July 12, 2017 at 9:57 am
Press Release: MUT expects concrete measures to address the crisis in the teaching profession
Following statements by the Ministry for Education and Employment on the drastic reduction in students following courses leading to the teaching profession at the University of Malta, the MUT notes that the Government is now acknowledging the issue openly and looks forward to discussing the improvement in salaries, allowances and conditions of work of educators to counter this worrying trend. Apart from attracting the best people to the profession, the Government as the model employer and regulator, has to work to retain current educators by making sure that adequate salaries, allowances and proper conditions worthy of the educational profession are provided to all teaching grades including KGAs, LSAs, Teachers, SMT, EOs, Technical grades and all other related grades. The Union notes that the working group which was established to evaluate the teaching profession has not yet gathered momentum and will require added investment and resources to meet its terms of reference.
Apart from this, the Union is expecting that the country supports the Faculty of Education in its efforts to attract students to its respective courses whilst also providing new and parallel opportunities for grades who require flexible training in pedagogy to regularise their employment. The Union has already carried out discussions on pressing issues with the Ministry, a case in point being the widely-announced implementation of the Learning Outcomes Framework (LOF) and which, following discussions, shall not be implemented as from September 2017. This shall enable both parties to discuss its implications in the context of the sectoral agreement negotiations which will include a wide-ranging consultation process by the Union with members.
The Government now has an opportunity to tackle the issue once and for all through the sectoral agreement negotiations which have just been re-activated. The MUT, in this current booming economy with a very positive outlook confirmed many times by the Government, looks forward to negotiate and agree on a radically improved package for educators for the benefit of the country.
