The proposed Breakfast Club in State schools can only be successful if more funds are invested to ensure an adequate amount of staff is looking after children dropped off an hour earlier, according to the teachers’ union.
Malta Union of Teachers president Kevin Bonello said the union was not against the idea but was concerned the money allocated was too low.
During the Budget speech, the government announced that parents would be able to take their children to school an hour earlier through the setting up of the club. This service will be offered during school days within State schools and will be phased in gradually.
The government also said it would launch a pilot project on the use of tablet computers during this scholastic year.
We will only lift the directive after we speak to the ministry and are satisfied with what is being proposed
This was in line with the Labour Party’s electoral promise to give a free tablet computer to Year 4 schoolchildren to improve IT literacy. Mr Bonello said to date the government had not sought the union’s views about the tablet proposal. He stressed that the union had meetings with the government on other issues.
His main concern was that teachers were still adapting to reforms that went on over past years and the union wanted to ensure they could cope with the introduction of tablets. For this reason, a union directive issued two weeks ago – instructing teachers not to participate in the pilot project – was still in force.
“We will only lift the directive after we speak to the ministry and are satisfied with what is being proposed,” he said.
An Education Ministry spokesman said it was in the process of preparing an implementation plan for the tablet pilot project which will then be discussed with the MUT. Mr Bonello was speaking during the launch of a series of activities and initiatives organised to mark the union’s 94th anniversary.
Today it will be holding a conference on effective and modern school management at the Dolmen Hotel in Qawra. Management issues that will be discussed include discipline in schools, the issue of ensuring heads have adequate support staff like clerks, and the school college reform.
Another issue was the need for guidelines for teachers clearly outlining their responsibilities.
The union yesterday also launched a Christmas book for children in Maltese called Leġġendi Tal-Milied (Christmas legends) that is available in most main bookshops.
The MUT will also be launching an academic journal called The Educator that will be published annually.