A look back

Last year was an active one for education - five national reports were published, one of which to generate an extensive overhaul in the educational system, punctuated by incidents that spurred concern on the way schoolchildren are behaving at school and at home.

Education Minister Louis Galea announced an extensive revamp of the school system last July. For All Children To Succeed, the first report last year, involved grouping state primary schools, area secondary schools and junior lyceums into autonomous regional colleges, with the aim of ensuring more continuity in the education that pupils in state schools receive.

The first three colleges, in Cottonera, Karwija and Gozo, started functioning in the new scholastic year starting in September as a pilot project, while the special schools were grouped in a school network with similar characteristics. It remains to be seen whether the reform, which some termed as too ambitious, will generate satisfactory results in the long run.

The second report, entitled Inclusive and Special Education Review, published in July, was aimed at fostering an inclusive education and to achieve the fullest possible social integration and individual development.

The report highlighted that a healthy inclusive and special education environment should be responsive to the differing developmental capacities, needs and potential of all students, from kindergarten to tertiary and adult education.

It contained detailed recommendations of a working group set up to report on the situation, policy and practice of inclusive education in schools, especially special schools, and on the disabled person's preparation for employment and recreation opportunities. The working group's recommendation to appoint a national coordinator for the sector was fulfilled with the appointment of George Borg, a person with years of experience in the field who is also coordinating the special schools network.

The third policy paper, entitled National Commission For Higher Education, was announced by the Prime Minister in his budget speech with the aim of establishing a commission to see that educational institutions conform to specific academic standards by acting as an adviser to the government and in line with the aim of increasing student participation in tertiary education and at the University from 22 to 35 per cent and from 66 to 80 per cent in the post-secondary sector within the next 10 years. The commission if expected to start running by the second half of this year, while a designate committee, which will lay the foundations, should be set up this month.

Measures that affected students included the rise in bus fares, counterbalanced by a subsidised rate, and the revision of the maintenance grants rates. The latter generated anticipation after it was sketchily announced in the pre-budget consultation document, the details of which were then announced in the budget. The measures were of concern to a number of students who suffered a decrease in their monthly allowance and one-time grant, but to the satisfaction of other students following science and maths courses, the Gozitan students and others under the special cases category who benefited from a considerable increase in their stipend and grant.

School funding was also on the agenda, with an immediate increase to educational institutions being announced in the budget.

Throughout last year, several reports revealed how students were behaving at school and at home. The School Attendance Improvement Report, the fourth national report whose consultation process is ongoing, revealed a low rate of school truants which were nonetheless a cause of concern, spurring a taskforce's recommendation for truancy sweeps to be carried out by police and wardens in areas such as shopping centres, and for extra-curricular activities, before and after school hours, to help demotivated students.

Sadly, bad behaviour was reported even during school hours, with a spate of verbal and physical attacks on teachers and a head of school - the latter being attacked only a day after the Malta Union of Teachers held a seminar on unacceptable pupil behaviour - in the last few months of the year. The Education Minister announced that the Education Division would take serious steps to punish attacks, with one of the students being suspended for an indefinite period. The ministry also urged schools which did not have a code of discipline to draw one up in line with the Discipline Code.

An alarming survey on the Trends In Internet Browsing Among Students, published by the National Statistics Office, raised concern when it revealed that one out of every five schoolchildren meet a stranger after having chatted online, while more than 61 per cent of students between Form 3 and Form 5 have been asked to meet. The IT Ministry expects to launch a series of legislative, procedural and awareness measures with a number of partners to increase the safety of the internet.

On a more positive note, this year also saw the opening of the first brand new secondary school completely built by the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools. The St Benedict College in Kirkop was built in two and a half years with a budget of Lm2.5 million. The college is described a "tomorrow's school" with, most probably, the best amenities on the island. It is hoped that this, together with other work that the foundation is carrying out on all state schools around Malta, will offer students an environment which encourages learning. On the other hand there are a number of schools, namely the Junior Lyceums at tal-Handaq and at Verdala, which are in dire need of refurbishment and it is positive to note that these schools were identified in this year's budget as priority projects.

The year ended with the publication of the fifth report on the Matsec system, one of the main changes being the postponement of the May and September sessions by one month. It was suggested that the one-month postponement in the September re-sit session, which would mean that the student would inevitably miss a school year, would be of benefit to students and teachers who would have an additional month to complete the syllabus in June.

The recommendations included in the report should have generated more momentum for consultation, the lack of which may be attributed to the festive season immediately subsequent to its publication. Many may still be trying to understand the lengthy report, which will affect thousands of students. Although the recommendations will not be put to practice before 2008, it is hoped that the document regains resonance and dialogue with the education stakeholders, especially because of the high number of students it will affect.