Union accuses Education Ministry of ‘desperate’ last-minute attempt to move teachers around

The Education Ministry is ordering specialised teachers to take up classroom duties in a last-minute attempt to plug shortages in State primary schools, the teachers’ union said.

The Malta Union of Teachers has instructed its members to ignore such phone calls.

After government failed to secure a court injunction against industrial action because the judge recused himself, the ministry was left with no teachers for some classrooms.

In a last-ditch attempt over the weekend the ministry tried to plug holes by assigning classroom duties to specialised teachers, referred to as peripatetic teachers. They normally teach subjects such as art, music and PE.

This led to an industrial dispute since these teachers were left with no time to prepare and in many cases, have little or no experience of teaching in primary classrooms.

Now, the Malta Union of Teachers is reporting that in a bid to plug shortages the ministry is “panic-calling” specialised teachers on their private mobile phones and ordering them to report for duty at particular schools.

“There have also been phone calls to partners of teachers in instances where the educator could not be reached,” the MUT said.

“This is a desperate attempt by the ministry to try and cover up the mess it created over the weekend and in the months before. Now that its plan to halt industrial action through court order has failed, the ministry is calling teachers against all practice and ordering them to forget the specialised services they offer and instead attend a primary school class,” the MUT said.

Some of the specialised services badly affected by the ministry’s decision are those given to vulnerable students.

The MUT has directed teachers receiving these phone calls to ignore them and not respond to them.