[WATCH] MUT rails at Edward Scicluna’s ‘no shortage of teachers’ comment

MUT rails at Edward Scicluna's 'no shortage of teachers' comment

The Malta Union of Teachers has deplored Finance Minister Edward Scicluna’s comment that there is no shortage of teachers and said that this is something the union and the government were having disagreements on.

Scicluna made the comment on TVM’s Xtra last week, saying that while there were shortages in some subjects, the overall ratio of teachers to students is high.

MUT President Marco Bonnici reacted on Wednesday to the comment, saying that such a ratio was unfeasible.

“There are things we agree on and things we don’t agree on, amongst them the issue of teacher shortages. We are saying that there is a shortage which is being felt while the [Education] Ministry said—in the same way, that Minister Scicluna asserted—that there is no shortage simply because Scicluna has worked out a ratio in terms of how many students there are, a ratio which we cannot employ in the circumstances,” Bonnici told MaltaToday.

Bonnici added that the government’s proposal to import foreign teachers was an ‘easy’ solution.

“We don’t agree with easy solutions. We need to look at the conditions of teachers today and how to improve them. Importing foreign educators as if they can easily teach in our education system is something we don’t agree on and we’ve talked about this with the ministry,” Bonnici said.

MUT President Marco Bonnici

Bonnici was speaking at the MUT offices in Hamrun, where the union’s refurbished building was inaugurated on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the trade union’s existence.

The MUT announced that it was on the cusp of expanding to cater for 10,000 members and it would once again be publishing the once-popular student magazine, Sagħtar.

The union said that it was developing its first offices in Gozo and that the target for completion was May of next year.

Education Minister Evarist Bartolo spoke before the building was officially inaugurated and said that Malta has the youngest cohort of teachers in the European Union.

“Since this is the case, we must be doing something right. However, there’s no doubt that in terms of subjects like Maths, Science, English and IT, we have a problem with attracting people to the teaching profession,” Bartolo conceded.

He said that the profession had changed over the years and that the perception that teachers had it easy was widely off the mark since the job had become complicated and stressful.

“But if one were to remove the stupid comments on social media, my impression is that a lot of parents do respect teachers.

“Sometimes the perception is that teachers have an easy job but it couldn’t be farther from the truth. We need to work to start removing over-the-top pressures on teachers,” Bartolo said.

He added that a teacher shortage was being felt all across the world and that by 2030, the global population would require a total of 69 million teachers. 74 countries, he said, are experiencing an acute lack of teachers. In the EU, 26 countries are doing so.

Archbishop Charles Scicluna also delivered a small speech before the inauguration. He praised the teaching profession and said that teachers practised more than just pedagogy.

“The school is the environment where our children are socialising for the first time, often bringing all their problems and aspirations and doubts into the classroom. This is a reflection of our highly cosmopolitan society,” he said.