Teachers’ contact hours above EU average

With reference to the letter by Franklin Zammit (The Sunday Times, July 10), the most recent data by the OECD regarding the number of contact hours of teachers in other countries, shows that the EU average is 643 hours in secondary schools and 803 in primary schools. In the US, the relative figures are 1,080 in both levels of schooling.

The data for Malta are not available but can be worked out as follows: scholastic year 2010-11 had 170 school days. If this is multiplied by six school hours, the total is 1,020 contact hours for the primary school teachers. In state schools primary teachers are classroom teachers and mostly spend the whole day in class.

Secondary school teachers do not have a particular class but are mainly subject teachers. If we take the average number of daily contact hours for a secondary school teacher to be four – then this multiplied by 170 days, we get a total of 680 hours.

The figures speak for themselves. Maltese teachers have as many, if not more, contact hours with students than their European conterparts, in spite of the fact that their summer holidays might be longer.

I don’t understand why the MUT and the Education Ministry permit the dissemination of the myth that Maltese teachers work less than teachers in other countries.