The teaching profession is in crisis, the MUT has warned, insisting that the government was not doing enough to address mounting concerns. 

Addressing a press conference to unveil a series of proposals on Thursday, Malta Union of Teachers head Marco Bonnici said a number of issues had led to serious problems in the profession.

This included a drastic increase in the number of students in schools as a result of the influx of foreigners, the changes in students' abilities, the introduction of several new subjects and reforms introduced by the government that required more educators. 

Mr Bonnici insisted that while other areas were being heavily promoted to ensure that students opted for certain careers, the same could not be said for teaching. On the rare occasion that a campaign to attract students to teaching courses had been launched, this was half-baked and lacking effort, he said. 

The MUT would also be calling for fiscal incentives to attract more students to the profession, something Mr Bonnici said had already been proposed but which the government had so far ignored. The union would also be calling for capping on the number of students accepted to university courses to be abolished. 

Mr Bonnici again reiterated calls for an external audit to establish why teachers were leaving the profession as well as better conditions for those who return to work after a number of years away. The union would also be once again urging the government to introduce indemnity insurance for those injured while on the school grounds. 

These proposals, he said, would be presented to the Education Ministry during a meeting in the coming days.