Teachers cite lack of support for reluctance on Erasmus exchanges

Maltese primary and secondary school students are being left behind in EU-funded exchange programmes when compared to the EU average, according to the teachers’ union.

This contrasts with the country’s high participation rate in Erasmus+ projects at post-secondary and University level.

With an average of about one out of every 20 university level students choosing to enrol in Erasmus projects, the same cannot be said about their much younger peers.

Malta Union of Teachers President Marco Bonnici points his finger at the multiple hurdles primary school teachers face when enrolling with Erasmus programmes.

One of the most cited issues according to Bonnici is the extra effort required by the teachers in order to apply for the projects.

“Applying requires a lot of clerical bureaucracy, and a teacher who has to plan for lessons and prepare for the weeks ahead, cannot cope with more bureaucracy,” Bonnici said.

Bonnici also said that for the extra work carried out by those who choose to enrol, no extra payment is granted, leading to a lack of motivation from the educators’ side.

“With all the funding that is involved in the project, the teachers aren’t awarded with a cent of over time,” he said.

The biggest concerns are raised by primary school teachers, who unlike secondary educators, are responsible for a single class throughout the whole year.

The MUT president also mentioned the extra responsibility that comes with taking primary level students abroad.

“The risk undertaken by teachers who choose to travel with six and seven-year olds for example, is far greater than that of secondary school teachers, and not everyone is prepared to shoulder that responsibility,” he said.

He also blamed the authorities for not providing support to educators.

“How can you expect them to go beyond their call of duty if all they face are challenges?” Bonnici said.

However, the parliamentary secretariat for EU funds disagreed with Bonnici’s assessment, with a spokesperson saying the funds agency had experienced “a drastic rise in applications in the last three years”.

“At least 369 students from primary and secondary schools benefitted from Erasmus+ projects between 2014-2017. This data emanates from schools which applied directly with the European Union Programmes Agency, which has only recently been placed under the responsibility of the Parliamentary Secretariat responsible for European Funds,” the spokesperson said.

Other schools across Malta and Gozo apply as ‘partners only’ in other international schools through other Erasmus agencies. “Their participation is not accounted for in this statistic as the secretariat does not have direct access to this data,” the secretariat said.

Asked if the agency had noticed any trend of teachers refusing to apply due to the additional burdens, the spokesperson disagreed. “Over 970 educators have participated in EU-funded projects between 2014 and 2017 and there is no issue in terms of teachers’ willingness to participate in Erasmus+.”

He said that in order for the situation to continue to improve, reforms by the agency will be announced in the upcoming budget, in efforts to position Malta for the next EU budget, which aims to double the funding of Erasmus projects.

Nationalist MEP candidate Peter Agius, made reference to the issue in a Facebook post last week.

Agius said that when speaking to educators, many expressed their unwillingness to apply for these EU-funded projects because they found no support.

“In other countries, schools use the Erasmus programme to widen their students’ horizons, we are being left behind, and to catch up with the trend, we need our teachers,” Agius said.