An institute set up two years ago did not work and had to be as flexible and agile as possible if it were to really address teachers’ needs, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said on Friday.
He was reacting to comments made on Thursday by the Malta Union of Teachers, which said, among other things, that the Institute for Education had been turned into a “convenient satellite” of the Education Ministry.
MUT president Marco Bonnici said that the institute had been meant as an autonomous body that provided training, fostered collaboration and allocated resources to educators and the teaching communities through the input and endorsement of all stakeholders participating actively on its board.
The MUT’s major objection, he added, was that the board had been abolished and would be replaced by a “pseudo-board” consisting of a number of direct appointees by the minister.
READ: Teachers' union deplores changes at Institute of Education
Asked if teachers would be represented on the board, Mr Bonnici replied that no one would be represented in the institute, let alone educators
The Times of Malta reported earlier this year that the institute’s chairwoman had resigned a year after her appointment, saying she was “too busy” for the job.
Sources had said the institute was rife with internal conflict and never really took off.
Mr Bartolo said yesterday that he had originally set up the institute to serve as a structure that was “very consultative” and which had a lot of stakeholders present.
“Unfortunately, this system did not work”, he said, adding that it often took months to get an initiative off the ground.
For the institute to really address teachers’ needs, it had to be as flexible and agile as possible, Mr Bartolo said. He added that the ministry would continue to include “all those who wanted to be included” but would not tolerate a structure that prevented action from being taken, rather than moving ahead.
Asked whether the new structure meant the institute would merely serve the ministry’s needs, Mr Bartolo insisted this was “definitely not the case”. He said he wanted the institute to involve educators more than ever before.
Asked why the board would now be appointed directly by himself, Mr Bartolo reiterated the need for the institute to be “agile”.
He said he did not want anyone to have veto powers over the workings of the institute and pledged he would ensure people from different fields of education would be appointed.
Mr Bartolo said he had no problem if the MUT wanted to be involved.