An evening course for prospective teachers has been stopped due to poor attendance, the Faculty of Education said yesterday.

In a statement, the faculty at the University of Malta said that the part-time evening course for a postgraduate certificate in education had been cancelled due to insufficient applicant interest.

The 2012 course had only been completed by three students, the statement read.

The faculty was reacting to Malta Union of Teachers president Kevin Bonello, who last week said the course was the only way certain prospective teachers were able to become qualified.

He said that mature students were often unable to attend fulltime Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) courses, as they often had commitments and responsibilities. “We can’t just expect people to put their lives on hold to get these qualifications. What if they have families or jobs?” he said.

Nevertheless, the faculty said, the university was negotiating with stakeholders to provide initial teacher education models which could suit the different needs of the educational system.

The bulk of Mr Bonello’s comments, meanwhile, focused on the lack of teaching staff.

He warned that primary schools would be some 200 teachers short in a few years’ time if immediate action was not taken. Mr Bonello said that if the shortage was not addressed, the lack of teachers would be too big to ignore.

“Under the current situation, we need to employ some 60 primary school teachers every year to meet demand. However, in the next four years, we’ll be lucky if there are 20 new teachers. The shortfall will be too much to handle for the existing number of teaching staff,” Mr Bonello said.

The only solution, he said, would be for student numbers in classrooms to increase dramatically – an unacceptable situation for teachers and students alike.

The faculty said it hoped the introduction of a new master’s in teaching and learning, would help improve teacher numbers.

It also called for cooperation between stakeholders rather than “antagonism”.

“We believe that it is only through this collaboration that teachers’ conditions in schools can be improved and the crises referred to by the MUT averted,” the faculty said.

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