€417,000 in educational research

The Education Division and, later, the Education Directorates spent a total of €416,559 on educational research between 2004 and 2008, Education Minister Dolores Cristina said in reply to a parliamentary question by Evarist Bartolo (PL).

The research was mainly carried out with the University of Malta, the National Foundation for Educational Research, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievements. The research involved all primary and secondary state and private schools.

Research among first-year primary schoolchildren had led to the publication of a book, Mathematics in Malta.

It had also found that schoolgirls in the first primary year did better than their male counterparts, and that the time they had spent in kindergarten had had a positive effect on their performance.

Research at the secondary level had not yet given any results. The results would be out following the termination of a research process linked to an international schedule.

It was intended that Malta in future would take part in international research.