Another scholastic year has passed. Hundreds of students will be moving from primary to secondary and from secondary to tertiary education. Latest statistics show that 66 per cent of our students are now moving on to tertiary education, an improvement compared to the last years but not good enough when compared to EU standards. We are still far from what the Lisbon Agenda expects of us.

Hundreds of students will be moving to Sixth Form institutions, the Junior College, the Institute of Tourism Studies, MCAST or university. A number of our students will also be trying their luck abroad, mostly in European countries. Teachers and students alike had to work very hard to be successful. We are living in a very competitive world and Malta in no exception. One just has to take a look at the hundreds of our young 10 or 11-year-old pupils sitting, or rather competing, for a place in a Junior Lyceum school or Church secondary school to realise what stress and anxiety are all about. Malta is the only European country where students of this age are subjected to such unjustifiable stress. Teachers are facing the same music too.

For many years now, the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) has been stating that schools should be a safe, healthy and propitious place for teaching and learning. Schools are the workplace of teachers, but they are, primarily, educational institutions for young students. Stress can thus be harmful not only for all teaching grades, but can indirectly harm the pupils and put at risk the quality and efficiency of the education provided. A case in point is St Benedict College. We have a three in one system there, where Foundation (ex-Opportunity Centres students), Area Secondary Students who failed their Junior Lyceum exams, and Junior Lyceum Students are all under one roof. This system, a pilot project for many years now, obviously needs to be re-assessed. This new system is a real challenge and the management team and all teaching grades have been doing their best, notwithstanding the serious lack of support. Teachers there are up in arms; they are stressed to the limit and have recently approached the MUT and the authorities for support, comprehension and understanding. Some teachers are expected to teach two or more levels with an exaggerated number of syllabuses and different Forms. Teachers are also expected to furnish teaching material to Foundation Year students as the Directorate does not provide it.

According to an MUT survey, the greatest stress on teachers is related to the organization and processes, workload, working intensity, class-sizes and, at times bad school management. Unacceptable pupils’ behaviour has been ranked as one of the main causes of stress in schools. It is well known that violence, harassment and bullying in schools are important issues that must be dealt with. In the last MUT survey, 95 per cent of teachers reported that unacceptable pupil behaviour has seriously deteriorated over the last five to 10 years. Teachers have also reported that practically nothing has been done to start tackling this problem. No wonder the MUT has been criticizing the authority that practically nothing has been implemented that was agreed on in the Reform Agreement signed a year ago. For many years, the MUT has been pleading with the government to appoint security officers in schools to prevent violence and attacks on teachers but again this has been ignored.

Of course, other work situations could be a source of stress. Teachers sometimes complain that they do not have enough time in the working day to do non-class contact work. Classes with a wide-ability range are a problem too as teachers feel they cannot spend time with individual pupils. The MUT is also aware that recently there has been an increase in teachers’ administration form-filling duties. Teachers are frequently asked to fill in surveys and this seems to be never-ending. Teachers then have to face poorly motivated pupils and the demands of the syllabuses and their length and depth of coverage is also never-ending. Teachers are also there to maintain values and standards. The demands of the State examination system is another burden. As a result of all this, teachers feel de-motivated; their career is unfulfilling; they feel tired and lack energy; they sometimes feel unhappy and depressed and they may feel they are losing confidence in themselves as teachers and also feel isolated from their colleagues,

The MUT has, over the past years, been insisting on smaller classes, the implementation of the Reform Agreement, less class contact, the reduction of content in syllabuses. Teachers expect recognition for the extra work they do. Teachers often complain of lack of communication and consultation, lack of proper support, and often feel they are totally left out or even given the cold shoulder.

Yes, a teacher’s job has really become a stressful one. No wonder Malta like other countries will be facing a teacher shortage as teachers are leaving their job. We now even have a problem of retaining teachers.

Teachers have to face pupils whose parents are not always supportive and there still is a lack of support for students with social problems. Teachers have to work in a system where there are ongoing changes in the education sector. The performance of the school and teacher is now being subjected to school audits. Teachers are being subjected to a yearly performance rating report. Sometimes they feel that society undervalues them. Some are unable to “switch off” at home while others feel responsible for the welfare of individual students.

The challenge of preventing and tackling work-related stress is consequently an issue for employers in education. There is furthermore a legal obligation for employers, under the European and National laws, to take action on stress and in particular take the necessary steps for a suitable risk assessment at the workplace. This risk assessment is the most appropriate process for managing work-related stress. One must identify the hazards at the workplace, as well as who and how they can be harmed, before taking the appropriate actions to prevent, reduce and eliminate stress among teachers.

What are the authorities doing to prevent all this? What are they doing to prevent and tackle work-related stress?

Mr Bencini is president of the Malta Union of Teachers.