth countries.

For more information contact the ETC on 2220 1206, 2220 1228 or 2220 1103.