No hybrid teaching for UPE members as union issues industrial action

Fresh directives have been set by the UPE for State and Church school members, obliging them not to conduct hybrid teaching nor to accept timetable changes.

"The Union [...] has been observing the rising numbers among the educational population and is shocked at how the Government is allowing our educators to continue performing their duties without considering the, now obvious, threat they are being subjected to," the union says.

Under the directives, members of the UPE will not be collecting homework from students who have been reported sick or are running a fever. 

Members will also refrain from accepting timetable changes, collecting money on behalf of schools, using personal devices for work, or attending meetings held outside school premises.

UPE members are not to accept delegated work that should be carried out by the SMT and will not be supervising students who are ill and sent to the school's isolation room.

Members will also be refusing to take temperatures or check for masks at entry points

LSEs are not to take part in Individual Educational Planning or Making Action Plan of students not physically at school, instead making use of last year's IEP and MAP reports.

Peripatetic teachers functioning as class teachers will be refraining from submitting assessments related to the Learning Outcome Framework. 

"The union firmly believes that stricter measures need to be in place and need to be enforced at all times, and insists on the necessity of going online completely, as soon as possible, so as to contain the spread of the virus, which cannot be described in any other way if not out of control, at this point in time," they said, reiterating their demand for online schooling.

A record number of cases were registered today, with 112 new cases taking the tally above 1,000. This surpassed Malta's previous overnight record of 111 new cases - a record only registered yesterday. An increasing number of cases are being seen within family and workplace clusters, while new recoveries stand at 42.