Lowering the teaching course entry requirements to make the profession attractive and address the existing shortage would be a mistake, the dean of the Faculty of Education has warned.

Instead, he said, the solution lay in improving working conditions, giving teachers more opportunities for career progression and identifying the subjects that needed the greatest attention.

Prof. Caruana was speaking in an interview with the Times of Malta in the wake of concerns expressed in various quarters, including the Malta Union of Teachers, that teaching was in crisis.

He defended the decision to ditch the Bachelor of Education and PGCE courses for a Master’s in Teaching and Learning.

The reform, which came into force last year, was criticised on the grounds that it now takes five years to obtain a teacher’s warrant instead of four. Though critics argue that the extra year could discourage students from joining the profession, Prof. Caruana is confident the new structure will open up new opportunities for education graduates while raising teaching standards.

According to official statistics, just 49 students are in line to graduate as teachers from the first intake of the MTL course.

However, a further 81 are set to graduate concurrently, as the BEd (Hons) course is still being phased out.

In comparison, the total number of graduates from the B.Ed. (Hons) and PGCE courses in 2015/16 stood at 236.

Commenting on the teacher’s shortage, Prof. Caruana re-marked that this was mostly being felt in subjects like IT and Design & Technology.

However, he cautioned that, in the near future, this could also spread to science subjects and, possibly, even maths.

MUT president Marco Bonnici said last week the ongoing teacher shortage was so bad that retired teachers as old as 77 had been asked to return to work.

Read the full interview with Mr Caruana here.