Self-inflicted shortage

The ministry of education has seen some criticism in the media lately, among them a letter by me describing the unjust treatment I received – and am still receiving – at their hands. I would like to show how the lack of professional ethics is making the ministry create its own problems causing both teachers and students to suffer as a result. 

The ministry had used a report by the English subject education officer (EO) to reject my third post-retirement age extension request. This was in February 2022. Now, an EO’s job is to observe the teacher in action and provide feedback and support to improve the teacher’s methods, where necessary. 

I respect an EO’s right to write a report, but this report has raised some serious questions:

1) The EO in question had last seen me in November 2019. There were no more visits due to COVID. So how can the EO write a report about my methods in February 2022?

2) I have asked the EO and the ministry for a copy of the report and, to date, that request has been totally ignored, resulting in a breach of my legal rights. I still do not know what the report contains.

3) Why did the EO not do her job and provide me with the reports / feedback/ suggestions when she did observe me? So, it was acceptable to the EO and headmistress for me to continue teaching students with these alleged ‘’shortcomings’’ but nothing was said to me. The EO failed to do her job.

Why did the ministry for education throw away an English language teacher? File photo: Times of Malta

4) Why did the EO not enact protocol: increased observations involving other English EOs to ensure objectivity and auditing my lesson plans? This protocol has never been applied to me. Why? 

5) I have many times requested a meeting with the EO, the ex-headmistress concerned and the principal of Gozo College to discuss the issues. All requests have been ignored. Being an English native speaker, holding an MA in TESL and having taught in Harlem, I have no qualms in sitting down to discuss methods in teaching English. It’s the logical thing to do. We can learn from each other for the benefit of the students.

The same goes for the headmistress at the time, whose reports of issues with students have never been substantiated, are filled with untruths and were kept hidden from me during my teaching time. I learned of the contents and managed to get a copy almost two years after the reports were made.

This brings me to the ministry that took the reports at face value. The ministry judged and sentenced me without bothering to verify the reports or to even bother to ask me for my view of things. (They asked for a counter-report almost two years after ‘sentencing’ me).

And, so, the ministry lost a qualified, experienced teacher of English because of its arrogance, its refusal to investigate and its hidden agendas, which becomes more surreal when I consider the fact that the ministry had accepted my third extension request, let me go through the whole process and rejected it when I received the okay from People & Standards.

My final question to the ministry: Why did it really ‘throw away’ an English teacher when it needed English teachers so badly? 

Is the ministry ready to retract the reports since there is nothing to substantiate them? I still do not know the who, when, where and what regarding the accusations.

I hope the ministry understands how its lack of professional ethics, its failure to follow professional protocol has resulted in the quagmire it finds itself in.

Joe Falzon – Qala