The setting up of the Council for the Teaching Profession is another significant building block in the reforms of the education system introduced by former Ministers Ugo Mifsud Bonnici and Louis Galea. The Council is an important step for the teachers as well as for those who receive their services. The Malta Union of Teachers described the event as "an important achievement in the history of education in Malta".
It was in 1988 that teachers were given the status of professionals thanks to the reform oriented Education Act. This innovation needed a structure to nurture it and make it grow. In 2006 the Act was amended and the legal framework for the Council became part of Maltese legislation.
The Council is important for the teaching profession. Prior to this the profession was wholly dependent on the Minister.
Now, like many other professions, it depends on a Council that is autonomous, although the MUT has voiced reservations on the extent to which it is. But a good level of autonomy it surely has. This will be enhanced if the members behave in an independent manner; the Council will be as autonomous as the members want it to be. A look at the list of members would make one conclude that it will be a very independent Council indeed.
The Council's responsibilities are vast and varied. It will recommend (in actual fact decide) on who will get the warrant, about educational standards, teacher training and the development of the teaching profession. It will promote a Code of Ethics. The Council will also exercise disciple among the members of the profession since it has the power to investigate allegations of negligence, lack of professional attitude or incompetence on the part of teachers.
The Council is also very important for those receiving the services of the profession, mainly students and indirectly their parents. It is a pity that there is only one representative of the parents on the Council while there are four members elected by the teachers and two chosen by the MUT. This particular role of the Council brings to mind two aspects: publicity and the expeditious delivery of its decisions.
It is imperative for the Council to publicise its role especially in its investigative and disciplinary aspects. Unless people know of their rights and have recourse to them, what value do these rights have? One expects the Council to conduct an extensive PR campaign so that the Maltese population in general and parents and students in particular will know that they have a right to complain when they think teachers are not behaving properly and they will also know the procedure that should be followed.
It is also important that the Council reviews and judges these complaints within the shortest possible time frame. The denial of justice by its delay is a problem with other councils regulating different professions. A look at the last annual report of the Medical Council will show how big a problem this is. There were even cases when the decision of the Council was delivered years after it had been taken. This attitude is totally unacceptable and one expects the Council for the Teaching Profession to be a model for the others.
The structures have now been set up. Our teachers have a very good reputation. One hopes that these structures will help them to be even more professional.