Learning art in Malta

The Maltese National Curriculum sounds very optimistic when it suggests that the development of a sense of identity through creative expression "should enable Malta to find its place in the world without any inferiority complex whatsoever with regard to other nations". Is this really achievable?

The difficulties involved in coming to terms with such an "inferiority complex" emerged in the proceedings of a national symposium on 'Art Education in Malta' organised by the Department of Arts and Languages in Education (Faculty of Education, University of Malta) and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment on November 29 at the Robert Samut Centre in Floriana.

One of the symposium's aims was to propose concrete changes that could contribute to the improvement of the current situation in art education in Malta. Indeed, the last thing that local art education needs is the kind of political rhetoric that promises an illusory cultural renaissance in the near future or even in the present.

Nobody who has visited art institutions in London, Paris and other major European cities could compare the local situation with foreign ones and emerge from the experience unburdened by an "inferiority complex". The University of the Arts in London, for example, employs more staff than the entire University of Malta, even though it focuses only on different areas of the visual arts and design like fine arts, photography, new media, fashion, print-making and book arts.

Many art colleges in Europe have annual budgets of several million Euros which they can spend on new facilities, exhibitions, and the temporary or permanent employment of art educators and important, international names in various fields of the visual arts. At a purely quantitative level, comparisons can be very depressing.

Yet do we need these kinds of art colleges in a country the size of Malta? Of course, the simple truth of the matter is that we don't. What we should study instead is whether current provisions for art education in Malta are sufficient for a country our size.

This is why the symposium focused on provisions allocated to art education at all levels - from the primary sector to post-secondary and tertiary levels. These provisions were discussed by several speakers and also by almost 100 art teachers in state, private and Church schools. The scope of the symposium was wide-ranging because it was felt that the Maltese educational system needed to indulge in a self-reflective exercise that could describe and evaluate the opportunities a child has to develop creative skills throughout the years spent in educational institutions.

The point of the exercise was not that of analysing ways and means of turning each and every child into an artist. Rather, the need to study current provisions for art education is based on two convictions: firstly, that the creative arts are immensely important in the holistic, educational development of everyone (children and adults) and, secondly, that visual illiteracy contributes to various negative repercussions in the wider cultural sphere (in the architectural field, for instance).

Having said this, art education is also for those who wish to study the subject seriously, even though they may be in a small minority. Hence, the presence of speakers representing different post-secondary and tertiary institutions at the symposium was important because we also need to understand what kinds of opportunities exist for those who are striving to become tomorrow's artists and art teachers.

Participants in the symposium workshops summed up some of the main problems that face art education locally. The major problem in local primary and secondary schools is definitely a lack of sufficient time dedicated to the subject.

Recent statistics (Eurydice) show that Malta occupies one of the last positions out of 30 European countries in this regard. While a child in Malta is supposedly exposed to around 250 hours of artistic activities throughout the years of compulsory schooling, children in many European countries receive between 700 and 1,000 hours of training during the same period.

In the local primary, state sector, 11 peripatetic art teachers and five activity teachers have to cope with a total of 76 primary schools in Malta and Gozo. As a result, many children in state primary schools have around five lessons a year in Art. The situation in the state secondary sector and also in some private and Church schools in Malta and even Gozo is also worrying, leading to the conclusion that we have a serious deficit in art education that may affect different sectors of society.

Given this deficit, examinations in art also cannot improve very much because more challenging forms of assessment (at the SEC, Intermediate or Advanced levels) would definitely require more time on the primary and secondary timetables.

Moreover, those who opt for Art in the B.Ed. (Hons) course at the University of Malta generally do not find a teaching post when they graduate because, given the small load of art lessons in most schools, very few teachers are needed.

The lack of facilities and resources also seems to be a problem in some schools. While some Junior Lyceums offer students large art rooms, this is not the case in all schools. Several teachers at the symposium said that the kind of work attempted in class is conditioned by the amount of time available and also by the space available.

At a higher level, the situation is also varied. While the Institute of Art and Design at MCAST offers workshops in many areas of design, space for art is not so readily available at the University for B.Ed. (Hons) students. There is not a single workshop dedicated to art on campus, even though students are required to complete over 40 ECTS credits in practical areas of art during their course. Ironically, this means that many students in secondary schools have more facilities than those who plan to be teachers.

The symposium confirmed the importance of ensuring quality art education at all levels. In practical terms this means that we need to increase the number of art teachers in primary schools and to make the subject more available to all students, particularly in the lower years of the secondary level.

Students attending private and Church schools should also be guaranteed serious and dedicated exposure to art. To improve the general perception of the subject locally, only qualified art teachers should teach the subject in schools while the University needs to study the possibility of introducing an under-graduate degree in fine arts. Malta is the only EU country that does not offer students recognised certification in fine arts. As long as this situation persists, it is hard to imagine that Malta can "find its place in the world without any inferiority complex".

Mr Vella is art co-ordinator in the Faculty of Education at the University of Malta. Presentations at the 'Art Education in Malta' symposium were made by Raphael Vella (chair), Dr Carmel Borg (Dean, Faculty of Education), Sina Micallef (EO Art), Lino Borg (art teacher), Mario Cassar (art teacher, Gozo), Theresa Vella (senior curator of fine arts, Heritage Malta), Joseph Micallef (head, School of Art), Jessica Debattista (art teacher) and Donald Friggieri (director, Institute of Art and Design). Education Minister Louis Galea also addressed the symposium.