Illiteracy and social work services - February 16, 2008

In the illiteracy debate Louis Galea, the Minister for Education, said (February 4): "Every educator knows that the reasons behind educational difficulties are complex and not necessarily the result of a bad or weak start in one's education. Some students encounter difficulties following a death in the family, parents separating, some as a result of bullying at school, some simply find it difficult to follow the traditional educational pattern, others have learning difficulties that take time to be identified." I agree with this.

One may add those children who are not motivated at all by their parents to reap the best possible benefits out of schooling. Other children, worse still, have parents only too content to pay fines for their children's school absences to use - really abuse - their children in the family fields, trades or small businesses.

Unfortunately these children did not receive the proper help from the authorities when they needed it most. Perhaps this is why the Labour Party's call to focus attention on the lot of these children deserves serious consideration. Whether or not the proper approach to the solution of the illiteracy problem is a reception class - as the Labour Party is suggesting - a reception centre with a robust psycho-social component, which I propose, or whatever, is subject to debate.

Unfortunately, to my mind, while making a very good analysis of the problem Minister Galea said very little as to the proper approach towards its solution. If I am correct the expansion of inclusive education and facilitators in schools was intended to make provision for children with physical and mental disabilities, not to combat illiteracy. I have a strong feeling that illiteracy was not given the attention it deserved for a very long time. I have heard teachers argue, fatalistically, that all countries have a certain degree of illiteracy, implying that we might as well learn to live with it.

A short time ago I suggested in The Times (December 31) that this problem could be tackled by a massive infusion of resources, through new allocation or restructuring, to expand personal and community social work services in the educational system (in all government schools) as a start. I still maintain that the tandem of school and family in government schools has to be created, because it does not exist, in spite, also, of school councils. Besides illiteracy, personal and social problems in schools and in Maltese families - those referred to by Minister Galea - can be identified more easily, attended to and possibly treated much earlier in schools by trained, committed and attentive teams of school heads, teachers, school counsellors, psychologists and social workers (in a "reception" centre?) with social workers taking leading roles as case workers. Social workers already deal with a lot of "social" cases with an adult illiteracy component while a good part of their work consists of home visits!

Yet in spite of having very wide experience of these services as a former Minister for Social Services, and as his very good analysis of the illiteracy problem shows, Dr Galea seems to have failed to see the utility of personal and community social work services when dealing with the illiteracy problem. During Xarabank February 8 he made no reference at all to these services. Carmelo Abela, the Shadow Minister for Education, taking part in the same programme, did not either, in spite of saying (The Times, January 3) that my suggestions "made interesting reading". During the programme only Mario Mallia of Alternattiva Demokratika, a head of school, spoke about the need to expand psychological services in government schools.

Mr Abela did make reference to psychological services in schools (The Times, February 6), but it is not clear whether his remarks were just criticism of Dr Galea for not appointing more psychologists or whether he was saying that if appointed Minister for Education he will immediately employ more psychologists.

Mr Abela seems to be building his main arguments for a reception class only on what "educators" say and is letting it be understood that the early good education and formation of small children - or the absence of it - takes place only in schools and not also in their families.

Notwithstanding the above it was very interesting to hear Alfred Sant declare during the mass meeting at Cottonera on Sunday that social workers will figure prominently in the Labour Party's plans to try to solve the illiteracy problem.