Putting the interests of our children first

It was only to be expected that the Nationalist Party in general and the, now, caretaker Minister of Education, Louis Galea, would misrepresent Labour's proposal to introduce a reception class for Malta and Gozo's young school children.

It is customary of the PN to try to score political points not by debating the arguments but by either going personal or lying about their political adversaries' proposals or both.

Such is the case with the reception class. This class exists in different countries among others the UK, Finland, Sweden and Denmark which are among the top performers in the EU with regard to education.

Unlike the Nationalist government, Labour did not commission reports from a few trusted and loyal lieutenants. This idea came about with constant consultation meetings with teachers, educators and other stakeholders involved in education to hear from them what they thought the priorities for this very important field are.

During the various discussions the educators present pointed out that as things stand at the moment children find the transition from Kinder II to Year 1 of primary school very difficult due to the abrupt switch from the informal education based on play and creative teaching in Kinder to the formal setting of Year 1 where, for starters, they have to sit down for much longer periods of time. It was in the course of this discussion that a head teacher present suggested that there should be a reception class which would ensure that children have a smoother, more gradual transition. The educators present referred to research which showed that children who began Year 1 when they were not yet five years old (children have to reach the age of five during the course of the academic year) find it quite difficult to keep up and absorb the new material that they are being taught. The data then shows that these are the same students who do badly in terms of results when they sit for their Junior Lyceum exams and other exams later on.

This is why we are saying that the reception class will help all children to succeed. As things stand, children as young as two years and six months are being admitted to kindergarten while at the other end parents can, legally, delay bringing their children to school before age five. In between, children who reach the age of three during the academic year of Kinder I are admitted in three different intakes which means that they do not all take the full two years of kinder. Indeed, one-third of those who are admitted in February/March only get one academic year and one term of kinder. This is the lacuna we want to address.

This problem was also mentioned during the discussions leading to the publication of the National Minimum Curriculum way back in 1999 and there was agreement that there should be a reception class. The only point at issue was whether to have it at age four or five. The Nationalist government, that is Minister Louis Galea, did nothing about this and now it is misinterpreting what we are proposing and criticising us for it when it simply slept on the issue and did nothing about it.

Three final points.

Firstly, caretaker Minister Galea's claims that education has prospered under his stewardship are, I am afraid, absolutely hollow. One clear example of this is the dismantling of the Educational Psychology service. Today we have only two school psychologists when for our school population we need about 17. What about the long waiting list at the CDAU? This is due to the lack of resources that this section has and for which, once more, Dr Galea failed to provide the necessary support.

Secondly, he says that "every educator worth his spurs knows that the reasons behind educational difficulties are complex and not necessarily the result of a bad or weak start in one's education".

This uncovers how much the caretaker minister does not know about contemporary educational research. In fact, research carried out on 70,000 school children by Prof. Peter Tymms from Durham University's Curriculum, Evaluation and Management Centre (CEM), and which was presented in a research paper presented to the British Educational Research Association Conference on Teachers in Reception Classes in September, 2007 concludes that: "This work reinforces research which shows early years education is critical for children's later cognitive development and that while attention should, of course be given, to every year of education, more value should be placed on the most sensitive times, the first few years.

"Currently in England the primary school league tables prompted schools to concentrate on generating the greatest gains in children's attainment in Year 6, to coincide with the year in which pupils sit the government SAT tests from whose results the primary school league tables are published. This research shows that schools could well be misplacing some of their key resources and need to look carefully at their reception teaching and attainment of the children in this year group," said Prof. Tymms.

Finally, the new Labour government which we will have in a few weeks' time is not going to impose this reform overnight. As we say in our Plan for a New Beginning, the reception class will be introduced after serious preparation and consultation. Thus we will not only consult but we will also plan well and we will implement the introduction of the reception class according to this plan.

What is certain is that the new Labour government will, as it has always done, put the interests of our children first.

Mr Abela is Labour's spokesman on education.