MUT orders 'work to rule' at Naxxar school
The Malta Union of Teachers has directed all teaching grades at Naxxar boys secondary school to 'work to rule' as from Monday.
"In view of the recent incidents concerning various members of staff at the school, all members of the teaching grades working at Naxxar boys secondary school are hereby directed to follow a Work to Rule directive as of Monday 21st April 2008," the union said.
"The MUT will monitor the situation closely and will decide in the coming weeks whether these directives will be lifted or increased.
The directive came just hours after the school was visited by Education Minister Dolores Cristina. The MUT complained a few days ago about various cases of violence against teachers in the school. It had warned that it could resort to industrial action unless this problem was effectively tackled by the government.
Mrs Cristina said Naxxar school included a number of students whose behaviour was ‘difficult' and the authorities had therefore embarked on a pilot project where a prefect of discipline was engaged in an effort to understand what was making these students behave in this way, and how the situation could be tackled.
The minister stressed that any violence, whether it was children on children, children on teachers or parents on teachers, would not be tolerated. Discipline was of key importance in a person's upbringing. It was important, however, that discipline at school was followed up with discipline at home.
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Maria C. Borg
Apr 22nd 2008, 22:26
So I thought I would just do a bit of bedtime reading…and I could not resist sharing my feelings with the rest of you…
It has just come to my mind that some of us here have lost the human dimension of being human.
Who is the student? The student in a secondary school is a YOUNG PERSON with dreams and aspirations coping with a self that is changing physically, emotionally and socially. This young person is developing through these changes while learning how TO BE in life. The young person is getting grips with the meaning of being in the world.
Who is the educator? The educator is the PERSON who engages with the students, young persons, on a learning experience. The educator is that person who develops together with the students a learning environment.
I consider that the experiential and the environmental aspects of learning are intrinsically linked. They must be considered in the view of the relationships developed between educators and students. They both create the environment and they both create the experience. These cannot be created if the human aspect of both student and educator is overlooked.
So what is ‘work to rule’?
Does this limit the learning experiences and environments of any school to a factory? A factory that is created for production? Is a school a site of line production – One person inputs mathematics, another one inputs English and yet another still inputs Maltese. By the end of the scholastic year we should therefore have an adequately produced – tried and tested – product. Do we really naively think that learning can occur if there are no human dynamics?
Or does this create another parochial factional system of partiti – US vs THEM. Them the uniformed type. Us the persons, Us the professionals. Are we creating the tension in our schools by our attitudes? Are we in the race for another election? Who will win? What is the prize?
What is it that we want of our schools? Do we really happen to dream that one person will be able to be the whole office of discipline in a school? Do we ever ask ourselves what we understand by discipline? Is our notion of discipline conducive to learning experiences and environments or to a factory school?
V Farrugia
Apr 22nd 2008, 20:46
Mr Franco Farrugia,
Most times it is the parent's fault. As a parent myself, I can't begin to tell you of the number of times that my daughter comes pleading to me asking for something which is totally unsuitable fore her at her age, just because 'all her friends are doing it'. Am I wrong if I don't let my 10-year-old watch Gizelle? Or is it the other parents, who let them do what the heck they like as long as they can see a program in peace and quiet? Even letting them watch a program intended for mature audiences? This is just one example of many.
I even had classmates of hers expecting to have their hair blown-dried straight weekly! I'm not referring to just drying it up with a hairdrier, but the whole Saturday-afternoons-at-the-hairdresser-routine. And they're not even teens yet... just because Mum or Dad can't bring it up on their hearts to refuse a blow-dry to their Little Princess. Why can't some parents be parents and say 'No.' to their little darlings if and when necessary?
If these children have been brought up always getting their way in the world, with what 'right' can another adult, usually a teacher, correct them, if they have never been corrected before?
So who's bringing up monkeys? Who's to blame then if their children have no respect for authority, either legal, school, or their own parents?
Somehow, a teacher can only do so much.
Franco Farrugia
Apr 22nd 2008, 19:39
@ E Cassar: Are you one of those who throws all kinds of accusations at teachers? Are you now saying that teachers are responsible for students' bad behaviour? If you are a parent, what are you doing in order to make your PTA do something positive about it? Just moan and continue loading on your son's/daughter's back?
The problem is that unfortunately, parents have become the kind to have no respect for the teachers who teacher their children - that's where the problem is stemming from. It's not the children who are the culprits - it's often their parents.
V Farrugia
Apr 22nd 2008, 17:50
Irrespective of a student's learning ability or otherwise, lack of discipline is evident in all classes at school, from the 'brighter' grades to the not so bright. We must instill self-respect, and respect for others in all these students beginning from today. We cannot have a situation whereby teachers and the majority of the pupils are terrified of a few miscreants. The legal situation of not having residential penitentiary units for unruly children doesn't help, as some of these children are beyond the control of their own parents.
F Spiteri
Apr 22nd 2008, 14:21
To Ms Tessie Bezzina & all concerned:
I tend to agree to a certain extent with you. However, the truth is that people need to learn through various ways and means & NOT by sitting still on a chair!! It is the way our education in Malta that is wrong & not the students!! It is a pity if we do not look deeper into this & see WHY students are failing in their education. Schools must be fun. Schools must reflect options for the personality of each & every student. Let us not forget that we are all different & while I love to learn by listening, another one prefers to learn by doing or by watching. We are living in in era of technology ... let's use it!! It will cost much more for the country to have a "sick society" than to invest in sound education for one and all.
tessie bezzina
Apr 22nd 2008, 12:11
I think that one of the problems that lis leading to such behaviour is that half of this student aren't born for academic subjects. So why don't we give them back trade school better for them,for the teachers and for the parents.These students aren't looking forward to mcast but looking forward to the last day of of school.Then start another problem as they aren't prepared for the working world .Above all the world isn't only for academic people .
E. Cassar
Apr 22nd 2008, 10:58
And teachers on children will be tolerated, like heavy loads to carry on their back?