The Union of Professional Educators has put together a list of names of members of the union who were meant to be progressing to LSE1 through the interviews intended for batch 4. These interviews had been cancelled following allegations of the interview questions having been disclosed to the public.

The UPE has forwarded a petition with the names it collected, in which the union highlighted the fact that it completely disapproves of the cancellation of the interviews and strongly disagrees with a measure taken across the board which penalises not only the alleged few who seem to have disclosed the information, but also a much larger number of LSEs who have had nothing to do with the matter.

The union believes that if the PSC has tangible proof of a breach of ethics, it should follow that only the individuals concerned should be addressed, and that others who are not involved should not suffer such an unjust consequence. Toying with the livelihood and professional status of qualified educators cannot be condoned, especially if there is no substantial evidence of a breach having taken place.

The UPE would also like to add that the assessing board should take on the responsibility of their own lack of preparation in the interviewing process. Their having had a limited number of questions which, we are led to believe, have been rehashed over and over again at each batch of interviews, not only discredits the professional status of the LSEs being interviewed, but speaks volumes of the lack of preparation and proactivity of the board itself.

The UPE is currently waiting upon a response to this petition and will duly inform its members of any progress on the matter. In the meantime, should any of our members have any further queries, they are not to hesitate to contact the union on 21221252/6/8 or via email at info@upe.mt.