Biology teacher Vince Taliana – an update
Published:
March 29, 2014 at 11:14am
I have received the following reliable comment about Vince Taliana and that notorious examination paper which he set to 14-year-old boys at St Aloysius College (see previous posts):
In order to understand the hideousness of this exam paper which contains real names of his pupils, one has to put it in context of what used to happen at those infamous “biology field work” weekends he used to organize at Savio College and Buskett for Form 5 boys.
St Aloysius College should have fired him and should have reported him so as to have his teaching warrant revoked and safeguard future students. By dismissing him quietly they just passed on the problem to other schools and other children and their parents.
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Mamma mia, how shocking! I could never understand teachers who willingly organise sleep-overs for schoolchildren, less so the parents who send their children willingly.
This post only serves to strengthen my opposition to such sleep-overs. I hope that it will be an eye-opener to parents, and also to fellow teachers who sprung up in Taliana’s defence.
St Aloysius College should really issue a statement on the matter, even though it happened a while ago.
Sleep-overs? It says “biology field work” weekends. That’s more than just sleep-overs to me.
It would be good if someone who attended those biology practicals at Savio College can speak out.
Just to be clear. Savio college only offered the place to such live-ins. It has nothing to do with their organisation.
On another point, sleep-overs are not wrong in themselves. Some schools organise them well and some parents are present for the whole weekend and participate in all activities. Some schools demand that parents, together with at least 3 staff members, are present at such sleep-overs.
This is not the first time St Aloysius College covertly dismissed an abusive teacher and the latter moved on to teach in a state secondary school. I am reliably informed that a particular teacher ended up teaching Religion at the Boys’ Junior Lyceum, Tal-Handaq in the late 80s/early 90s after his abusive behaviour at St Aloysius.
… and your point is?
WHY is this man still allowed contact with children?
How could he have possibly known such intimate details of his pupils if he stuck to his formal duties alone?
He was at Tal-Handaq school when he was a boy himself. The signs would have been obvious even at that stage.
This is not the behaviour of a repressed homosexual in unenlightened times. This is the behaviour of a paedophile.
Sex, Ed, is expensive – better leave it in the hands of those willing to do it for free.
And please let’s have no more quibbling about whether Tanti held a teacher’s warrant. That is NOT the point.
There were no safeguards against Tanti’s actions because there are no safeguards full stop. The teaching warrant system does not filter out predators.
Vince Taliana has a teaching warrant. Enough said.
Well said. Tanti would not have needed a warrant to teach at Masquerade. Did that make the fact that they chose to ignore his perverse tastes excusable? Oh, wait – Festen too is a Masquerade production.
I guess this answers your question of whether ”it is really necessary to have an ethics guidebook to know the basics of correct behaviour”?
Not only is the guidebook necessary, it needs to be implemented and followed with a diligence which one fears is not possible in these ‘mhux xorta’ times!
There are no structures for filtering out dubious personalities before they are granted a teaching warrant. The emphasis is on paper qualifications.
It is possible for a sociopath to obtain a pedagogic degree and teaching warrant and it clearly is possible for a sexual pervert and bully to do likewise.
” By dismissing him quietly they just passed on the problem to other schools and other children and their parents.”
If Malta was a sane country, St Aloysius College would have big questions to answer. They tried to hush up the issue and have put other children in danger. I expect a massive investigation here.
Mark Vella Gera was sacked from a teaching job for much the same reason. He went on to teach at another school where he was eventually fired for propositioning his pupil, an offence for which he was prosecuted. Even after all that, his Facebook friends list was stuffed with the names of children, including one of his victims. Facebook shut down his account when it was reported.
It is not possible to eliminate every possible risk, but it IS possible to tighten existing controls. Too much effort is spent on protecting perpetrators. Shouldn’t more effort be made to protect potential victims?
Isn’t this what church schools did with priests who were paedophiles? Hush up and pass on.
Yes, exactly.
I went to a church school, too. There was one lesbian teacher who was sacked for having a relationship with one of her 13-year-old pupils, who has since come out as a lesbian too.
Shockingly, that teacher is back decades later, teaching at the same school.
Valid point there. Isn’t this the “Gżira Taparsi fejn jikbru l-Fjuri”?
The school has to bear the responsibility for not naming and shaming him. But why am I not surprised? Isn’t it exactly the same approach the church has when they discover a paedophile in their midst? Transfer the culprit and keep everything under wraps.
Public naming and shaming is NOT the point. Potential abusers should be filtered out before being appointed to teaching positions, or any positions which give them contact with and authority over, minors.
It goes without saying that teachers fired for abusing their charges should be barred from teaching anywhere else.
Mr. Tanti & Mr. Taliana are just the two we know about. And the only reason we know about them is because of a sequence of events after a girl died.
What are the odds that there are more of them out there in schools? A school is, after all, exactly where they aim to be.
They build an ‘army’ of admirers as though they are forming a mini-cult, so as to cover their ass when worse comes to worst.
“How can he do such things? He’s such a lovely guy”. And so on.
That exam paper was shocking.
What on earth was going through his mind? This man clearly has a fixation with boys at the pubescent stage. Cryptorchidism is in layman’s terms undescended testicles – and he spelt that incorrectly on the paper.
And masturbation? You can see that he put that question in to be able to do some masturbating himself over the answers he hoped to get.
Makes me ask: what did he know about his charges, and how did he know it?
What is seriously worrying is not just this disgusting paper, but the support he is getting from other perverts.
Something serious is about to happen if society is degenerating into this filth.
Support from other perverts? I am more worried about the support from seemngly-sane teachers and parents!
The following comment posted by a certain Claudia Azzopardi, a model, wife and mother, on Vince Taliana’s facebook status is one example:
“ijsa hey how nice vince….kinhai sela alik eh ax qali ara sir vinceeee :)))”
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203335102357055&set=a.1609347912345.84773.1195635713&type=1&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=628884220479625&set=a.401753293192720.94094.100000741595326&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=598568723511175&set=pb.100000741595326.-2207520000.1396118101.&type=3&theater
That is exactly what I meant!
ABOUT to happen? It already is.
Is there a law against putting under-sixteens into kinky clothes and having them pose provocatively? I ask because at least one of the models in your ‘Hello Sailor’ article falls into this category.
These ‘agencies’ usually ask for a signed consent from an adult parent or guardian for such ‘modelling competitions’ and ‘photoshoots’. However some youngsters maybe fake these signatures anyway.
And some parents actually feel proud to let their sons and daughters take part in such competitions and even encourage them from an early age without really seeing the dangers behind it all.
One can tell from what we see in those baby and toddler competitions. I’ve seen parents post photos of their infants on Facebook ‘competitions’. No wonder these children grow so naive.
Would like to see his Facebook reaction to this exam paper….yes, the joys……
I’m totally gobsmacked … unbelievable!
To those who think it is not real, it most certainly is real. I did not study biology but I was at St Aloysius College that year and remember this clearly. Also, some of those insinuations stuck to some of the boys for years.
At the time I only thought that this teacher went over the line. Nowadays I can really tell it was the product of a sick mind.
Having a warrant does not mean anything. There were judges with warrants and it did not keep them from shocking the nation with their behaviour.
It is so sad that if any school administration dared to refuse to employ such decadent peddlers pornography it would run the risk of being accused of unfair discrimination with a fair prospect of being ordered to pay a huge sum in compensation.
Quo Vadis, Malta?
Nonsense. No school is obliged to employ anyone in particular. Anti-discrimination laws do not oblige schools to employ perverts.
Schools’ obligations are first and foremost towards their pupils.
Politics by Facebook
Gov by Facebook
Drama by Facebook
Singing by Facebook
Daqt ikollna l-parenting by Facebook.
“to put it in context of what used to happen at those infamous “biology field work” weekends he used to organize at Savio College and Buskett for Form 5 boys.”
I was one of the students who went to the Villa Psaigon and Savio College retreats or sleep overs (call them what you want).
I was never one of his favorite pupils and he had a knack for showing who his preferred guys were. However there was never anything inappropriate done by Mr Taliana and indeed he also used to be accompanied by his wife.
He was more like “one of us” playing sports with us, discussing things, etc. These fieldwork visits were made infamous by the students themselves not least when alcohol was involved.
On the other hand, the examination paper was indeed shocking.
Joseph Muscat used to love to use the word IMPLODING to describe the problems that the Nationalist Party was having with Franco and Jeffrey. Now the nasty word, nicely describes what is happening within his very own party – NOT AFTER 25 years in power, but just after one year. Never a dull moment under Labour.
“Deposuit potentes de sedes, et exhaltavit humiles.”
Not true. At this rate he’ll run out of sheep before the Apocalypse is anywhere near.
Really can’t understand how that disgusting biology exam paper was printed and presented to the boys. In schools which know their business exam papers are checked by administration before printing.
Looks like it’s his birthday cause everyone is posting on his wall.
His daughter wrote too, and feels staged too.
Kristina Taliana posted toVince Taliana
22 hours ago
Dear Dad,
I just read what she wrote and I’m really hurt and sad that someone could wright so many cruel things about you. She doesn’t have any right to wright such things on a person who she doesn’t even know. How can she say those things when she doesn’t even know what a heart of gold you have? Or how much you respect your student? She wouldnt know that ofc because she doesn’t know you. She just speaks from her ass and try ruining the lives of others. She should be banned from living in this world because her cruilty is too much. I just wanted to let you know that you should be proud of yourself and that you’re surrounded with people who adore you , the first one being me xxxxxxx
You have my full support daddy , don’t let that sorry excuse of a human being bring you down xxxxxxxxx
I love you so much xxxxxxxddddd
A daughter can’t be held responsible for a parent’s actions, nor can she be blamed for the shocking news that her parent has a sordid past and present.
How sweet and supportive. I wonder which school she attends. Her English teacher must be proud of her.
It looks like she’s well past school-age.
Dear Daphne,
Parents bringing up young children should be extremely appreciative to you for uncovering this rampant abusive exploitation of vulnerable people by these toxic predators who come in various guises.
Years back when my daughter was “learning” dance, the principal of this scam – euphemistically called an academy – would constrain the students to participate in a “megashow”, all at their expense and sacrifice, while the scam pocketed all door money which ran into thousands.
This not to mention the base treatment and manners pseudo-called discipline.
I had at that time written to the Commissioner for Children but the only response I got was an acknowledgment. I really thank my lucky stars that although of a tender age my daughter quickly realised that she was being exploited. But unfortunately many are sucked in having absolutely no idea.
Do we know if Erin Tanti got his biology lessons from Vince ‘Pasta’ Taliana?
What trivialise the issue?
I think you mean “why,” in which case, my question is serious. Was Erin Tanti ever connected to, say a student of, Taliana?
No he wasn’t. The connection is the cult following, the perversion, and the broken-down filter in the system.
rings a bell?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Ukrainian_child_pornography_raids
As a former student of Mr. Taliana I can personaly assurure anyone readind these posts that the Daphne is writhing out of her ass.
[Daphne – ‘Writhing out of her ass’. This is a star comment.]
Star comment ta’ veru! Cannot stop laughing!
Nathan, a third grade pupil can write better than you. Since you can’t write properly, I presume you can’t think logically either.
‘Writhing out of her ass’?
Dan snake hu?
“Nathan” is Taliana’s daughter. She spelt “writing” as “writhing” in her “ode” to her father, and also made a “speaking out of her ass” comment there, too.
I can assure you that the silent transfer, so no one gets hurt, also occurs frequently in the department of health. Unfortunately other departments end up taking shit only discovering this a few months later when the same problem crops up. The problem is shifted to other departments but only after massive disruption and harm to patients and staff morale occur.
Do the cases involve abuse of the vulnerable?
One word: Anglu Psaila.
If the FRSCs who read this blog would care to contribute, we might lance yet another boil.
FRCS. Sorry.
Anglu Psaila are two words, not one. What’s he doing in hospital, anyway?
At his age he should be put out to pasture or taken in as a patient, preferably in solitary confinement.
There’s an interesting story involving a surgeon, his wife, a mobile phone left unattended, and our working-class hero.
But the story is not mine to tell.
I do not know Vince Taliana personally, and not sorry for that either. But what is wrong with employers when they have to assume responsibility for people that seem not to have a single gram of ethical behaviour?
He should have been suspended, offered help and kept away from any children and teenagers. We have seen what happened in the past when others chose to ignore signs at the peril of the most vulnerable.
A note to teachers: So many are dedicated and hard working to the benefit of our children. A BIG Thank You. Few sick individuals need to be weeded out.
Well done for exposing these monsters and the two schools they’ve been involved in.
I’m tired of people telling me they are the best schools in Malta and calling me a snob for sending my son to a private school which has recently been involved in the “Erin” scandal.
Sadly these monsters are lurking everywhere, ready to pounce on vulnerable children.
As an ex-pupil who attended one of the said fieldwork weekends at Savio I can confidently report nothing untoward happening.
I also actually sat that now infamous exam – which, whilst unprofessional, has to be seen in the context of his character, which I would describe as “mischievous” and the time and place – the people mentioned were not shrinking violets and the questions all relate to well established inside jokes at the time. He did not start the jokes. He was also popular with the pupils.
Why he did it, I can only speculate and as speculation seems to be this website’s stock-in-trade I leave that to you.
As I never experienced any strange on his part, all I can say is that he was one of the better teachers I had. I definitely remember the basic principles of biology he taught me, 15 years on.
He does not deserve being dragged through the mud like this.
[Daphne – I agree with you that those questions were consonant with his character, but if you think the proper description is mischievous then I am afraid you need to have your head examined. People like Vince Taliana survive because of people like you.]
another teacher bites the dust
https://scontent-a-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/67943_10200278120450253_152427748_n.jpg
Guess what, he is travelling with around 60 to 70 girl pupils to England in 10 days’ time. Check it out