The Union of Professional Educators has been closely following the latest news, particularly the article published on Sunday 21st April 2024 by the online portal ‘ILLUM’, titled “Miljuni mwiegħda fil-ftehim bejn il-Gvern u l-MUT”.

The Union believes that the article lacks a proper understanding of what Educators in general do and the valuable contribution they make. Educators are the shapers of tomorrow’s generation, and the UPE expects the media to portray educators in a positive light. It is disheartening to see that several portals indirectly stir up animosity towards the profession.

On the other hand, it is worth noting that the online portal hinted at what may have been accepted by the MUT, only to be promptly refuted by the MUT’s latest article on the subject.

Whether this statement is accurate or not remains to be seen in the coming weeks, as hinted at by the Minister himself. What we can confirm is that educators have lost a day’s salary due to a fruitless strike. Considering we are one year and four months away from the expiration of the sectoral agreement (December 2022), educators have not seen any improvements in their finances for the past sixteen months.

Another significant topic of discussion circulating in schools is the potential increase in school hours, sparked by a video released by the MUT President. In our opinion, in his statement, Mr Bonnici seemed visibly distressed. Its is also worth nothing that he made an incorrect statment, if one may describe it as such, ”Il-ħin tax-xogħol mhuwiex parti min-negozjati” On the contrary working hours for all educators are outlined in the sectoral agreement text, which should have been deliberated upon since the entire text, including educators’ contact hours, is addressed during negotiations.

It would be a grave mistake if the government proceeds in that direction, but the UPE would not be surprised if such terms are accepted by the MUT.

We must not overlook that the MUT has a history of permitting substantial changes in educators’ workload, such as the introduction of My Journey, Learning Outcome Frameworks (LOFs), School-Based Assessments (SBAs), and the Emergent Curriculum, all of which imposed additional burdens on educators following the 2017 sectoral agreement.

In the meantime, we are striving to prevent such initiatives from coming to fruition, as we genuinely have the best interests of educators at heart.