Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1520947
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 19 MAY 2024 NEWS JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt FOR SALE QUAD BIKE BOMBARDIER 650CC (2006). My black and yellow beautiful almost immaculate, always serviced quad is, with a heavy heart for sale. She is licensed till October 2024 and road ready. It's now time for someone else to enjoy. Annual road is €259. Asking price is €4500. Call or WhatsApp on 79990807. Letter of Intention KAAF LIMITED declares the intention for the Company to register for an employment agency license in accordance with L.N. 270 of 2023 EMPLOYMENT AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT (CAP. 452) Employment Agencies Regulations, 2023. The activities proposed to be carried out focus on the provision of workers with a view to making them available to a third party including: 1. Temporary work services involve providing workers to a third party. 2. The third-party assigns tasks to the temporary workers. 3. Outsourcing services involve providing workers to a third party. 4. The outsourcing agency, including contractors and sub-contractors, supervises, directs and controls the workers. Official registered address: KAAF Ltd, Floor 1 28, Triq Edar Bernard, Gzira Company registered number: C95461 A majority of Sixth Form stu- dents describe teaching as un- derpaid, difficult, stressful, and low-status, even if they consider it to be an important job, a study by Angele Pulis, a full-time lec- turer at the Institute for Educa- tion and published in the Malta Journal of Education finds. The research was based on an online questionnaire distributed to all students in state, church, and independent Sixth Forms between October and November 2023, with a total of 554 respons- es were collected in the study. The same cohort also viewed favourably the daily working hours and the number of holidays teachers had. 70% believe teachers do not have a well-paid job, and the same percentage think that teaching is a stressful job. More- over, while 90% of students agree that teachers have an important role in society, only 15% think that teachers enjoy a high status in society. The results also indicate that the negative impression of teaching reflects what students hear from teachers themselves, their own families, and the media. Only 23.2% of students said that teach- ers speak highly of the profession. Only 8.6% of students claim that their parents/guardians are en- couraging them to take up teach- ing as a prospective career. Fur- thermore, only 12.8% of students feel that the media depicts teach- ing as a desirable career. According to Pulis, media cov- erage of the publicised resig- nation of a popular teacher in September 2023 could have in- fluenced students' perceptions of the teaching profession. The teacher, known for her Instagram handle @my_life_with_pixiedust, had confessed that teaching had caused her physical and mental fatigue. The video in which she announced her heartfelt resigna- tion had over 67,700 views. Not surprisingly, more female students than male students said that they would like to become a teacher – 6.9% of female stu- dents said they would like to be- come a teacher, and 17.7% said 'maybe', whereas only 1.81% of male students said they would like to become a teacher, and 9.03% said 'maybe'. This reflects current trends in the profession both in Malta and abroad. In 2022, there were four times more female education graduates than male education graduates. Sixth-formers who respond- ed that they would like to, or maybe would like to, become a teacher were also asked to state what motivates their choice: the strongest motivators were work- ing with children and teenagers and the nature of the job. Only 1.9% of students said that salary is a motivator. When asked to state the major disincentive for a teaching career, 64.5% of re- spondents referred to the salary. Apart from calling for salary improvements, the study in- cludes a number of recommen- dations, including a national campaign promoting the work conducted by teachers through short video clips showing caring teachers interacting with their students, teachers talking about job satisfaction, parents showing their appreciation to teachers, and ex-students praising their past teachers. In 2022, Malta had a total of 10,229 teachers and lecturers, of which 66.1% were female. In October 2023, 3,408 regu- lar teachers were employed in state schools. An additional 346 supply teachers with no quali- fications in teaching had to be employed to fill the shortages of teachers. Salaries a major disincentive for students mulling teacher's job Study shows that 70% of Sixth Formers believe teachers do not have well-paid job and only 15% think teachers have high status in society 70% believe teachers do not have a well-paid job, and the same percentage think that teaching is a stressful job