Teachers are perceiving a weakening of confidence form their employers, the Malta Union of Teachers said today.

"Over the past few years, there has been increased regulation of the education sector as well as an increased focus on quality assurance of the entire education sector. Many teachers see this as an inspection of their work and lack of confidence in them as professionals," MUT president John Bencini told a press conference.

"During school audits, evaluation is focused too much on easily measurable school achievement, without taking into consideration the complexity of the reality in schools Teachers are often sidestepped in the evaluation process and made only objects of the process," he complained.

He said that poor working conditions were often the reason why teachers were not happy in their profession.

"It is mostly due to an excessive amount of work, lack of resources, time and support and the handling of difficult students and parents" he said.

He said more teachers were being exposed to unacceptable pupil behaviour, bullying and violence in relation to their work. The authorities, he said, needed to ensure that teachers were protected.

Teachers, he said, also needed support, encouragement and a decent salary.

"There is no doubt that the quality of teaching suffers when teachers are given difficult circumstances to work under, and it is important to take this aspect into consideration and not to separate the debate on educational reform from the debate on improving teachers' working conditions," Mr Bencini insisted.