Thursday, 30th October 2008
Principal asks for special curriculum for Cospicua's failing pupils
The Cospicua state primary school is taking the unprecedented step of asking the Education Minister to authorise a special curriculum after all its pupils failed the last junior lyceum exam in May.
Sandro Spiteri, the principal of St Margaret College, under which the school falls, said he was personally and professionally satisfied with the teachers, who have achieved results in the past. But the school faced particular problems that demanded particular solutions.
An action committee, including school representatives, the Cospicua mayor and social welfare agencies Aċċess and Appoġġ, has been set up to delve into the problem and suggest solutions, changes to the curriculum and the way the school interacts with the community.
The detailed proposals will be presented to Education Minister Dolores Cristina by the end of December to be implemented immediately. Mr Spiteri said: "We cannot wait!"
The situation was discussed yesterday when Ms Cristina visited the school.
Mr Spiteri said that, considering the poverty rate, the vulnerability of the families and the housing problems in the area, the results were not surprising. "It would have been a miracle had we achieved the national average in Cospicua."
Mr Spiteri said these social realities were affecting the pupils as well as the teachers who suffered daily stress and a fear of being beaten up.
"We have to admit that all this affects the morale of the teachers. They are doing their best in a very difficult situation. We, therefore, need tools that are different from what other schools have, including regular drama therapy, for example."
Mr Spiteri said the failure of the students had instilled a strong sense of disaffection and families were disheartened. But investment in the college's "state-of-the-art" new Verdala boys' secondary school, where they moved on to, was having a positive effect on their self-concept.
The Cospicua school also needed to build on its strengths, including the strong sense of community and its close interconnection with social services, Mr Spiteri said.
One of the college's major advantages was that it catered for students until Form V, so none would be lost, he said. But the plan was to catch them from the start and the committee would not only be focusing on crisis management but would be working with the families before their children attended the school.
Among the initiatives due to kick off is a homework club to tackle what are known as latchkey children, who have nowhere to go after school and return to an empty home.
Mr Spiteri predicted, however, that the fruit of recent changes would not be reaped before another three years.
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Comments
joyce aquilina Good observation
I do not think after hours is a solution - its the quality of teaching.
Nor do I think homework help is an answer - in our day we got home from school and did our homework - with no help - if we made a mistake it was corrected but at least we tried and not had others do it for us - and most of us were high achievers or at least passed our exams. Sometimes 'helping' too much is letting the children off easily. For example 'handouts' or photocopies - what can a child learn from them if they hardly ever look at them. Let a child write it out - evening copying a sentence is learning.
I agree with you. The problem is a long standing one originating from the war. Before the war some of Malta's leading figures hailed from the Cottonera. As war broke out these people moved out to safer places and never returned. Their place was taken up by low income lower class families attracted by low rent. this formed into a vicious circle where the three cities were almost ostracized by the rest of malta resulting in the collective lowering of self esteem.
Nowadays one can hardly find any one who's ancestors lived in Cottonera. The problem is a very complex one and not easily solved. it is a social problem not just educational and everybody must give a hand to find a solution. First and foremost the stigma must be removed. this can be done from both sides of the fence. The cottonerans must start proving that they are not inferior and the rest must stop labeling the people of Cottonera as lower class citizens.
Why the conspiracy theory? coming from you I smell political overtones. The Cottonera is a depressed area whether you like to admit it or not, for whatever reason or because of whoever's fault. Being surrounded by fortifications, the people of Cottonera still suffer, subconciously perhaps from a siege mentality. notice that Cospicua, Senglea and Birgu had a lower pass mark than their neighbour Kalkara who did quite well considering its location in the South. Marsascala also in the South is among the high flyers in education. So, being in the South does not necessarily have to do with bad results. The reasons why the three cities fair so badly need to be assessed seriously.
How about an INDEPENDENT revision of papers, because it seems impossible that not a single child had passed his/her examination.
Is there any taboo or plot about children from Bormla and the southern part of Malta?
I also recommend a smaller teacher - student ratio so that we will give these pupils and students an opportunity to do well.
And the department should support all teachers involved to the hilt.
Come on Mr Spiteri. Would you have us believe that all your students come from poor, vulnerable and homeless families? Impossible!
The truth is that a minority are disadvantaged in one or more of these ways. And the truth is that mixing of students leads to these disastrous results. I mean, you can hardly go lower than that! If this were to be in Japan, Mr Spiteri would feel obliged to commit harakiri.
Another practical argument against the abolition of streaming. Diversity does not lead to strength, no matter how many expensive publicity campaigns are undertaken to push this lie.
Parents must not be hoodwinked into accepting such arguments.
It seems perfect common sense to me that in such cases the standard curriculum should be dumped and the emphasis placed on basic literacy - preferably in small classes. But doing so would mean acknowledging that we have serious problems in some of our state schools, and the powers that be prefer to bury their heads in the sand.
Finally someone has broken the taboo and acknowledged the problems. Kudos to Mr Spiteri for having had the courage to do so. I hope that the Education Division and the MUT will support him in his efforts to tackle the problems.
I am from Cospicua and both my sons attended Cospicua primary school,my youngest son finished there 6 years ago and he passed his JL exams and he also passed his church school exams only now he is stuck in this cobweb of the ICT coarse. I think that if parents keep comning up with medical certificates for their children not to attend school, the doctor should be investigated.
good luck mr spiteri
Would this be what trendy, progressive sociologists term "student empowerment"?
This is sickening and the solution is not in adaping the curriculum to suit what are out of line students, but to coax the students to fall in line with what is considered the national norm.
When discipline is considered as an infringement on students' human rights, then anarchy and ignorance would have triumphed.