Primary schools would be some 200 teachers short in a few years’ time if immediate action was not taken, the Malta Union of Teachers warned.

The problem of teacher shortage was being swept under the carpet, but it would be too big a problem to ignore if action were not taken soon, said its president, Kevin Bonello.

“As things stand now, we need to employ about 60 primary school teachers every year to meet the demand. However, over the next four years we’ll be lucky if there are 20 new teachers. The resulting situation will be too much to handle by the existing number of teaching staff,” he said.

The only solution, Mr Bonello continued, would then be for student numbers in classrooms to increase dramatically, a situation that was not acceptable, both for teachers and students.

“If you have too many students in a classroom, there are a number of concerns that come to mind, from lesson coordination to general safety,” he said.

Horrendous conditions and lack of support

Mr Bonello was commenting after addressing a press conference in which he warned that the teaching profession was in a crisis because “horrendous” working conditions and lack of support was leading to worrying staff shortfalls.

Lack of support, poor wages and rigid regulations were pushing many young professionals away from the teaching profession, he said. Teachers were already lacking in subjects such as English, maths, science, physical education and in primary schools in general.

The problem was so bad, he noted, that certain schools were encouraging teachers to cut their maternity leave early.

Mr Bonello said the government was not employing enough learning support assistants either, and interview lists for new prospective teachers had long been exhausted.

There were other problems facing teachers, including security and safety in schools. Mr Bonello said the government had raised the age of criminal responsibility but offered no framework for problematic youths. Schools often had no personnel trained in conflict resolution and security on the premises. “We have problems with security. Parents and students can both become aggressivem, and we often have incidents at schools that require some form of security,” he said.

Mr Bonello pointed to a “general failure” of the government’s inclusion policy. While many students with learning and behavioural challenges could be included in mainstream classrooms, there was no framework for those who could not, he said.

The MUT will be writing to the government, calling for a series of reforms to address the situation.