Updated 3.12pm with MUT statement 

The Malta Union of Teachers on Tuesday afternoon accused the Education Ministry of trying to acquire Maths and Maltese exam papers from Church schools, in an attempt to circumvent a union directive blocking such exams from taking place. 

The MUT ordered the directive in state secondary schools in protest over a shortage of teachers, saying many teachers were being required to teach more lessons than their collective agreement required. 

Education Minister Evarist Bartolo had on Tuesday morning urged the union to drop its directives.

Addressing a press conference, a "worried" Mr Bartolo said that he hoped the two sides would come to an agreement for the sake of "the common good".  

"My appeal, for the common good, is for the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) to reconsider its position because the number of teachers with such a load is a bit disproportionate," Mr Bartolo said. 

The MUT hit back later in the day, saying authorities were trying to piece together exams using half-yearly exam papers, as well as by trying to get their hands on exam papers prepared for Church school students (see below). 

Union directives

The union has ordered teachers and heads of department of the two core subjects to refrain from providing or correcting exam papers, saying members were over-worked, often assigned 25 lessons per week or more. 

On this the minister said that this is not the case across the board and only in exceptional cases were teachers being assigned that many lessons. According to Mr Bartolo only 3.5 per cent of Maltese teachers were assigned such a teaching load, while one in four Maths teachers had that many lessons. 

Read: Only 3.5% of teachers have maximum class load – ministry

Asked by the Times of Malta whether the government had a back up plan in case the union did not change its position and in light of the fact that the exam period was only days away, the minister said the focus at the moment would be to "resolve the issue".

Mr Bartolo would not comment on whether the government was considering providing students with exam papers put together by the Education Department, as was the case in February during the half-yearly exams. He admitted, however, that he was not happy with what had happened in February and the papers provided to the students.

According to parents who spoke to the Times of Malta last month, they were not being provided with much information, only finding out about the situation at the last minute when they were helping their children with revision. 

Meanwhile, also speaking at the press conference, Permanent Secretary Frank Fabri insisted that the department was putting in a lot of effort to address the issues flagged by the union. In fact, in recent weeks, the department has been busy engaging new teachers, with 14 for Maltese and six for Maths already brought in, he said. 

"In light of the fact that we have done all we can to bring in teachers and even accepted the union's proposals and that only 3.5 per cent have such a load, we continue to stand by our position and we insist that it is only fair that children get to sit for their exams," Dr Fabri insisted. 

MUT reaction

In a reaction to the minister's comments, the Malta Union of Teachers accused the Education Ministry of trying to circumvent its directives by cobbling together exam papers as it did for the half-year exams, when pupils ended up with past papers and questions which were not on their syllabus.

The MUT said it had also learned that the ministry was also trying to acquire Maltese and Maths exam papers from church schools through the Curia.

Such actions were unbecoming of the ministry, more so since the way subjects were taught in church schools was different from state schools. 

The MUT criticised the ministry for not having tackled its complaints about a shortage of teachers and said it was declaring an industrial dispute. It said it was directing all its members not to hand any exam papers to the Curia or the ministry.