Teachers dismissed due to 'administrative incompetence'

Vince Pace

Oct 23rd 2008, 19:23

@Ms Mallia
I do not know you personally, I do not wish to know you and I am sure you wish the same.
But your writing and the way you tackled a subject which you did not even bother to be factual about leaves a lot to be desired. Your approach to a situation that was not of the teachers' making does not do you credit.
As to the ''chip'', I think the Times readers are level-headed enough to be the judge of that.
Good-bye

Amanda Mallia

Oct 23rd 2008, 18:50

D Camilleri - Whether or not I have is not the issue here; neither am I the subject of this news item, and yet many petty minds seem to make it out that way, avoiding the real issue: the fact that people who failed their exams expect us to trust them with the education of our children.

D Camilleri

Oct 22nd 2008, 23:20

@ E Caruana: I wasn't addressing you in my first comment. In fact I totally agree with your argument. Sorry for not specifying, but I was referring to E Tabone's comments.

@ Amanda Mallia: Have you actually been to the University of Malta these past few years? Your comments indicate otherwise.

Amanda Mallia

Oct 22nd 2008, 21:29

Vince Pace - I do not know you, and yet you still presume to know much about me. Sorry to disappoint you, but you are wrong on all counts regarding me personally. Anyone who knows me can vouch for that. As for your chip ... it is still evidently there; your comments are proof of that.

James De Giorgio

Oct 22nd 2008, 19:30

For amanda mallia's information, B.educ students do not have a final exam. For her further information, the exam in question has seen half the course failed, a feat repeated the year before... by the same lecturer and professor!!! If half a course fails, TWICE in two separate exams under the same lecturer, I'd say something is wrong, but not on the students' part.

However this time round, resits were made in june so that the lecturer could correct the papers in time. I blame neither the students nor the lecturer in this case. I blame administrative incompetence which is all too evident at the university of malta.

A.Vella

Oct 22nd 2008, 18:46

Very well said Vince Pace. We appreciate your genuine support!!

A. Vella

Oct 22nd 2008, 18:32

@ A.Mallia

I simply want to make things clear. The re-sit that these teachers sat for had nothing to do with the subject they currently teach at school. This was an exam common to all B.Ed students, in which 50 students failed. Therefore, you needn't worry that the students at school are being taught by incompetent teachers!! In fact, I passed all the exams I sat for the subject I teach with flying colours, A's and B+'s only!!!!

Sarah Gauci

Oct 22nd 2008, 14:56

Dear E Tabone,
These students DID pass their resits, and there is nothing wrong with students who don't pass their exams the first time round...it could even have been sickness or stress, and believe me we, students, are very much stressed out during exams.You have probably never been in such a situation, because you don't even know what you're talking about!! We lose weight, we get blisters, stomach pains, we even contemplate suicide at times.... Once you go through it, you'll understand what I'm talking about. If you have never been in a particular situation, you can never judge people who are in it.

E Caruana

Oct 22nd 2008, 12:00

@D Camilleri

I never said I didn't believe in second chances. In fact my whole argument was that pupils need to wait a whole year for a resit while for eg. O and A levels you may do a resit 3 months after and wouldn't have to repeat a scholastic year. Also I never judged anybody however these pupils ARE being judged on a one and a half hour exam for six years of study. Next time please make sure you understand my arguement before jumping down my throat.

Antoinette Agius

Oct 22nd 2008, 10:31

You sit for an examination.... you fail. You do the re-sit and you get an "A". How is that? ! ! ! !

James De Giorgio

Oct 22nd 2008, 10:18

If this is true, the MUT should go on strike, and I would willingly strike as well.

MUT is a teachers' union, so why should it strike for lecturers, and stay inactive when it comes to teachers?

Vince Pace

Oct 21st 2008, 23:40

Ms Mallia
I sincerely hope u are not the mother of a son who has worked very hard for 4 years to achieve his dream of becoming a teacher, to see it shattered, not because he failed his exams but because someone failed to publish the results on time. U do not have a God-given right to judge who is eligible to graduate, seeing u are not involved in the examination process. I suggest u read today's Times, on what happened to doctors who failed their exams, a hundred years ago.
Incidentally, just a short comment to support a couple of bloggers below. I have an Italian friend,a professor of English at Lecce university. His knowledge of the English language, AND literature is admirable. However he does not speak with a pseudo-posh accent, but an Italian one, with the occassional mistake thrown in. Does that make him one of those who u consider not having the supposed ''knowledge to pass on to children, possibly yours'' !!!!!!!!!!! And no, I do not have a chip on my shoulder, I just happen to be in discussion with someone who needs to get off her high horse. Get a life lady !

Amanda Mallia

Oct 21st 2008, 21:39

Victoria Vella - I never mentioned doctors, since they were never mentioned here. The thought did cross my mind, and yes, it doesn't feel comforting to know that medical students are allowed to re-sit their exams. It's one of the reasons why I like to question medical advice, and often prefer to be my own doctor.

Amanda Mallia

Oct 21st 2008, 20:28

Vince Pace - I sincerely hope that you are not a teacher. I was not being patronising, but merely stating facts.

Victoria Vella

Oct 21st 2008, 20:09

Perhaps Ms. A Mallia doesn't know that medical students too are allowed to take resits after failing their finals at the end of their five-year course. Perhaps in their case too there should be no resits? My goodness, the horror of being tended by a doctor who failed his resits! Why should it be any different for B. Ed students?

Vince Pace

Oct 21st 2008, 19:51

@Ms Amanda Mallia
I suggest you get off your high horse, stop patronising people and have the decency to empathise with the graduates who could lose their jobs purely because of an administrative blunder. As i said before, get your facts right first, then and only then we can respect your informed opinion. Read my lips, ''the students passed their exams, some with Honours, and its some beauracrat at the university who should be receiving flak from you for sitting on his patata and not posting the results on time''. And incidentally how dare you insult us by saying that some of the students should not have qualified. Who are you to judge ?
Perhaps if you eventually become an examiner you could be in a position to do so.

Natasha Grech

Oct 21st 2008, 12:00

Talking about students taking their resits not supposedly being 'good enough' (a load of rubbish) what about the 'idiots' who made this mistake in the first place, giving people their deserving career and then taking it away from them!! What is the problem anyway if the students did PASS their re-sits?? It still qualifies them as teachers, if not then why are there re-sits in the first place.
It is yet again another embarrasing situation here in Malta that people dont do their jobs right and innocent hardworking citizens have to face the consequences.
Just make sure these teachers get their jobs back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amanda Mallia

Oct 21st 2008, 11:24

I see that the vultures with massive chips on their shoulders are out to get me once again.

Somebody here said something to the effect that "it's the final result that counts". That's the problem here, you see. Too many people are leaving university having qualified with varying degrees, however not all should have made the grade. Many of the comments here are testimony to that.

What's worse is that, with the BEduc course, such people are meant to pass their supposed knowledge on to children, possibly mine included, which makes me all the more incensed about the situation.

NEVILLE DEBATTISTA

Oct 21st 2008, 09:28

Who was responsible for the publishing of the results? Is it the teachers' fault that the results were not published in time? Is action being taken against those responsible for this debacle? Or was this done on purpose with the blessing of the government so the latter would have an excuse to teminate their employment?
Mr.Gonzi please note and take action. Remember that you promised ( I can vouch for that) that you would nip in the bud this crass incompetence and INJUSTICE.

V.Micallef

Oct 21st 2008, 09:02

It seems the chickens are coming home to roost. Where are the PN sergeant-majors who mobilized teachers against the Labour Government, now?

Joe Galea

Oct 21st 2008, 08:11

@Amanda Mallia: Dear Amanda, as a supreme being you should know that there are cases where students for some reason like stress, sickness, etc don't fare well in exams. Anyone can have a bad day. Regarding the low level of English, etc, it's your government who boasts about the thousands of students who attend the university.....quantity matters more than quality for your beloved government. So before you speak, just take a look at your glass house. You can criticise my English too.

A.Cassar

Oct 20th 2008, 23:54

Dear Ms. Mallia,

Just because a student has a resit, it does not mean that he/she is incompetant to teach. There are no 'final exams in THE subjects', as you put it. The University of Malta has long dismissed the 'finals' as we used to call them. At university level, the subject content is much more complex than what teachers teach to their students (as oppose to what many think.....) For instance, consider Mathematics. B.E.d Mathematics students do three quarters of the credits that B.S.C Mathematics students do. Thus, say if a B.E.d Mathematics student fails from Vector Analysis ( a complicated subject, I must say), then surely you are not implying that that student is bound to fail at teaching mathematics just because he/she has a resit in a subject that one would not even dream of introducing at secondary level!
Indeed Ms. Mallia, teaching is much more than being good at subject content (even though that is important, mind you).

Alas, what are we implying here...that who ever has a resit is a failure?...then what is the use of our educational system? All is well until you make one mistake? That is not education...thats sadism.

Vince Pace

Oct 20th 2008, 23:44

@Ms Amanda Mallia
KINDLY GET YOUR FACTS RIGHT. You do not even know what subjects the re-sits were for. In fact for some, the re-sit was for one assignment not for a whole exam. It is common knowledge that 90% of students have to do a re-sit of a subject, at some time or other. It does not reflect badly on the student because at the end of the day what is important is the final result.. This is fair as long as the goal posts are the same for every student, and not as happened in the past, e.g when Maltese was dropped as a required subject for law students, in order to accommodate some hbieb tal-hbieb !

D Camilleri

Oct 20th 2008, 22:55

Of course there should be resits! Do you expect these people to throw 4 years of study down the drain just because you don't believe in second chances and think you are in a position to judge them? Most university exams aren't really relevant anyway, and if Sacha Cassar is anyone to go by, it wasn't even an exam - it was an assignment - where I know people can be failed simply for having a wrong format in their bibliography.

Who is taking the posts of these dismissed teachers? Why were they egaged in the first place if they weren't really required?

E Caruana

Oct 20th 2008, 21:56

Well! Well! Teachers may take re-sits in June but their ten year old pupils cannot take a re-sit if they fail just one subject of the Junior Lyceum exams held in mid-May. They need to repeat the year and try again the following May. How's that for fairness!!

E Tabone

Oct 20th 2008, 21:55

The fact that the resits were not published doesn't give me any indication whether they have passed or not... and anyway, an aspiring teacher who has to re-sit for the subject that s/he's planning to teach doesn't say much does it?

And dear ms cassar - not checking (or sampling for that matter) whether those who had to resit passed or not does not make me uneducated but *maybe* presumptuous.

@ A Cilia - i have a question - would you go under the knife of a surgean who has just passed his resit?

And for those who are hurt by the truth - let me reword more appropriately perhaps -

I'd rather have a retired teacher teaching than one who had to resit the subject.

Jean Paul Galea

Oct 20th 2008, 21:04

Incompetence rules the country but who cares about that ... we want to be strict and enforce ...whatever we can just because the government is powerless against most other violations and lets face we can blame 10 teachers they won't make us lose an election it takes a 1000 to loose it. The education dept should look into the communication problems before anything else between the administration and university. If as mentioned they results were late they should try to fix the situation. On the other hand the teachers passed their interviews got a job and made plans with their jobs and lives. Who is going to pay for that ? People want to work and earn a living who should pay for the teachers living now University or the education ?

Amanda Mallia

Oct 20th 2008, 20:41

Seeing comments such as the "I am educated enough" one below by people studying to become teachers, it comes as no surprise that all is going downhill.

Many clearly think in Maltese and translate - literally - into English. It's no surprise that the persons in question did not pass first time round; it's actually surprising that with such a poor level of English they would pass at all. Sadly, it doesn't say much for the examiners themselves.

Amanda Mallia

Oct 20th 2008, 20:37

Why the whole hullabaloo? Should there even be resits for people hoping to become teachers? Whatever next? A resit for an unrelated - though compulsory - subject is one thing; a resit for a final exam in THE subject/s is a totally different story.

J Farrugia

Oct 20th 2008, 20:33

Then the person/s responsible at the department should be made to resign. Incompetence is not allowed in the civil service, and then putting the blame on others.

Albert Spiteri

Oct 20th 2008, 20:22

MUT is correct to insist "for an immediate inquiry, justice for these young teachers, and accountability in the case of those responsible". Mediocricity and irresponsibility are evils that have become the most visible features of our public service. Every successful management system must operate with a system of rewards and penalties. Sadly, the Public Service appears to operate with only a system of rewards. Even more distressingly, the scores of quiet, unassuming, hard working public officers are seldom the ones who are rewarded. That benefit often falls to the louder, self-aggrandizing, credit-grabbing officers who know just where to pitch their claims.

A. Cilia

Oct 20th 2008, 19:56

E Tabone inform yourself before you speak! THESE TEACHERS DID PASS THEIR RESITS! the problem was the results were not published in time.

Sacha Cassar

Oct 20th 2008, 19:54

Mr. E. Tabone,

the fact that I did not speak up before checking my facts, just like you did, shows that I am educated enough and now fully qualified to teach as a regular teacher, despite having to re- submit an assignment way back last July.

Despite the fact that University administration published results late (13th August) as instructed due to the issue going on at that time, does not mean that we are not qualified. Most of us were employed during last September, hence by that time, the Directorate of Education knew that we are fully qualified.....

I, myself have been called to my designated duty just 1 day prior to commencement of regular school. Is that professional or what?!

Franco Farrugia

Oct 20th 2008, 19:44

@ E Tabone - I don't think anyone said that they didn't pass their re-sits. If they don't pass re-sits, they won't get their degrees, and they won't get their warrant and they won't be able to teach.
So, there's no problem, there!

E Tabone

Oct 20th 2008, 19:22

@ Paul Ventura

I'd rather have a retired teacher teaching than one who did not pass his/her resit..

Paul Ventura

Oct 20th 2008, 18:32

AND THEN WE COMPLAIN BECAUSE THERE'S LACK OF TEACHERS. COLLEGES ARE LITERALLY RUNNING AFTER RETIRED TEACHERS TO FILL UP EMPTY TEACHING POSTS, AND OUR CHILDREN HAVE TO ENDURE CROWDED CLASSES. DOES THE DIRECTORATE OF EDUCATION KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON?