I suggest to Maria Caruana (TMID, 24 February) the same advice I used to receive: “If you can’t beat them, join them”. However, what frustrates certain educators (I cannot generalise because several teachers are really hard working and never rebel) is when they for example, envy the salaries of, say, medical doctors and you answer them back with the same weapon they attack you with, which is: why not become a doctor and be ready to work long hours on end?
The very prompt, aggressive and defensive reply by Franco Farrugia (TMID, 3 March) automatically shows that such teachers know that in their heart of hearts their conscience is telling them that they are afraid of losing something which, although they have been enjoying it since time immemorial here in Malta, should no longer pertain to them any longer especially at a time when the labour-force buzz world is “productivity” and when we are one Europe now as well!
What really makes me wonder is that in spite of the great work and pressure they all claim to have (immaterial if they are science, language, PE, art or drama teachers), I haven’t yet seen alarming figures of brain drain being published about them. If the salaries of teachers abroad are so higher than in Malta, (which is true for every profession and not teachers only), how come we never hear about loads of teachers leaving our island as various other professionals are doing? So, I believe that there is something only unique to Malta that still keeps them here on the island and these attractive conditions are depleting other professionals like doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, and others who are opting to abandon their careers and become teachers. However, for comparison purposes, the figures of academic brain drain (if any) must be given in percentages!
Private lessons are probably mostly common here in Malta as well, as I have relatives abroad who tell me that private tuition is seldom an issue in their country. However, it is useless hearing the same possible reasoning from me or the stereotype defensive replies from people like Mr Farrugia, with all due respect. So, I look forward for the next opportunity to have a national survey among Maltese families, like for example the Census, where I wish to see the following questions:
Do you send your children to private lessons?
If yes, why do you send them?
What seems to be getting gradually, nicely and smoothly, again in their favour, is the trend to suggest after school services, like for example extra physical activity or sports classes to make up for the short school days. This would mean that teachers would therefore opt for overtime benefits as well!
One last word of advice to Ms Caruana is to save her energy on something else rather than trying to hit teachers. With a strong force of over 6,000 school employees ranging from teachers to facilitators, and having an Education Minister who is an educator by profession the probability of changing anything is very remote indeed.
C. Micallef
Fgura