Education minister Evarist Bartolo appealed for greater respect for educators today as the new scholastic year began today under the shadow of familiar concerns over teacher shortages.
“Many people have no idea of the amount of work teachers and administrators put in outside official work hours and the months of hard work preparing for today,” Mr Bartolo said during a visit to the Ħamrun Middle School on the first day of classes.
“I would like to extend my gratitude to them, although I know gratitude is not enough. We need to upgrade school infrastructure and we need to improve the working conditions of those who work there.”
MUT concerns
The Malta Union of Teachers expressed concern last week over the “substantial shortage” of teachers and LSAs in several schools and centres.
The union pointed to incidents of promoted teachers having to continue teaching because they could not be replaced, retirees asked to return to work to cover the shortfall, and students with different syllabi being grouped together.
The MUT has said it is looking to negotiate a “radically-improved package” for salaries, allowances and working conditions to reverse declining numbers entering the profession.
Asked about the concerns, Mr Bartolo acknowledged the scale of the challenge, which he said was being faced by most European countries.
He said more needed to be done to ensure teachers enjoyed “the respect they deserved” and to attract more young people to the profession, including by strengthening supply from first degrees into specialised teaching courses.
He added that the “booming economy” meant there were now more areas of employment competing with the teaching profession for graduates.
Attracting teaching talent
Nevertheless, he said not enough was being done to attract people from other fields who were interested in becoming teachers.
“Right now there are no conversion courses available, so we want to use the Institute for Education set up by the ministry to provide the professional development necessary to have more teachers,” Mr Bartolo said.
The minister also highlighted the need to improve school infrastructure and working conditions. He described talks over a new agreement as ongoing but would not be drawn on a specific timeframe.
Earlier in the day, parliamentary secretary for youth and sport Clifton Grima visited San Ġwann Primary School, where he greeted students and gave his best wishes for the year ahead.