From Mr C. Micallef

I think the main reason that is discouraging students from following a B.Ed (Hons) course at university is that they’ve heard enough grumbling from the Malta Union of Teachers about their poor conditions of work and how stressful their job is.

Teachers’ salaries start from scale 9 like most other professionals and, considering the small number of teaching hours delivered per year, it turns out that teachers probably have the highest pay of them all, relatively speaking.

If teachers want to compare their salaries with that of other professionals, they should deliver the same amount of work that these other workers do.

No one expects teachers to take work home but this is due to the fact that they finish school too early. Alternatively, they should stay at school till 4pm to complete their work!

Although abroad they pay much more for each profession, teachers still prefer to remain in Malta, unlike other professions that are experiencing a serious brain drain. The reason is obvious. Probably, nowhere on earth do teachers enjoy all the conditions that exist in Malta. In brief these include:

Approximately only 30 hours a week at work

Contact time in most secondary schools is not more than 24 hours a week (no wonder secondary school teaching is more appealing to university students!)

Gratis break(s)

Gratis half-days

Total of about four months of holidays

Gratis overtime entitlements

Gratis summer bonus

What surprises me is that no one is really concerned about the fact that most children have to have private lessons to help them pass their exams. In my opinion, this is living proof that schools in Malta do not deliver enough like they do abroad.

On the other hand, when it comes to the Health Sector, everyone complains about having to wait in queues when they can see with their own eyes the pressures of work that exist in hospitals and government pharmacies.

Now it seems that teachers are not happy with their collective agreement. On the other hand, I have serious doubts whether there is enough money to approve and buy certain medicines. I hope the authorities remember that health comes first and foremost, and no matter what they give teachers (laptops, salary increases, etc), they will never be satisfied.

Charles Micallef

FGURA