Ministry’s student quick-fix disheartening for teachers, says Faculty of Education

● Students were asked to teach part-time ● Move has already been blasted by MUT

The University of Malta’s Faculty of Education has expressed its grave concerns regarding the message recently sent to university students across different faculties in order to address current teacher shortages.

Last week, the Education Department sent emails to a number of university students, asking them if they would like to teach part-time.

The move was blasted by the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT), which said it found the move insulting.

“As clearly shown in the reactions of many educators, such proposals are harmful to the profession as they give the impression that formal teacher education is of little importance and that there is a tendency to adopt quick-fix solutions,” the Faculty of Education said.

“Such measures are disheartening for teachers who are already in the profession, most of whom are alumni of the faculty, and who carry out their daily duties with dedication and expertise. Other professions facing similar shortages do not replace their professionals with unqualified personnel.”

The faculty reiterated that in order to join the teaching profession one needs to complete the comprehensive preparation that is tried and tested by international standards. It is therefore committed to retaining its role in ensuring that the country is provided with quality educators.

While understanding that shortages need to be addressed, the faculty insisted that shortterm solutions that place learners in the hands of unprepared individuals cannot be preferable to a solid, long-term plan which ensures that schools are indeed provided with highquality educators fittingly rewarded for their work.

“The Master in Teaching & Learning, a course in Initial Teacher Education, has been introduced precisely to ensure that standards in teaching are safeguarded and that the teaching profession attains the recognition it deserves.”

“The Faculty expresses its solidarity towards the students of its various courses who are preparing themselves to be of service to their learners. Asking their fellow students or any other individual, for that matter, to take on a role in the profession to which they are dedicating their studies is indeed disheartening for them. The faculty reminds everyone that education is a fundamental birthright and the cornerstone of a healthy society. Educators are the guarantors of access to quality education for all (UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4). Students in our schools are not to be placed in conditions where their learning is jeopardised because of unqualified or unsuitably-trained persons.”

On Friday, the Education Ministry said its main priority was to improve working conditions for teachers, but said this was only part of the equation and it was working on six other principles.

The Nationalist Party has offered to help solve the shortage crisis but said the government would first have to stop ‘insulting’ teachers.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said previous nationalist administrations were to blame for the ongoing situation, pointing out that teachers had received the lowest salary increases.