In 2017, following months of negotiations on the Malta College of Art, Science and Technology (MCAST) collective agreement for lecturing grades, the government agreed in principle with MUT's proposal about the introduction of professorships at MCAST. The collective agreement, which was signed during the following year, made reference to this provision by declaring the commitment to discuss further the implementation of professorship.
The professorship provision was debated for years and clear criteria and methodologies, backed by international expertise, were devised and included in the latest agreement signed with MCAST. Fast forward to almost ten years from the initial commitment, we are now reaping the fruit of that provision. MCAST is concluding the process which shall see the appointments of its first Associate Professors and Full Professors within its grades.
The Institute for Tourism Studies (ITS) shall follow suit as the provisions for the appointment of professorship was also enshrined in the latest collective agreement of ITS. The two institutions will appoint the first professorships in Maltese vocational education. Professorships were previously only issued by the University of Malta.
Vocational education in Malta has a long history. The Malta Dockyard had its training school which blended apprenticeships with shipyard trades as far as the mid-19th century. The Vincenzo Bugeja Technical Institute in Santa Venera was opened in the early 20th century and provided technical education to young boys.
Other technical schools were also opened. Attempts were made along the years to integrate technical subjects in school curricula, initially by having dedicated schools for particular trades, perpetuating also the stereotypic gender difference of the time with males and females provided with separate training of selected trades. The main criticism of these models were mainly that of student segregation and of lowering students' expectations. This was particularly prevalent when the compulsory model included junior lyceums, area secondary schools and trade schools.
The three-tier model, besides being divisive by design, portrayed trades as inferior to academic routes. The perception was perpetuated in post-secondary education despite the provision in place through the successful post-secondary vocational institutions like the Polytechnic, which was established in the early 1970s, the Fellenberg Training Centre in Corradino which opened its doors in 1975, and the neighbouring Technical Institute. With the closure of trade schools in compulsory education and the abolition of the junior lyceum entry examinations, a comprehensive education system replaced the three-tier system and was complemented by the reorganisation of vocational education in post-secondary.
The Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, which was established in 2001, consolidated the fragmented technical and vocational sector, which was formerly run by different entities and ministries. Operating mainly from Corradino, the former site of a number of technical and vocational schools, with the support of a number of satellite campuses; MCAST slowly became the centre for excellence in vocational studies.
The evolution was not only infrastructural but included the upskilling of teaching personnel. The institution was built on the experience and expertise of a pool of educators of the former technical and trades' institutes, the majority of whom were initially on-loan with the new entity. Its expansion required educators with particular vocational and academic qualifications together with the respective industry expertise. MCAST started recruiting its own educators in its first years of inception.
Collective agreements between the MUT and MCAST promoted and incentivised the professional development of educators. MCAST provided various opportunities to its educators to further their academic qualifications and experience both locally and abroad. Through their own initiatives or supported by MCAST, educators furthered their studies at levels 6, 7 and 8. Some educators are also carrying out post-doctoral studies and research. With courses offered up to MQF 7 and 8, the remit of MCAST has been widened, becoming also a research institution. MCAST started to recruit research officers to support and to complement the research of educators and its institutes.
This shift and expansion facilitated the consideration, proposal and implementation of professorships, leading to the forthcoming appointments of the first professorships in vocational education in Malta. This shall add value and status to vocational institutions (MCAST and ITS), to the respective educators and also to vocational education. I am proud to be part of this journey which is valuing vocational studies at par with academic studies.
Marco Bonnici, President of the Malta Union of Teachers