When the Malta Union of Teachers recently appealed to the education authorities to look into the working conditions of teachers, the media hardly paid any notice. Presumably the public is not really interested in this dull subject when it can feast on other juicy reports about political squabbling that excites a few journalists and thousands of readers to pontificate on what the country needs to improve its politics.

Practically every country is striving to reform its educational system with the aim of making it more effective in preparing our young people for the real world of work. Employers complain that even the most educated young people often lack the skills that make them employable in today’s modern economy. Politicians and policymakers wax lyrical about the philosophical soundness of their educational strategy and the wisdom of giving our students modern IT tools to make learning a pleasant experience.

But when I talk to educators I sense their frustration at being taken for granted by their schools’ management. The more ambitious graduates shy away from a career in teaching as they become familiar with the poor working conditions and careers prospects that most educators have to accept. It is not just the ‘take home’ pay that teachers have to put up with. It is the lack of respect that results from poor management in schools. It is the lack of genuine involvement of teachers in the day-to-day running of schools and also in the formulation of strategy for educational reform.

Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University, sums up the role of teachers very eloquently: “Great teachers need the oxygen of freedom to create, to imagine, to inspire and lead their pupils on the journey of discovery that is the essence of acquiring knowledge and skills.” Ask any teacher whether they are living this experience.

If my feedback is any indicator, you are more likely to be told that this is just a nice dream in our present educational system where the reality is that in most cases teachers have to struggle to adapt to the tough working environment to survive.

Like paramedical staff and members of the police and armed forces, in most countries teachers seem to be taken for granted by their bosses. They are often paid low salaries in return for lax accountability standards and long holidays. Most of them give up on ever achieving job satisfaction after a few years of leaving university as their zeal to contribute to the well-being of our society is choked by bureaucracy obsessed with controlling and measuring virtually every aspect of a teacher’s work.

It is not just the ‘take home’ pay that teachers have to put up with. It is the lack of respect that results from poor management in schools

Educational reforms drawn up in dark offices away from the coalface of the real world classrooms impose regulations and deadlines that are often unreachable. The edicts of policymakers are transmitted to school managers who in turn pass the buck to teachers in a way “that sucks the oxygen out of the classrooms, depleting freedom in favour of head office mandates”.

I have no doubt that educational reform strategies are conceived in good faith. But what matters is whether these strategies address the needs of the organisation and guarantee its future success. In the business world adopting the wrong strategies is one sure way to bankruptcy. In the public sector financial bankruptcy is less of an issue, but the ultimate results of bad long-term planning are no less toxic.

Good educational strategy documents are not the result of a desktop exercise where academically highly-qualified consultants articulate their theories in technical language peppered with jargon but devoid of the feedback of those who work in the coalface of education – the classrooms.

While defining strategy is ultimately the responsibility of policymakers, the process leading to strategy formation needs to engage students, educators, employers, parents and other stakeholders. This involvement can never be a superficial one, but one in which complete honesty will be the hallmark of the dialectic that precedes the endorsement of strategy by all stakeholders.

Educators and their union representatives also need to understand that involvement in strategy formation is not just about improving working conditions although this will always be a primary objective. It is also about agreeing on the need for rigorous standards for learning, for teachers and students, and for schools, colleges and universities.

I am more than convinced that most educators want their students to be successful. We need to build on this axiom as our future depends on the quality of our educators.

johncassarwhite@yahoo.com