Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/887355
maltatoday SUNDAY 15 OCTOBER 2017 6 News 'We're treated like slaves' Primary school, State, Year 6 A typical day in my classroom: the phone ringing at least 10 times, people constantly coming in and out of my classroom, having to call parents of 'sick' pupils – all while I'm trying to teach the 21 pupils sitting in front of me. Today I had a very bad day: sitting at home reflect- ing on it, unfortunately I have to say that I feel like I barely taught anything today. Too many distractions – from phone, nurture teachers, peripatetic lessons, phoning parents, the P.A. system, ice packs vs ice packs – and so on. And have I mentioned the phone? These distractions do not affect just me, the teacher, but also the kids. And honestly I don't blame them. These might seem 'little things' but all together it's one big mess. But obviously, here in Malta we only expect the 'best' grades for the benchmark exams! (Yes, I teach year 6 – always on the go with a huge pile of papers to grade here at home. And no, I'm not the kind of teacher to give loads of homework). I don't think it's fair on my wellbeing and mental health. Sometimes I feel that my job is too much and a lot is expected of me. This is my fourth year teaching, but I feel like I have aged 20 years. Sometimes I feel like I'm an internet browser with many tabs open, as I go from one thing to the next and the next. And then if I forget that one thing out of a million, all hell breaks loose. I love my job and I want to do this for a living as I enjoy it. But sometimes, after listening to other people, what is expected of them at their work and their salaries, I joke that I'm insane to be in this industry with such horrible conditions and a poor salary. I feel sorry for those who think our job is easy or a joke. Our job makes the other professions possi- ble, yet we are treated like slaves – we are mainly expected to just give. 'Many wonder why so many teachers leave their jobs' Primary school, Church WITH so much heartache, I am listing down some of the hard-hitting realities primary teachers have to face on a daily basis: A full timetable: where teachers are on duty all the time. Mentally and physically we get drained, no time to recharge ourselves as we are with the kids all the time. It has to be a miracle to try and escape the classroom to go to the bathroom, with that fear at the back of your mind that something might happen while you are away for those couple of minutes to do your basic human needs. No time to disconnect from classroom stresses: there are so many duties we are expected to do, with so much of it over-spilling after school till late at night. At "curriculum time" we are overloaded with meetings with parents and the management team, where minutes are taken, meeting psychologists, IE- Ps, MAP sessions, follow-ups on students who need further help (they don't have an LSA so the teacher is expected to perform a miracle on them). There's no time to do anything at school: lesson planning, resources, corrections, uploading students' home- work on the school management system, replying to parents' emails, writing reports and other things we are expected to do are all done at home! With all the difficulties and social problems, hardships in students' family backgrounds, literacy needs, parents' court cases, food allergies and all the diverse baggage the children bring with them from home, teachers, especially at primary level, are ex- pected to act as: Mum and dad, because some kids lack that at home; Nurses, since there is none at school; Car- ers, providing basic necessities; Counsellors, with so many problems children wish to talk about because they have nobody to listen to them; Security guards, because children lack discipline nowadays and many do not respect authority – with little support from the education authorities of what appropriate action should be taken. And if there is still time left, then there is educat- ing them... more like providing them with life values that they do not learn at home! What about classroom size? How can you give time and special attention in one class to 26 children with different needs and requirements? All this is expected to be done at the same time as covering a curriculum, correcting school work and homework at home, since there is no time to correct at school when taken up with all the above and hav- ing to help many children with learning difficulties. Many parents don't have the time or patience to read together with their children, explore books and pictures, or narrate stories, or dream together, make up imaginative play, or take them out on educational visits. And then authorities come to school expect- ing everything from the teacher! Don't you think it is humanly impossible? And then many wonder why so many good and dedicat- ed educators are leaving or considering leaving the profession. 'You have to buy your own coffee' Secondary school, State IMAGINE a workplace where stationery is an essen- tial resource to do your job but you have to buy and take your own with you. You have to buy your own printer cartridges, print your own documents at home, spend hundreds of euros yearly from your own pocket on laminations and everything else to do your job properly. Imagine a workplace where air-conditioning is unheard of, where most of the time you cannot go to the bath- room, where you even have to take water and coffee with you because your employer does not even pro- vide a water dispenser for the staff. That workplace is the school. At our school there are colleagues who have no space in the staff room – no desk to work on when not in a classroom, no locker to keep things from disappearing. We are also not covered in case of abuse by students or on issues of health and safety. What happens if a student accuses us of something which is not true? What happens if a student is ag- gressive towards us? Thankfully the great majority of students are not like that but it is disconcerting that there is nothing to protect us should something happen. If our employer really values our profession and our wellbeing as employees, they should start from these very basic things before even thinking about academic subjects. 'Physical threats are a common occurrence' Nurture Class Teacher, Church School ONE of the issues of most concern to me as a Nur- ture Class teacher is the fact that we are bombarded every day with children's social situations, which un- fortunately we cannot do much about but support the child. This causes a lot of concern and psycho- logical stress. We have no support whatsoever and we know the management team of the school are themselves un- der the same stress. Physical threats are a common occurrence with students hitting, pulling hair, biting, and verbal abuse of students both towards other students, teachers/LSAs and management team. This is com- pounded by unresponsive or aggressive parents. We also have students of different nationalities in the same class, with a good number of them not knowing any Maltese and being very limited in Eng- lish. This makes communication very difficult and thus learning academic subjects nearly impossible. This also applies to parents who cannot communi- cate in English or Maltese and thus it is very difficult to interact with them. Not to mention the fact that since they come from different countries, with very different educational systems, they all find it hard to adjust and sometimes it is hard to explain the simple school rules and routines. This sometimes results in misunderstanding the student and wasting time in communication issues. 'We have too much noise and stress levels are high' Kindergarten Assistant, State School THE way inclusion is being practised is not inclu- sion at all. We have severely autistic children who scream and throw tantrums all day, making it im- possible for the teacher to teach, causing stress and The secret Back to school Eight educators spoke to MaltaToday about the reality they face in Maltese schools. MATTHEW VELLA compiled a narrative that shows a profession overwhelmed by unpaid duties, administrative burden, and parental mistrust "Many parents don't have the time or patience to read together with their children, explore books and pictures, or narrate stories, or dream together"