The Education Ombudsman has ruled that the system used by some state schools to determine the seniority of Learning Support Educators (LSEs) based on academic qualifications rather than years of service is illegal and discriminatory.

The ruling follows a formal complaint filed in September last year by 329 LSEs employed in state schools. The educators clarified that their objection was not related to pay scales. They stressed that they did not oppose colleagues with higher qualifications earning higher salaries, but were concerned solely with how seniority is calculated.

Under the existing practice, LSEs who obtain a qualification, or an additional qualification, automatically gain seniority over colleagues with longer service. This has significant consequences, particularly during redeployment exercises, where more experienced educators may be disadvantaged.

The complainants noted that this system is not applied to other educator grades, such as teachers or kindergarten educators, whose seniority is determined strictly by date of appointment, regardless of the qualifications held by newer staff.

Following the complaint, the Commissioner for Education launched an investigation and sought the position of the education ministry's permanent secretary. The ministry declined to provide a substantive reply, citing ongoing discussions with the Malta Union of Teachers and stating it was not in a position to comment at that stage.

The investigation confirmed that the practice described by the LSEs is applied across state schools and has been in place for several years. A review of the legal framework found that the Manual on Resourcing, Policies and Procedures clearly states that seniority in the public service is determined by the date of appointment in a grade, and subsequently by previous service.

Both the current and previous collective agreements also establish a single LSE grade, despite the existence of different salary scales linked to progression. On this basis, the Commissioner concluded that ranking LSEs by qualifications rather than service breaches public service rules and unlawfully discriminates against LSEs when compared to other educator grades, without any objectively reasonable justification.

The practice was deemed maladministration under the Ombudsman Act and public service regulations. The Commissioner recommended that the system be discontinued immediately.