Some teachers have to cover the costs of the classroom library. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Teachers and other educators fork out an average of €200 each year on printouts, flashcards and other learning aids which their students need but schools do not supply.

Some end up spending well over €1,000 per year on these resources, according to the teachers’ union. A study carried out by the youth section of the Malta Union of Teachers shows that primary school teachers carry most of the burden.

“This study uncovers considerable deficiencies in our educational system. Educators should not be expected to dole out personal money to make up for these shortages,” the section’s chair, Gilbert Zahra, said yesterday, arguing that there should be a grant for these expenses.

In all, 325 educators – including learning support assistants and post-secondary lecturers – took part in the online survey. A third of them were primary school teachers, while another 29 per cent were secondary school teachers.

Some – not more than 20 – claimed to spend a yearly sum exceeding €1,000 and for a few the expense rose to as much as €1,800.

Most of these were LSAs, kindergarten assistants and primary school teachers, and the money mainly funded ink cartridges for printing resources because their classes included students of mixed abilities.

The majority spent €100, while the average stood at €220.

Four-fifths of the respondents said they spent money on photocopies and visual aids like flashcards. More than two-thirds of the educators use it to buy materials for crafts and experiments.

Beyond the spending on resources, some teachers said they bought students’ lunches and sponsored educational outings, paid for an internet connection in the classroom and books for the class library.

The group that spent the most, with an average of €270, were primary school teachers.

The difference between the average sum spent by primary and secondary school teachers annually was €100, while that between primary and post-secondary teachers was €175.

Mr Zahra noted that many participants said their place of work took no or very few measures to account for the expenses related to their work.

At the same time, however, a good number of schools provided basic stationary and cardboard, while others allocated a number of photocopies to teachers.

Speaking at the same press conference, MUT deputy president Marco Bonnici said the union believed educators should be provided with a yearly grant to cover these expenses and a work-resources fund to cover the maintenance of laptops and similar equipment. This issue had been dragging on for too long, Mr Bonnici said, noting there were laptops in State schools that had been in use for the past eight years.

A replacement process was planned for this March, however the union believed teachers should instead be given a grant, similar to that handed to Mcast lecturers, which they could use to buy the resources they needed.

“Educators are professionals who should be able to choose themselves what IT equipment and resources are best for their class and should be able to fix and upgrade their resources expediently with such a fund,” he added.