The government and the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) came to blows recently over proposed amendments to the Education Act. One of the key flashpoints concerned what the MUT interpreted as a proposal to tie teachers’ warrants to continuous assessment (professional development courses and proficiency tests).

MUT leader Marco Bonnici told Malta Today that clauses in the originally proposed Bill meant that teachers would have to undergo “continuous professional deve-lopment”, in conjunction with a proficiency test, to keep their warrant.

Failure to do so could result in suspension of the warrant or even termination.

According to the MUT, this was entirely unnecessary since current agreements already provide for ongoing training. In addition, the MUT noted that a teacher can already lose the warrant if convicted of a criminal offence, or if a complaint is upheld by the Council for the Teaching Profession.

However, the current rules do not have mechanisms in place whereby teachers that are not up to standard can be easily removed.

The union was incandescent that they had not been properly consulted over the changes and the situation.

Nonetheless, the idea that teachers should have ongoing testing is worth considering. I hold a strong view that teacher assessment should be linked to student improvement and/or pass rates on holistic standardised student assessments.

Let us measure what matters. Naturally, such a scheme should take into account the fact that teachers in economically disadvantaged areas may need additional help to achieve the same results as teachers in a more prosperous catchment area… but this is detail that can be sorted. Let us focus on agreeing to the concept. The education system could learn a thing or two from the business world.

In many top careers, employees are required to pass tests to show their ongoing competence. Failure is not an option.

Are good teachers with exceptional dedication and student pass rates compensated more? The answer to these questions is no

CEOs, managers and employees at large are assessed on what they deliver. The teaching profession has been largely exempt from such assessment. Have teachers ever lost their jobs based on the quality of their delivery? Are good teachers with exceptional dedication and student pass rates compensated more? The answer to these questions is no and surely this is not right.

And the reality for most working people is that they are constantly judged on their abilities and performance, as technology and customer demands change, or businesses evolve.

Companies know that this is a challenge for staff. That is why it is routine to provide support to help employees keep their skills razor sharp. At assessment time, a team member who is not making the grade will find out about it, and has a chance to step up their game. In some businesses assessment is continuous – all with the aim to achieve excellence.

If the MUT is not happy with continuous assessment, they should at least be open to the idea of increasing transparency such as sharing each teacher’s student success rates, or scores for each school.

It is well documented that score transparency improves teacher performance. This benefits the best teachers and helps the not-so-good ones judge the gap.

In the business world, if there are no standards of excellence, no performance indicators, no measurements for quality control and no return-on-investment calculators, then productivity, quality and returns would rapidly fall.

Put simply, what is not measured is not done; if we want to improve and grow, we need continuous assessment in the corporate sphere. Why should the same not apply to teaching?

If the government did roll out continuous assessment, only a tiny fraction of teachers would fail the grade. Those people probably need to find a different profession anyway and their departure would make the overall environment significantly better.

Publishing the results of these tests would lead to the best teachers receiving recognition; the ones that are failing should not be allowed to coast for years at the expense of the students they are supposed to be educating. This is a brave new world and teachers are responsible for helping children to handle the seismic shifts – but teachers need to change too.

Business leaders in Malta know only too well that students are often ill equipped to deal with the world of work due to the quality of their education.

If Malta is to continue to prosper through the 21st century that has to change. Teacher training and, more importantly, assessment could be part of that revolution.

Josef Said is director of a recruiting agency.

This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece