The respected teacher

John Bencini will not reveal why he has resigned from the CMTU. Here he talks about teachers and what he believes are the relevant issues

Ironically up till a month ago, John Bencini was determined to quit as Malta Union Teachers president to dedicate his full energies to the Confederation of Maltese Trade Unions, where he had set for himself two major tasks: bringing the CMTU closer to other unions, including the General Workers Union, and fostering unity in the confederation itself.
Bencini cites his failure in accomplishing both aims as the reason why he resigned from the CMTU’s helm, after former president Alfred Buhagiar passed away just a few months ago. But he also alludes to “something very serious” which has happened lately, which prompted his decision to resign.
Bencini won’t reveal what really happened, but his cryptic answers reveal that in the face of unacceptable pressures, resigning was a matter of self-respect. “Very serious things were happening. I said to myself: look here, John Bencini, you have tried your best but things are going from bad to worse. So it’s better to leave your place to someone who is more creative.”
Asked directly whether there were rifts in the CMTU, Bencini acknowledges that difficulties in had “increased rather than decreased during the past year.” But at this point in time Bencini insists that it would not be ethical to disclose what happened. So was his resignation prompted by the dominant position of the Union Haddiema Maqghudin within the CMTU, often a source of consternation for the GWU?
His answer might offer a clue. “I am willing to concede that the UHM as a general union is numerically stronger than unions like Medical Association of Malta and the MUT. I was willing to take this into account. But when major decisions are taken and certain press releases are issued, all trade unions big or small should be on the same footing.”
But surely Bencini is not in the habit of blaming others for what he considers his own shortcomings. “What was the purpose to hold on to my position when I failed in the two aims I had set myself to achieve?” Bencini asks. Yet, judging from last Wednesday’s MUT rally, Bencini has not completely failed in bridging between unions. By participating in a General Workers Union rally a year ago, the outspoken John Bencini had earned the respect of those who till a few years ago used to regard the
Malta Union of Teachers as a sort of class enemy.
On Wednesday, GWU secretary general Tony Zarb reciprocated by attending last Wednesday’s MUT rally, sitting next to his nemesis Gejtu Vella, the UHM’s secretary general.
He does not regret attending the GWU rally in protest against the government’s budget decision to deny workers from extra leave days compensating for public holidays happening on a weekend. “I had to have some guts to do it. For a whole month I had to endure an onslaught on In-Nazzjon. On the day after the GWU rally, as I was walking down Republic Street, a Nationalist Party high official patted me on the back whispering in my ear ‘I did not expect that you are such a traitor’.”
But despite his warmer disposition towards the GWU, after a year at the CMTU’s helm Bencini is sceptical on the prospect of trade union unity and he squarely blames the GWU for using its daily newspaper to incite UHM members to leave their union
“How is it possible to expect the UHM to warm up to the GWU when it is constantly subjected to these attacks?” Bencini asks.
Another insurmountable obstacle for setting up a trade union council is the GWU’s clear political links. Bencini recognises the right of a union to have its political ideology and sympathies. He admits that most of the MUT’s European counterparts are socialist in their ideology. What Bencini resents is the participation of GWU officials in Malta Labour Party mass meetings.
“I have been MUT president for ten years. I have my own ideology and political sympathies but I have never attended a mass meeting.”
Does the MUT have an ideology? Bencini does not hide behind the union’s statute which states that the MUT is apolitical. “I would say that approximately 65 per cent of our members are PN sympathisers. But this does not mean that John Bencini should not protest alongside the GWU and that John Bencini should not criticise the government.”
Ironically the MUT is still on the PN’s bad books. Last Wednesday’s rally on violence in schools was not even given a mention on NET TV. “This is ridiculous. We did not hold the rally to protest against the government. This is a social and not a partisan issue.”
But doesn’t his criticism of the GWU apply for the UHM which is often accused of showing restraint when the PN is in government? “I do not agree with Gejtu Vella on many things. But I have to give him credit for taking industrial actions irrespective of which party is in government. Can the same be said of the GWU?” asks Bencini. Yet he is more than satisfied that both Gejtu Vella and Tony Zarb attended last Wednesday’s MUT rally against the government’s response to the latest episode of violence in schools.
“We were satisfied that the two largest unions are supporting us. We did not even invite them to the rally. They came on their own initiative and we were surprised to see them there. Probably this happened because the MUT is respected by both major unions.”
Yet at the very moment when the teacher’s union has earned the respect of the other trade unions, respect for the teaching profession as a whole seems to be at an ebb with repeated assaults on teachers by parents and teachers alike culminating in last week’s episode of a 14-year-old student knocking down his teacher to the ground. Bencini argues that recent cases of abuse against teachers perpetrated by students and parents and teachers are a sad reflection of a general loss of respect for authority in Maltese society. “If the father does not respect a local warden, the son cannot be expected to respect the teacher. This is a decadent culture reflected in TV programmes where people shout at politicians. But this mentality is even more dangerous when manifested in schools. When the disrespectful student grows up and leaves school he will show the same lack of respect at work.”
So are parents to be blamed for undermining the authority of teachers? “In Qormi, some students are forced to wake up at 3am to work in the family bakery. It is not surprising that these students are restless at school. We have students from families where parents speak obscenely. Should we be surprised that these students speak obscenely to their teacher?”
But how can teachers expect respect when they are unable to control and motivate a class room through a healthy mix of discipline and creativity? Bencini is not defensive and admits the need for the teaching profession to examine its own shortcomings. “Not all teachers respect themselves. How can a teacher wearing flip-flops and a t-shirt with New York written on it expect his students to wear their full uniform? There is a segment of the teaching profession which is giving a bad name to teachers in general.”
For the past years teachers have passed through the filter of the Faculty of Education. But are the new teachers strong enough in character to face this breed of unruly students?
“I am appalled by the attitude of some students at university. Their attire is more suitable for a day at Armier than for university. Some take their bad habits with them even when they become teachers.”
Bencini lauds the Education Division for issuing a dress code for teachers. He recognises that there has been an improvement in the academic part of the training but he laments a serious lack when it comes to the character formation of teachers. “When we used to attend teaching colleges, we were less academically prepared but we left the college with a fully developed character. Today students are academically well prepared. But what about classroom management?”
Despite all these problems, most reports of verbal and physical abuse against teachers come from a limited number of schools. “The problem is concentrated in around twelve schools. But it is spreading. I receive reports of abuse on teachers every day. Most cases are limited to verbal abuse. I received a report of a girl who talks obscenely to her teacher. How can parents put their mind at rest that their children are receiving a good education when they hear fellow students saying obscenities in class?” Bencini quotes the results of a survey held in 2003 according to which 63 per cent of all teachers said that they had been subjected to verbal abuse. Nine per cent had also suffered damage on their cars or property.
“Only two weeks ago a teacher from Saint Francis of Assisi school reported that he was subjected to daily harassment at 2:00am from persons banging at the door of his sick mother’s house. The teacher had to install CCTV cameras in his own home, only to learn that the perpetrators were some of his students.” The MUT has advocated the setting up of schools for unruly children but only as a last resort. But Bencini insists that first we must try to solve the problem in the school itself. He proposes that schools with discipline problems should be identified in order to increase the support services for teachers and students attending these schools.
Bencini also proposes a sort a partial segregation of unruly students within the school itself. “Within schools experiencing problems of discipline, an internal learning zone for problematic children should be set up. If there is a girl who spits at her teacher or who speaks obscenely, she should be removed from her class and put in a class of not more than eight students and given full attention.”
Bencini defends his case saying that a teacher who has just graduated at university cannot cope with these problem children. “You must have trained personnel. We should make induction courses for teachers prepared to take this added responsibility. We should also be willing to offer them financial incentives to encourage them.”
But what about the students, don’t these have a right to an inclusive education? Bencini insists that this system would benefit problem children. “It makes no sense to expect a problem child to study the whole load of subjects. Children with behaviour problems need a lot of personal and social education (PSD) and some basics in English and Maltese. Let them go out of school to visit factories and places of interest. We must look after these children for them to respond. If you let them in class, the situation will worsen.”
But would not this segregation result in a new type of streaming which labels these students as potential delinquents, defying commitments towards inclusivity in education?
“We should not forget that problem children disrupt the whole class. The other children have a right to learn. Teachers have a right to teach and unruly students do not have the right to disrupt,” says Bencini.
Bencini goes on to propose the setting up of schools catering for those students who cannot be rehabilitated within their own school. Bencini is on the same wavelength as the government on this issue. He quotes ministerial sources telling him that in September the government intends to open two schools for troublesome children.
Bencini rebuts criticism that such schools will become new dumping grounds to make life easier for teachers in normal schools. I point out that the education system in Malta is already tightly streamed, with area secondary schools taking on the failures. Do we risk creating a new category of failures? “These learning zones will definitely not serve a dumping zone. These students have problems for which they are not to be blamed. In these schools unruly students will be rehabilitated. They will attend these schools only until they are rehabilitated and sent back to their school. They might stay for a month, two months, three months or even a year until they are fully rehabilitated.”
Bencini expects that these students will be cared for by a multidisciplinary team including counsellors and psychologists. “Problem children need help. Let’s give them help. We are not saying that these should be dumped. These students only need more help than other students.”
But it was the Education Division’s reaction to an incident involving a 14-year-old student who punched his own 24-year-old teacher, knocking him down on the floor, which has prompted the MUT to say enough is enough.
“We are all asking what’s next after this. This incident has completely undermined the authority of the teacher. How can this teacher face a class again after such a humiliation?”
The MUT has also issued directives ordering teachers not to have any contact with the 14-year-old boy. Is not the MUT denying this particular child from his constitutional right for an education? “I was angered by the Ministry spokesperson who said that the child who knocked down his teacher has a right for an education. He has a right for an education but other children also have a right to be educated. The boy in question should be rehabilitated.” Bencini explains that the MUT’s strong reaction was only a consequence of the Education Division’s lame response to the incident which at first took the form of nine days’ suspension. According to Bencini, the Ministry of Education was also involved in this decision.
“A student who breaks a locker in the same school gets a three-day suspension. It seems that when it comes to penalties there is not much difference between knocking a teacher down and breaking a locker.” To add insult to injury the student was allowed back to school just two days following the incident to sit for an exam. He was allowed to sit for the exam in a separate room not wearing the school uniform, supervised by a clerk from the Education Division.
“The student entered the school like a hero. He entered school wearing a hat. There were even students at the windows cheering his triumphal entry.”
Following these protests the school authorities decided to extend the student’s suspension up to 23rd March. But this is still unacceptable for the MUT. “The staff is still incensed by this decision. The student should have been expelled for two months and sent to another school.” If the student returns back to school on the 23 March, teachers will simply not step inside the class where the student is placed.
Bencini is also disappointed that Education Minister Louis Galea had to intervene in this case. “I don’t think the Minister should get involved in such cases. It does not happen anywhere in the European Union, that the Minister takes a part in decisions on disciplining a boy in a school. The Minister has enough on his plate. Such matters should be solved by public servants. But it was the Minister who chose to intervene in this issue.”
But Bencini does not mince his words on his disappointment at the Minister’s reaction to the incident. “I recognise that the Minister for Education has done his best by applying a zero tolerance policy in cases involving violence by parents against head of schools. In such cases action was taken in just five to ten minutes. But in this case, the zero tolerance policy advocated by the Minister was not applied.”
Yet despite all the talk on a zero tolerance policy, in a recent case a father accused of storming into the school during the morning assembly, grabbing the microphone and insulting the head of school, was only fined Lm 70. “Surely this is not the Minister’s fault. But it clear that these sentences are not a deterrent. A person who has beaten a facilitator by a belt is still at large, because a decision has not been taken by the courts three years after the brutal attack.”