Educators have taken umbrage at the education authorities employing people in schools without any prior teaching experience.
Education Permanent Secretary Frank Fabri told The Sunday Times of Malta that people coming directly from industry sometimes had more knowledge about the subject than educators, so it was only a matter of giving them a course to equip them with the necessary teaching skills.
Dr Fabri was referring to those who are being roped in to teach the new applied subjects without any prior knowledge of teaching.
The issue was not only about how long one spent in training but about what was done during the time spent in training, Dr Fabri said.
One teacher, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said it was “very discouraging” for educators to be told that those with no previous teaching experience were being given equal value to those who had spent years to obtain the necessary qualifications.
Another teacher told Times of Malta that such a stance sent the wrong message to students who were about to start their teaching course at university.
“How are we supposed to attract more students to the profession when the authorities come out with something like this? It’s like telling them not to bother when the reality is that more and more teachers are needed with every passing year,” she said.
Reacting, the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) said it “highly objects to the message being portrayed by the Education Ministry that everyone can be a teacher”.
“This is sending the message that one can become a teacher as long as s/he follows a top-up course of a couple of weeks which may not even have any accredited assessment component.”
“The teaching profession is facing two extremes,” MUT president Marco Bonnici said.
“On one side the teaching qualification at the University of Malta has been raised to Master’s level, thus raising the qualification from a level 6 to a level 7 of the MQF framework.
“On the other, the ministry is leaving the door ajar to everyone with a minimum or zero qualification to instantly become a teacher by following a short course.”
This, he said, was being done to ensure that the unexpected number of students opting for applied subjects were “accommodated”.
In its report, The Sunday Times of Malta revealed that more than half of State school students who will be in Year 9 (formerly known as Form 3) next scholastic year have opted to study one or more applied subjects, which are taught using a hands-on approach.