The Union of Professional Educators – Voice of the Workers (UPE) has proposed that schools should remain closed next September and go back to an online learning system, but educators are to physically go to school in order to give the lesson from a classroom.

During a press conference on Friday, UPE Executive Head Graham Sansone issued a number of proposals for the re-opening of schools in September 2020.

Sansone explained that educators with a condition or who are considered vulnerable can be exempted and give their lessons from home. This also applies to educators who are living under the same roof with someone who is considered vulnerable.

In addition, other educators who have their own children and have no one to look after them during school hours can also stay at home.

The rest of the educators are encouraged to go to school and give the lesson in a classroom, he said.

Sansone remarked that, “the union is looking at the education field in a holistic manner, where it primarily wants to safeguard the health and safety of children as well as educators.”

UPE’s proposals are directed towards students who are in kindergarten up to secondary school.

Sansone said that, “although we are proposing that schools remain closed, online learning comes with its own problems and we are fully aware of the issues that arise in students’ social and emotional well-being. However, one must remember that we are going through a new norm and we need to ensure the safety of our students and educators as much as possible.”

“This does not mean that we will have a repetition of the same education system we had back in June as we want a more hands-on system instead,” he said.

In recent months, the union has been closely observing the concerns posed by parents and educators.

Executive Director Rebecca Vella Cachia said that, following a survey conducted by UPE, results proved that the majority of educators do not want to physically go back to school as they are not comfortable with the present medical situation.

Vella Cachia explained that among 87% of respondents do not want to go back to school as they would rather schools return to an online learning system.

Meanwhile, 87% of the participants said that they wouldn’t feel comfortable sending their own children to school, whilst 82% showed that they wouldn’t feel comfortable in a classroom full of children.

Sansone explained that, “if the system we are proposing is implemented, we want educators to be given adequate training at the beginning of the scholastic year where teachers are trained on the use of Microsoft Teams as we want to make sure that all educators are able to use this software efficiently.”

“The government should also provide laptops for educators as we are aware that many are still without a laptop, and others who have an old laptop which is not strong enough for certain functions,” Sansone said.

With regards to the school day, Sansone explained that, “schools for students will start and finish as usual, regardless of the fact that it would be held online. Also, since the weighting of the syllabus has been reduced, certain arrangements can be made to avoid long hours spent on laptops for students.”

“A system can be created for students and educators to have short breaks in order to avoid anyone from feeling overwhelmed due to the use of technology,” he said.

In addition, one of the difficulties faced back in June was the material that students needed, including handouts or notes.

UPE suggested that a system should be created – ‘a stationery of your choice’ – similar to that of ‘a pharmacy of your choice’ which will once a month allow students to collect any material they need for the coming month.

“If this does not work, we are suggesting that students have the possibility of collecting any notes or handouts from their school once a month. This will allow students to have both a soft and a hard copy.”

With regards to the classroom bubble which was suggested by Education Minister Owen Bonnici, involving students spending their whole days with their class group, including on break, the union said that this is impossible to implement.

Sansone said that this system which has been implemented by other countries “does not work.”

The union will not accept a situation where a school would close down for 15 days in case of an infection, and then open again, as this will disrupt the whole education process of children even further.

 “There must be a continuous flow of education and we need to avoid a black out of education,” he said.

“If the Ministry of Education will continue to insist that schools are opened in September, UPE states that they should take direct responsibility if there is a single case of infection.”

The union will proceed with industrial action in order to get its point across as well as to protect its members if the Ministry of Education insists on the re-opening of schools, he said.  

“One must understand that the union is doing this in order to protect its members in the workplace at all cost,” Sansone said.