The Malta Union of Teachers is calling for an urgent meeting with Archbishop Charles Scicluna to discuss a spate of widespread abusive practices it claims are occurring at a number of Church schools.
It said that various members of the union had expressed shock at recruitment practices that did not reflect honesty, transparency and good practice expected of Church schools.
The union said female applicants were blatantly told during job interviews they should not expect to be employed since the school only wanted male teachers.
Others were called in for an interview and never given a result.
Over the past weeks the union has been informed by various members about shambolic practices
They later discovered the vacancy had been filled or the same call for applications was being repeated.
“Over the past weeks, the union has been informed by various members about shambolic practices that are not only a shame on those schools and their leaders but also a far cry from the ‘Catholic practice’ being suddenly expected from Church school teachers,” the MUT said in a statement.
The MUT did not exclude the fact that if the issues were not addressed, action – which could include naming and shaming the schools resorting to such practices – would be taken.
“There were also reports that the employment of other teachers of specific subjects were terminated while on probation and they were replaced by an unqualified priest or religious person.
“Church school leaders should be leading by example,” the union said.
It also mentioned cases of teachers whose employment was terminated during the probation period for no apparent reason and recruitment of supply teachers who would be negated the chance for regular employment even though vacancies were permanent.
In reaction, the Catholic Education Secretariat said that it disapproved of any alleged irregular recruitment practices that could have been adopted by certain schools.
The Archbishop had already accepted to meet the MUT, the secretariat said, adding it was disappointed that,instead of adopting a collaborative approach, the union went public without first discussing the matter.