The education directorate has stepped in after the teachers’ union ordered its member not to provide and assess Maltese and Mathematics exam papers in senior schools.

The Malta Union of Teachers issued directives for secondary school teachers and heads of departments of Maltese and Maths in 2018, asking them to refrain from providing or correcting exam papers.

They had also been ordered not to carry out any oral and listening examinations, or provide an assessment mark or report.

MUT President Marco Bonnici told Times of Malta that the directives had been issued after the union flagged the issue of teacher shortages for some subjects.

Teachers were being loaded with too many lessons, meaning they were not able to implement reforms introduced by the education authorities, he added. Maltese and Maths teachers were the most affected.

The MUT directives did not apply to regularly marked homework and tests given to students throughout the academic year. The union warned it would escalate the industrial action if no solution was found to address the issue.

When contacted, an Education Ministry spokeswoman confirmed that instead of allowing students to miss half-yearly exams, the directorate had compiled papers made up of past exam questions and new material.

Form three, four and five students are sitting for these Maltese and Math assessments under exam conditions, the spokeswoman added.

It was especially important that fifth formers did not miss these half-yearly sessions because they acted as mock O’level exams, the spokeswoman added.