Better education cannot be attained without direct investment in education and educators, which should be given priority over investing in school buildings and amenities, the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) told the political parties in a memorandum. In the memorandum, released to the press yesterday, the MUT highlighted various concerns and proposed measures aimed at improving the educational system.
"Malta will soon be facing a crisis. The number of prospective teachers is seriously dwindling," MUT president John Bencini said as he called on the authorities to explore possible incentives to attract people towards the teaching profession.
One of the reasons for such lack of interest, he said, was that salaries were not attractive compared to other jobs. Furthermore, teachers faced an increasing workload and some even faced harassment in the classroom.
He illustrated how teaching had become a profession preferred by women because the hours allowed them to have a family. But, he said, women could be "scared away" if school hours were increased. He was referring to a comment by Labour Leader Alfred Sant who said that increased school hours could be considered as part of educational reform.
Mr Bencini insisted that proposals on education, and the children's future, should not be bandied about during an electoral campaign because they had serious consequences and should be discussed with the social partners involved.
Although a lot had been achieved in education, there was still more to be done.
On harassment, the memorandum proposed the setting up of an independent structure to investigate such matters and offer support to teachers.
A point that came across strongly in the memorandum was that the MUT believed that the number of students in class was still too high and did not leave room for individual attention as recommended in the national curriculum framework.
The Directorate of Quality Standards in Education and the Directorate for Educational Services, in collaboration with the MUT, needed to conduct a study to determine an appropriate school population that would make schools more manageable.
Mr Bencini said that heads of school should be provided with support staff to enable them to carry out their educational role rather than focus solely on administration. College principals should not interfere in the running of schools.
In primary schools, teachers were concerned that the syllabus was too vast and did not leave space for children to learn life skills. Neither was there enough time for cultural and creative activities.
Moreover, schools should be allowed to adapt the syllabus to the needs of their students and steer away from the "one size fits all" mentality, Mr Bencini said. This was especially relevant in secondary schools where, the MUT feared, many students were not benefiting from the educational process and were not motivated to learn.
School audits had to take into consideration the complexity of the reality in certain schools.
The memorandum also addressed the need to invest in resource centres, improve health and safety practices, the increase in workload by Mcast academic staff, the need to improve the conditions of the staff at the University of Malta and the Junior College, and the need to give the Institute of Tourism Studies a proper status through the enactment of a law.