Teaching representatives are insisting their working hours are non-negotiable, despite an EU study showing Maltese teachers spend far less time at school than their European counterparts.
We are not against children staying longer at school but this should not be done through more teaching hours
“For us this is not an issue and that is why we are not proposing anything in this area,” Malta Union of Teachers president Kevin Bonello said when contacted.
“We are not against children staying longer at school but this should not be done through longer teaching hours,” he insisted.
Despite growing pressure to adapt school hours to working-time patterns, particularly from the business community and women’s lobby groups, the MUT completely skirted the issue in its pre-election memorandum of proposals to political parties last week.
According to a recent EU-wide study, Maltese teachers – both in public and private institutions – are in school less often than others in the EU, not only because they have longer holiday periods but also because of a lighter workload. According to Eurydice, a European network of education, the “availability at school” of Maltese teachers in the 2010/11 scholastic year was 28 hours a week – one of the lowest in the EU 27.
However, the survey does not include preparation and correction time, which may be carried out at home. The MUT said teaching hours were agreed with the authorities a long time ago.
“We have already agreed the government should employ activity teachers who will be responsible for providing after-school services. We should move in that direction nationwide,” he said.
Confronted by the fact that many children were attending long private lessons after school hours – normally provided by MUT members – Mr Bonello acknowledged the problem but said this was a Maltese culture.
Most schools close by 2.30 p.m., which is often blamed for low female participation in employment in terms of mothers going to work. Although in recent years more after-school services have been developed, these are still considered to be few and expensive.
At the end of 2011, the EU’s average female participation reached 62.3 per cent; Malta was at the bottom with just 43.4 per cent.
However, Malta had the fastest growth in women workers in the past decade.
Grace Attard, from the National Council of Women, said: “We do not want teachers to work more but schools should better reflect the needs of working parents.
“Teachers should definitely not pay the price for this, but schools must be used longer even through public-private partnerships.”
The issue was also raised during a recent meeting between the women’s council and Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi as part of the Kuntatt series, in which the Nationalist Party is meeting civil society.
The National Confederation of Women’s Organisations is on the same wavelength. “It is proved that longer school hours will make life easier for working parents,” confederation member Lorraine Saliba said, adding teaching hours should remain untouched as long as after-school hours were introduced.
In its memorandum, the MUT suggested teachers’ salaries should be on a par with their European counterparts, that they should be given more time to adapt to reforms introduced recently and that political parties should look into the possibility of abolishing school uniforms.