Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/887355
maltatoday SUNDAY 15 OCTOBER 2017 News 7 having the other children close their ears to shut out the noise. Even if they have an LSA they cannot do much. Kindergarten Assistants face a large num- ber of kids in class, with behavioural prob- lems and undiagnosed conditions and even parents in denial. We have excessive paper- work, assessment and inclusion paperwork and adaptations. We have to do everything from PE, music, drama, literacy, numeracy, art, and we have executive officers constant- ly changing and requesting different work/ strategies. We have children who are already tired after breakfast club. We have joined classes due to lack of space and when teachers are sick they are topped up to 30 pupils. We have too much noise and stress levels are high, leading to burn-out. No staff rooms or cur- riculum time. 'LSAs file reports that nobody is reading' Learning Support Assistant, State School WHEN a parent files a complaint directly with the College Principal instead of com- municating directly with the teachers/LSA concerned, sometimes on trivial matters (an example in point: a teacher using her mobile device during her lesson as an ICT tool and the parent complained that the teacher was using Facebook), the head of school assumes a neutral position, not siding with the staff. There is too much pressure – all this stress and we are still in the beginning of the scho- lastic year, there needs to be more com- munication with staff. This job is causing a mental strain. LSAs are filling in their daily schedule re- ports and all this is a waste of time, energy and resource. We all know from experience that nobody reads them; whoever wants to observe us in class can go ahead, we have students' work that is proof that a goal was achieved or not during a lesson. Today we al- so have the tablet, and mobiles to take visual pictures of pupils' work, which we can use in their school tablet devices in PowerPoint as proof of their work. But still, we are wasting our time. We need to put our energy more in helping and supporting our students in class. Moreover, if an LSA has three shared students with different levels s/he needs to adapt the schoolwork, homework and notes to take home on cardboard and highlighted to help their memory. We need money for these resources as every year we have to deal with different disabilities and different year groups. 'Honestly I don't think I'll last for long' Primary school teacher, State school I'M a primary school teacher who has been teaching for just a few years, and honestly I don't think I'll be able to last more. One of the main concerns I have is the infinite number of corrections I have to do, varying from homework to classwork. I rarely do a class correction as it is impossible to do this on a daily basis (creative writing, comprehensions, other worksheets for 24 students). One may easily say give less homework/ classwork. However, I don't give that much. Writing and comprehension work has to be done and corrected weekly. Proper feedback must be given to students. How else can they learn? Should I just give them back their pa- pers to file and that's it? Another concern is the teaching load. I generally have a full day on the go, non-stop. Maths, Maltese, English, Religion, Social Studies, PE, Science, Creative Arts… and collecting money, homework, task explana- tions, lesson delivery, dealing with daily inci- dents, solving arguments, getting resources, books… not correcting work, not going to the bathroom, not sitting down! There's no break time as I am constantly supervising the children or helping them with other things (many things!). I rarely eat my lunch. Also, paperwork galore, including referrals, the register, attendance – why do I have to mark students as medical or excused days later on iLearn (the online system)? This takes time! This happens during the day in the morning: that means less contact time with the students. This cannot be done while the students are doing classwork as I'll be go- ing around helping them with their difficul- ties. It gets done at home. Primary teachers are always on the go. It's a very long day for us and it does not stop once we go home. We need to prepare les- sons, correct work, answer emails and adapt accordingly. This does not take an hour or two. We need help. We need to feel appreci- ated. We need to be listened to. 'I think of other careers I can pursue' Primary school teacher, State school AFTER four years at University, I started my career full of enthusiasm but that didn't last long. Now, after a number of years teaching pri- mary, I feel so drained and unhappy in my career that I spend most of my time think- ing of other careers to pursue. How can I be happy at my place of work when I was forced to go back to class due to shortages of teach- ers? How can I be motivated when all the work I did during the summer holidays was for nothing? Every morning I step into class with a smile on my face, when, honestly, I just want to quit! Why should we stay in this profession when: 1. There's a lack of respect by parents, stu- dents and the public in general. 2. The salary is peanuts compared to other professions. 3. Spending our own salary on resources as we don't have a work resource allowance. 4. We spend holidays and weekends plan- ning ahead and not to mention correcting copybooks, planning exam papers and doing other paperwork after school hours. 5. And when you finally get chosen in an interview, you'll be sent back to class four days before starting school and without tak- ing into consideration seniority or placing in the interview. Parents expect us to be teachers, parents, counsellors, nurses, policemen and worst of all… babysitters. Not to mention that if a child does not pass, the teacher is to blame, and if the student passes… that's because s/ he is smart. Our pleas are falling on deaf ears. Why is the government continuously building new schools? Who is going to teach in these schools when there aren't enough teach- ers to fill the posts in the school we already have? We don't need new schools. We need to be respected and treated as professionals. We need a better salary, more help in the classrooms, more opportunities and less pa- perwork. teacher "Who is going to teach in these schools when there aren't enough teachers to fill the posts"