Procrastinations and euphemisms in science and technology education

Dr Alfred Darmanin SJ's article "Leadership in Maltese organisations" and the University page's commentary on education (The Sunday Times, June 3 (pages 14, 97, respectively) made encouraging reading.

There are many types of leaders. Some are silent while others are conspicuous. Unfortunately many of our conspicuous leaders in education tend to procrastinate when it comes to implementing measures suggested by silent leaders who include leading education experts who have no interest other than the welfare and better preparation of young students to face future realities.

The commentary on education suggested that while education should broaden to cover other areas, it should also maintain quality standards. Procrastinations have had measurable consequences on the abilities expected of students with regard to reading, spelling, and skills in mathematics, science and technology, as well as scarcity of fully qualified high calibre technical teachers.

There are some other procrastinations over the past 15 years:

• The suggested introduction at sixth form level, of a better physical and mental support for scientific and technological projects was given the cold shoulder by education leaders who were never interested in laboratories and workshops, but only in reading from books, with the result that students did not develop certain talents.

• Science and technology questions in Systems of Knowledge in the MATSEC examinations were more of a historical and argumentative nature rather than aimed to make the students appreciate the details of scientific principles. As a result, students were recalling information by reading teachers' notes, rather than analysing and testing material around them.

• At the university's Faculty of Engineering, the suggestions to introduce more practical engineering courses to cater for industry in addition to theoretical, academic research type of courses, met with the leaders' reluctance, and now that the new faculty of IT will rob some staff and students from the engineering faculty, the university's leaders must buttress the weaknesses.

The Faculty of Engineering would have tapped some of the students who are now going to MCAST. The university leaders must never allow the students to be orphaned by lecturers who are more interested in publishing research papers, rather than improving their class, workshop and laboratory activities.

The requirements for lecturers and senior lecturers, professors, etc, at MCAST and the university should be carefully monitored, as it could lead to students being orphaned in more ways than one.

• The need to prepare high quality technical teachers to teach at the MCAST was treated too lightly by those responsible for teachers' training, who did not regard technology teaching as their cup of tea, and insisted that high doses of pedagogy were more important than the core subject material.

This disagreement about teachers' training courses is handicapping the provision of teachers to teach at university levels as the 3+2 courses leading to an M.Ed would result in students claiming that they can teach at university level with an effective three-year course lacking so much in the core subject matter.

• When our silent leaders proposed the setting up of MCAST over 15 years ago, the conspicuous and vociferous leaders of education, procrastinated with the idea, failing to organise meetings with the then minister of the day, Michael Falzon. Then, when other leaders took over, the initial intention and standards of the proposed MCAST were changed to fit the students going to trade schools and institutes of technology, to train skills, trades and technicians level personnel.

If the conspicuous leaders of the day, leading from above, respected the silent leaders who knew the situation from below, MCAST would not have had the problems of recruiting qualified managers and members of staff with all the turmoil of in-house courses to set and reach the required standards.

• At the Education and Training Corporation, the leaders should consider seriously the improvements required so that ETC would provide the required testing facilities for their students, which was proposed to them over three years ago. Experience has shown that most students are orphaned by MCAST, ETC, industry, MATSEC and the university when it comes to practical work, which is such an important requirement when working licences and experiences are to be sought by the students.

In the "commentary" it was stated "Malta must go, not only for more education but also for a higher quality of education." To which, through experience, one should add that Malta must, at all costs, avoid using euphemisms and bombastic titles for some students and some leaders.

Our educational visions must be kept absolutely clear and well focused so that all donkeys retain the title of donkeys and horses retain the titles of horses. Malta must not be allowed to hallucinate that the attributes of donkeys will improve just by changing overnight, their title, to those of horses, nor should a horse be called a donkey.

And even if our conspicuous leaders should ever decide that the tail of a horse is to be called a leg, I must be very accountable for other people's lives as an examiner, at university and elsewhere, and during investigations in courts, industry and on ships diagnosing real problems.