As of today, MCAST fell under its second union directive, leaving students in confusion. With the first set of directives from Union of Professional Educators and the second hailing from the Malta Union of Teachers, the two orders are putting the pressure back on the college and the Ministry for Education.

The UPE directives came into effect from 9 May, and deal with issues related to lecturers being forced to remain on campus when students are not actually present. The UPE has commented on its Orwellian similarity, calling it a “scenario reminiscent of some animals being more equal than others”.

A conciliation meeting with MCAST has been set for today to address the issue.

This all comes after UPE won a mandate of a prohibitory injunction issued by the Ministry of Education in February 2024,  which the UPE claims the Ministry has not followed up on any of their pending issues since; a major focus of these issues is to the treatment of LSE’s who are having to assist students other than their own.

Meanwhile, the MUT directives contain an extensive list of orders for their members. Student Support Services and Student Mentors will no longer be available for any new cases unless high risk, while lecturers cannot publish or share any new assessment marks. Lecturers have also been instructed not to distribute or collect any assignment papers, not will be monitoring students for copying. Student and lecturing communication with administration and management has also been advised against during this directive.

During this, students are expected to attend lectures as per usual, and can only submit physical assessment papers once the directive ends or changes. The school year ends in two weeks, meaning the graduation and promotions of students remains uncertain.

This is the MUT’s second major directive to come into effect this scholastic year and comes only three weeks after they signed an agreement with the Institute for Education to better the financial and work conditions of MUT lecturers.