Teaching salaries still unchanged a year since election pledge – union

A year has passed since the Maltese government had promised a wage increase for educators, yet the issue remains unresolved said teachers’ union president Marco Bonnici.

Bonnici discussed ongoing wage negotiations on TVM’s Xtra which also featured education minister Clifton Grima and PN spokesperson Justin Schembri.

“The government made an election promise, and we are still waiting for it to be fulfilled... The initial negotiations have now concluded,” Bonnici said.

Originally proposed before the 2022 general election, the pledge included a commitment to “a significant increase” in educators’ salaries.

Bonnici emphasised that improving wages and the quality of work were only the starting point in making the teaching profession a more attractive proposition and addressing the educator shortage the country was facing.

In June, the issue gained renewed attention when Grima tabled data in parliament showing that 97 educators had resigned during the 2022/2023 academic year. “I am just one part of the equation. My role is to advocate and apply pressure,” Bonnici said on Xtra. “The other crucial aspect is the government’s will. Currently, I observe that we are making progress in the right direction, but it is imperative to solidify the details of the ongoing negotiations.”

Pressed that the finance minister was not so inclined to “quickly dipping into the piggy bank”, Grima told host Saviour Balzan that the accusation was unfair. “We’ll get there,” Grima replied when Balzan asked again.

Shifting away from an exam-centric approach

A structural transformation in the Maltese educational system is looking into shifting away from an exam-centric approach, and focussing on nurturing critical thinking skills among students, education director at the De La Salle colleges, Stephen Cachia, said on Xtra.

“A structural change is imperative so that our children no longer depend solely on their advancement based on the last exam of the year,” Cachia said.

While acknowledging that the full impact of such reforms takes time to materialise, they also noted that a critical aspect of this transformation is providing teachers with more space for creativity in their teaching methods.

From the younger students in primary schools to those in Sixth Form, Cachia said there was growing concern about the pressure and narrow focus that high-stakes exams place on students’ overall development.

The 2023 A-Level exam results showed that 1 in 5 students failed their A-level.

Fail rates (Grade F) were especially high in major subjects like Biology (42%), Religious Knowledge (42%), Accounting (40%), Chemistry (31%), and Pure Maths (28%).

Cachia questioned the conventional emphasis on memorisation for the sole purpose of passing exams. “The time has come to teach students not just to memorise everything to pass exams,” he explained. “It is more important to teach them to look at the information they meet critically.”