Number of student teachers in decline

Whether it's teaching standards or research output, everything about the Faculty of Education seems to be on the rise. One exception is the number of graduates.

This year, the faculty turned out 232 B.Ed. (Hons) graduates, 135 in primary education and 97 with a degree in teaching at secondary level. This is in keeping with its reputation for being a well-populated faculty. Next year, however, there will be a drastic a drop in numbers: only 30 students are expected to graduate in primary education, and about 100 in secondary education. This year's intake of new students, who will graduate in 2007, was not much higher.

It would appear that sixth formers are getting the message that the teaching profession is fast reaching saturation point - as highlighted recently by the Malta Union of Teachers - and are opting for alternative career paths.

Which suits the dean just fine. The faculty has always striven to produce a better quality of student teacher, said Carmel Borg in an interview; a reduction in student numbers helps this cause by increasing the staff-student ratio.

"The faculty's attempts to raise the entry requirements for the course have recently been blocked by the Senate, which doesn't want to be seen imposing some sort of numerus clausus," he said.

"However, there is concern about the fact that a large number of last year's graduates are still without a job. Students know that getting a degree in education is no longer a rite-of passage for eventual employment".

Dr Borg has been dean for just five months. He is still serving as head of the faculty's department of primary education. In that post he has introduced a number of measures aimed at improving standards, such as quality assurance procedures for lecturers and formative assessment methods for students. His commitment to consistently trying to turn out a better class of teacher ("I believe children deserve the best") appears undiminished, and he is planning to extend these reforms across the whole faculty.

His plans also include the introduction of English and Maltese proficiency tests at entry point, focusing on grammar, syntax and other aspects of language. As things stand now, students do these tests just before the beginning of their first year but if they fail are allowed as many as four resits. Seven second-year students failed at their last try this year and have been suspended from the course. What Dr Borg is aiming for is to weed out the students with poor language skills even before they join.

Also in the interest of producing better teachers, Dr Borg is seeking to restructure the whole B.Ed (Hons) secondary. Students doing this course currently cover two school subjects, but Dr Borg would ideally like to reduce that to one in order to give students more exposure to pedagogical issues that have been brought to the fore by the new national minimum curriculum.

He probably won't get it completely his way, however. "This year Senate blocked the faculty's initiative to go for a single subject at secondary level. I have continued to test the waters and am convinced that Senate will continue to block the initiative even if it is fine-tuned. We are now left with two major alternatives: fine-tuning the two-subject model or going for a 3+2 model i.e. a first degree, BA or BSc, followed by a post-graduate diploma, B.Ed or Masters concentrating on pedagogy.

"Discussion within the faculty will start in January. It will end with a referendum."

As for post-graduate courses, the faculty is planning to introduce two M.Ed courses instead of having just the one. This will create a distinction between a post-graduate degree for academic purposes and a professional, post-graduate degree for educators or education administrators who want to grow professionally. The first would be mainly research based, the second mainly a taught course.

"This will allow more educators to be able to complete an M.Ed. At the moment there is a high attrition rate because the dissertation takes up too much time for people who are also working," said Dr Borg.

Is he happy with current provisions in terms of continuous professional development, and do the teachers produced by the faculty manage to retain and put in practice the pedagogical ideals that they graduate with?

To the first question, Dr Borg answers in the negative: "I don't believe in mass education. In-service teacher training should take place according to each school's particular needs and on the basis of the school development plan."

To the second question, the answer is that it all depends on the school culture: "In a professional environment, new teachers experience a smooth transition between preparation and reality...and are able to apply what they have learnt. In an amateurish school culture, they will become mediocre teachers within one or two years."

Research is central to the Faculty's mission statement. Faculty staff's research gets published in highly reputable foreign journals and Dr Borg calls the faculty the "flagship of the university" where research is concerned.

What he is interested in now is to spread that research further locally. The faculty has already organised a first M.Ed. dissertation showcase and a second is being held on December 12 at St James Cavalier. Other plans include an undergraduate dissertation showcase, a CD of B.Ed and M.Ed abstracts, and annual lectures linked to the Journal of Maltese Education Research, an online publication edited by Dr Borg.

The journal's second issue has just been published. It is an initiative of the faculty's Publications and Research Dissemination Committee, which is also responsible for Trends: Monograph Series in Education (co-edited by Christopher Bezzina and Paul Pace) due out soon.

Asked whether local research was influencing educational policy decisions in the country, Dr Borg said not enough decision-makers appeared to look at the research.

The faculty is pushing ahead on other fronts too, one of them being its "internationalisation". Besides publishing work in international refereed journals and publishing houses, staff are involved on editorial boards of several academic journals and in academic networks and exchanges. They also participate in international conferences and organise them in Malta. Both staff and students participate in several EU programmes, and the faculty has a number of bilateral agreements with overseas faculties.

One area which Dr Borg feels the faculty is missing out on is distance learning, namely in the "huge Afro-Mediterranean market".

"We enjoy the international respect and the professional expertise to furnish this zone with high-quality courses. There are at least five colleagues who are willing to take up the challenge. As dean, I will be using all my influence and international contacts to see these projects through. Most of the initiatives in this regard will be at post-graduate level."

Back on local turf, the faculty is also seeking to expand its provision of custom-made courses for tutors of other agencies or institutions. Among its clients have been the Institute of Tourism Studies, Foundation for Educational Services, MCAST and lately the Malta Red Cross Society. Next year, the process will be formalised with the setting up of an Extension Studies Programme catering for professional and popular needs.

Besides, says Dr Borg, the programme will earn the faculty some much-needed income to fund its several initiatives, which can't be done on the paltry Lm1,400 budget the university is able to provide each of its departments.

Dr Borg said the faculty would continue to be present in all public fora and to have an active say in educational decision making. "We will continue to contribute substantially to the community."

Ultimately, he would like to see the faculty extending its scope, with a strategic plan, due to be revisited early next year, reflecting "our commitment to lifelong education".