The collective agreement to which the Church authorities and the Malta Union of Teachers are parties, whilst providing for the right of appeal in the process for the Selection of Heads of Schools, does not contemplate such right of appeal in calls for other posts, the Secretariat for Catholic Education said.

Yesterday, the MUT complained that an applicant had been refused right of appeal after failing an interview for the post of assistant head in a church school by one point.

It said in a statement that the fact that the collective agreement does not contemplate this right of appeal is not the result of any unilateral action on the part of the Church authorities but is an agreement freely entered into between the Church authorities and the MUT.

"It appears that the MUT would like to go beyond the terms of the agreement. Normally, when a party to an agreement wants to make changes to an agreement, it would enter into negotiations with the other party and any changes agreed upon would enter into force after that agreement has been reached.

"The Church authorities would welcome such an approach to begin discussions in this respect," the secretariat said.