Only Five People Studying To Become Maths Teachers In Malta As Minister Gives Coy Update On Salary Raise Talks
Malta will have a serious problem finding enough homegrown maths teachers in the future at this rate, with new data showing only five people are currently studying how to teach the subject at secondary level.
The University of Malta’s Master in Teaching and Learning (MTL) is a two-year course; having five maths teacher students spread over two years indicates the course is only managing to attract two to three students a year.
Meanwhile, 15 students are enrolled in the MTL English teacher course, 25 in the MTL Maltese teacher course and 93 in the MTL primary teacher course.
During the election campaign, Prime Minister Robert Abela pledged to “significantly” increase teachers’ salaries when the time comes to negotiate a new collective agreement with the Malta Union of Teachers.
“We will send a clear political signal that salaries must improve significantly,” he said. “We believe that education is the basis of a new prosperity that we can build together.”
Questioned by PN Education Spokesperson Justin Schembri for an update on this promise, Education Minister Clifton Grima could only state that “discussions on a new collective agreement will start in the coming months”.
PN Education Spokesperson Justin Schembri
Schembri said that this coy response suggests the negotiating process could drag on for years, “when the situation requires an immediate injection”.
The current collective agreement between the government and the Malta Union of Teachers is set to expire in December and educators will be watching the negotiating process closely.
Last time around, in 2018, several educators felt deceived at the government and the MUT for promising substantial salary hikes of up to 28%, only to find out their take-home pay was much lower in reality.
Anger mounted to the point that a former MUT official, Graham Sansone, helped set up a new breakaway union, the Union of Professional Educators.
The UPE has grown since then, and only today announced that it has obtained the majority representation of childcare service workers at the University.
“The increase turned out to be peanuts,” Sansone said in a recent episode of Podcast ta’ Jon. “I remember when some documents from the agreement were leaked and it started spreading like wildfire on WhatsApp chat, with everyone finding huge problems here and there.”
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