University teaching course subjects could be restricted further due to lack of placements

The University of Malta said that the intake in the following subject areas had already been limited in past years: PSD, Maltese, Social Studies, Business Studies, Spanish, Geography and Music.

The University was reacting to reports carried by ONE news and PBS on student admissions.

“On the basis of the number of teaching practice placements available to date and considering  the number of applications received, the following areas of study could also have a restricted intake this year: Primary Education, Computing, French, History, Maths, PE and Science,” the University said.

It added that the number of teaching practice placements depend on a variety of variables, such as the number of students/children in schools and hence the number of classes.  “The decreasing birth rate means that there are fewer children/students in schools, fewer classes and thus fewer placements can be offered.”

It added also that there was a “dramatic increase” in applications for the teaching profession.

“Decreasing student population is in contrast with increasing applications for the university teaching courses, namely B.Ed. (Hons.) and PGCE. In the current three cohorts, 218 students are reading for a degree in primary education.  To date, the University of Malta received 213 applications (first and second preference) for the same course.”

The University said that those students applying to the teaching course in July were informed that “the number of places which can be offered on the programme depends on the number of placements available in each individual study area.”

“Applicants were also informed that where a limited number of teaching practice placements would be available, the number of students to be accepted would have to be restricted if the number of applicants was greater than the number of placements available,” the University said.