Teachers, learning support assistants and educators would be able to take up to a year’s fully paid sabbatical to attend courses intended to advance their career, Labour leader Joseph Muscat announced yesterday.

Dr Muscat said the proposed study leave was part of his party’s holistic plan to give teachers a chance to advance in their careers in the best interest of the children they taught.

He gave no details of the proposal, saying discussions with teachers and the Malta Union of Teachers still had to be held.

He insisted, however, that the proposal would enable teachers to further their studies without causing disruption in schools.

The sabbatical, he explained, would be provided on condition that the studies were related to teaching and the studies could be conducted both in Malta or abroad.

Dr Muscat was speaking outside the Junior Lyceum, in Ħamrun, where he said the educational system was already suffering from “reform fatigue” and a Labour government would not introduce more reforms.

Education Minister Dolores Cristina called a press conference later in the day to say that this was “very worrying”.

As for sabbaticals, she said, she believed in them but one would have to see how Dr Muscat would implement his proposal, how much it would cost, and whether the educational system would be disrupted as a result of the idea.

Earlier Dr Muscat said that a Labour government would introduce a system enabling teachers to switch from State, private and Church schools without losing salary progression.

His government would beef up security at schools because violence against teachers was “a matter of concern”.

Asked for more details, he said tighter security would be regulated and “child-friendly”.

It could take the form of either closed circuit television cameras or security staff stationed at schools.

Dr Muscat also announced that a Labour government would launch an educational and information campaign to promote more respect for teachers, “for the status of teachers in society to be improved”.

Labour would free teachers from clerical and bureaucratic duties, allowing them to focus on teaching.

He said his government would hold an annual national conference for all teaching grades where the educational system could be discussed and suggest ways how it could be improved.

Regarding the upkeep of State schools, Dr Muscat said Labour was proposing more frequent maintenance and increased levels of hygiene and cleanliness.

Asked how much this would cost, Dr Muscat said it was more about improved spending rather than increased spending.

Ms Cristina said that the final document of the national curriculum had been finalised in December following an eight-month consultation process that yielded more than 200 new proposals.

“The report is ready so Dr Muscat does not have much left to do,” she said adding the process had taken four years, during which time all stakeholders were consulted.

Ms Cristina said that over the years teachers’ working conditions had been improved and they were provided with opportunities such as scholarships.