Teachers insist on education reforms to start happening

The Malta Union of Teachers has called upon the government to implement measures listed in the recently signed education reform agreement.

The agreement should overhaul the education system from kindergarten level in a bid to end the archaic, examination-centred assessment system. It contains over 70 measures, services and benefits to strengthen education, including the radical reorganisation of schools into colleges, together with school and students' councils and community life-long learning centres.

MUT president John Bencini told a press conference yesterday the government should have the new staff to run the colleges, including principals, before the start of the next scholastic year. The government, he added, should also seriously improve student services to tackle the problems of pupils who misbehave at school, those who lack motivation or do not go to school for long unjustified periods.

The present system had to change as soon as possible because children were being marginalised since primary school simply because of their performance in examinations.

"The government should get on with the reforms and employ councillors, career advisors, educational psychologists and other professionals needed to improve the system as soon as possible. Otherwise we will be rendering lip service to problems we have been talking about for 25 years," Mr Bencini said.

He said Maltese education faced problems due to a mentality that has been too centred around examinations. As a result, pupils in primary schools were already stressed out and were being made to go to private lessons from a young age.

Speaking of the alleged cases of harassment of teachers by their superiors, which the MUT itself raised recently, Mr Bencini expressed disappointment at how Education Minister Louis Galea had dismissed the union's call for an independent group to investigate the allegations.

He said the MUT knew of a primary and two secondary schools where teachers had been made to sign their performance appraisals at the end of the last scholastic year without being given the chance, as was their right, to review them at home and write their feedback properly. It was unacceptable that certain heads or assistant heads were abusing their power by including personal remarks in the teachers' appraisal forms and threatening them in this way, Mr Bencini said.

He asked whether the Education Division could act as prosecutor, jury and judge at the same time, reiterating that a proper official inquiry could only be carried out by an independent body.

"The issue will not stop here. If the problem is not redressed in a satisfactory manner, we will reveal the names of the school very soon," he said, claiming that the cases of alleged abuse were not simply one-offs.

In a statement, the Education Division said it was fully committed to combat harassment of any kind, anywhere.

So far, the division had investigated and taken effective action in every case where allegations of harassment or abuse were made.

With regard to the allegations made by the MUT, the division said that while the union had complaints from six schools according to initial reports, in a letter dated July 16 the union had mentioned only three schools. When the Education Division asked for specific details a day later, the MUT only identified the schools and did not give details about the specific cases of alleged abuse.

According to the Education Division, investigations involving college co-ordinators and heads of school revealed that the personal remarks the MUT claimed had been made in the teachers' regard had been made by a particular teacher towards her superiors.

The Education Division said it had to make it clear that a negative evaluation of a teacher's performance was by no means to be considered as "harassment", and added that heads and the school senior management team were in duty bound to be fair and objective and to give their assessment without fear or favour. Yearly appraisals, the division said, were essential for quality education. While it would not accept abuse from heads or assistant heads, neither would the division accept false claims from teachers who receive a negative assessment.