Friday, 18th April 2008 - 19:15CET
Too few students preparing to become teachers - MUT
Too few students are studying to become teachers and Malta could end up with a number of classes without professional teachers, John Bencini, president of the Malta Union of Teachers, warned this afternoon.
"We have already started employing supply teachers, but this is not the solution," he said, adding that Malta might have to face a similar situation as in the 1980s when teachers who were not qualified were engaged.
"How can you have quality education when you don't have qualified teachers?" he asked at a press conference.
He said for the first time in history there were teachers who were seeking other jobs. The reasons, he said, were various. They were finding better opportunities and teaching was viewed as stressful, he said. Some of the older teachers, in particular, were desperate to get out because they are burnt out. Violence or disrespect to teachers were making the situation worse. He said another factor behind the drain was that classes in Malta had remained too big, with up to 30- pupils.
Mr Bencini said the union had long been "begging" the authorities to try and get teachers who had left the profession back in the classrooms, even with a reduced load since many women - which make up some 80 per cent of local teachers - do not want to go back to fulltime work .
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Comments
I am not a teacher but my daughter is and if these people think that a teacher's life is that easy, then there should be hundreds lined up for the teaching profession.
Yes, the tolerance bar should be lowered and suspensions for misbehaviour should be more frequent and more severe. If the child does not respond, then then parents will because they will have to take care of the child during the suspension or pay someone to do the supervision. If the misbehaving student is of age, then the suspension could be served at the school itself but not in the classroom. A violent student should be immediately handled by an experienced social worker who will make an on-the-spot decision whether the police should be called in. Once the police get involved, no forgiveness by the teacher or school headmaster will prevent proper action to be taken as necessary.
This situation, if not tackled in the most serious fashion will lead to even armed violence in school in the near future as is the experience elsewhere, and no teacher should be subjected to this kind of threat.
For those who complain about teachers who leave in mid-afternoon should realize that homework correction, lesson pre-planning, extra courses and reports are part of a teacher's routine and usually done in the afternoons, very often extending to late nights.
the fact that very few are opting for this "comfortable" job proves otherwise.
so let them have those who become teachers only for the "money" and the "holidays" and because they have no other ambition in life.
free summers and holidays and all.
But from what i heard, the Pay isn't good &
The kids are allowed to run wild, unless you want to be
a)fired from your job (for teaching a kid an important life lesson)
b)Get hit by students
c)Get hit by love-sick parents.
d)Put up with childish stuff.
I remember a case, when a kid stuffed a teachers bag full of rubbish and because the teacher retaliated, he got fired. I just get sick when i hear this kind of stuff.
Fired because he taught the brat a lesson.
Its the brat who deserved to be expelled, how dare he, I remember all the kids writing a petition to keep the teacher (who was loved by most), yet they ignored us and still fired the teacher (albeit being provoked and disrespected).
A teacher is like a second-class citizen, seriously why is the MUT and the government even surprised.
I won't prepare myself to become a teacher... especially if I'm supposed to pretend the child has more rights than me.