Church schools and the Malta Union of Teachers on Friday signed a five-year collective agreemet for educators following months of negotations.
The agreement is effective from 2023 to 2027 and benefits around 3,200 educators working in the Secretariat for Catholic Education and 55 church schools. It was approved earlier this week by an absolute majority of MUT member educators working within the Secretariat for Catholic Education and in church schools who participated in this vote.
A statement from the Archbishop’s Curia announcing the agreement said the educators are already benefiting from significant salary increases, updated salary grades, enhanced allowances and improved working conditions.
This agreement not only guarantees that employees' needs are met but also “safeguards and honours the unique identity of each church school, which functions independently within established regulations.”
“It acknowledges that while every church school upholds its own ethos reflecting the founder’s vision, they all share the same core Catholic values as part of one educational sector,” the Curia said.
Adopted from the Sectoral Agreement signed by the MUT and the Government in July 2024, it allows church schools to organise their school day and school year according to their respective needs whilst ensuring that the nationally set learning and assessment hours for students are met, and the working hours for education grades are not exceeded.
Speaking at the signing of the agreement, Archbishop Charles Scicluna hailed the agreement as a “clear demonstration that the invaluable mission of our educators needs to be protected, recognised and appreciated.”
He added that "everyone who embraces the vocation of being an educator for our children and youth may find comfort in the knowledge that they are making a valuable and essential contribution to the quality of civil life and the future of the nation."
The General Director for the Secretariat of Catholic Education Dr Ian Mifsud said the relationship between church schools and the MUT has strengthened in recent years and thanked the union for having “secured unprecedented improvements in the financial package and work conditions for educators through the Government’s agreement while respecting the unique identity of the Church Schools.”
MUT president Marco Bonnici said the agreement established parity between educators in state schools and those in church schools, while safeguarding the specific interests of the sector.