Labour unveils education plan

The Labour Party is proposing the addition of a "reception" class in primary education, which will be fitted in after the two years of kindergarten and before the first primary year.

This would see the compulsory education age going up from 16 to 17 years, the party's Education spokesman Carmelo Abela said yesterday.

Mr Abela was speaking during the launch of the party's draft plan on education, which will now go through a consultation process before it is taken to the party's general conference for approval in July.

The proposal is one of the ideas being presented in the plan.

Another proposal in the plan is for classes in primary not to have more than 25 students while primary schools should not have more than 400 students.

The MLP believed the country should move to a form of assessment at primary level removing the exaggerated pressure on children.

The education system, Mr Abela said, was still giving nearly exclusive importance to examinations. And while these were important, they were not the best and the only valid way to assess abilities.

Exams needed to be complemented by other forms of assessment, particularly continuous assessment.

For this to be done, teachers and primary school teaching had to be reorganised. The concept of team teaching would be introduced whereby teachers would teach the subjects they specialised in as much as this was practical. There would be specialised teachers for science, information technology, literature, physical education and art in every primary school.

Mr Abela said the plan also spoke on the national curriculum, which should be seriously and independently evaluated to determine how much of it was being implemented. Then, all those involved in the sector should work together to implement what should have been implemented ages ago.

He said that while science subjects should continue to be taught separately for the students who opted to choose them, co-ordinated science should be taught to students who made other choices so that they would gain adequate competence in sciences.

Mr Abela said the MLP believed that the management team in schools should not be in charge of the administrative management so that it could focus more on the curricular activity.

He stressed that all the work related to education had to be done in partnership between students, teachers, unions, parents and the government.

The main aim of the plan, he said, was for each and every student to acquire at least the basic abilities by the end of obligatory education.

Labour leader Alfred Sant said a Labour government would implement the planned changes smoothly and consistently at all levels of the education system.

He said that while public expenditure had to be curbed, a Labour government would continue to invest in education, increasing both capital and recurrent expenditure, while still ensuring value for money. Investment in education remained a priority for the MLP, he said.

Education was central to the party's plan for a new beginning. The MLP believed that the country's best resource was the human resource and education was what strengthened citizens, expanding their possibilities for a better future for them and the country.

The plan, Dr Sant said, stressed that illiteracy had to be fought consistently and strongly. At the same time, since there was a national curriculum this should be adopted and not remain shelved.

Dr Sant said a Labour government would also give priority to the vocational sector. It would address the current situation of a quota through which not everyone who had the necessary requirements was included in the system.

At the same time, space would be found to fill the void left by former trade schools.

This did not mean that trade schools would be reopened but more courses were needed for students who fell behind in academic standards.

Improvements were also needed at the university with particular emphasis being paid to science and information technology.

There was also a need for a bigger link between employment and university so that courses would be more relevant to what was needed in employment. Stipends would not be touched, Dr Sant promised.

A Labour government would also assess the Foundation for Tomorrow's School and then decide on its future.

The Labour Party, he said, was worried that Malta was the bottom country in the Lisbon Strategy targets when it came to education.

Plan's measures

The measures proposed in the party's education plan include:

¤ Introducing a reception or transition year between the kinder and primary education phases raising the obligatory education age to 17.

¤ Giving serious consideration to the introduction of a mentoring and induction system for new teachers, who would find continuous support from experienced educators.

¤ Evolving the role of facilitators to one of teachers' assistants, who would be there for all children but giving special attention to students with a disability.

¤ Treating cases of indiscipline immediately and efficiently. Serious cases of bad behaviour which hindered the education of others would not be tolerated and misbehaving students would be referred to specialised units which would be set up to improve these students' behaviour before their return to school.

¤ Making continuous assessment an integral part of all teaching processes.

¤ Introducing the concept of team teaching at primary level with specific teachers for science, ICT, literature, physical education and art.

¤ Emphasising the learning by doing concept in secondary education.

¤ Making MCAST more open and accessible to a wider spread of students.

¤ Revising the University entry system. While the current system where examinations were all taken together at the end of the second sixth form year should be retained, Systems of Knowledge should not remain examinable and essential for entry.

¤ Strengthening research at University.

¤ Making co-ordinated science a subject for secondary students who did not opt for specific science subjects.