Learners do it for themselves

Today, the speed with which modern society changes has made it imperative that all citizens go on learning and acquiring new knowledge, skills and competencies throughout their lifetimes. The idea of a job for life belongs to the past and this means that retraining for a new job has become part and parcel of everyday life. Likewise, new technologies have created a new kind of illiteracy such as being unable to use a computer in an age when everything is becoming computerised. Being unable to access the internet, for example, has become a grave disadvantage even for the small businessman. Changing lifestyles also mean a greater demand for spending one's leisure time in a more worthwhile way, and this has educational ramifications such as providing educational provisions in such things as cultural appreciation, etc.

Given this situation, I believe the establishment of a Directorate for Lifelong Learning by the Ministry of Education is a step in the right direction. This step has brought with it several necessary changes such as an increase in the number of adult learners due to better publicity of the educational provision offered, the training of staff in adult education methodology, an increase in the number and variety of adult courses offered, and better coordination with other entities, such as the local councils etc., offering adult education provision.

However, I would like to offer some constructive criticism. Lifelong learning does not start at the post-16 phase but from the very first years of a person's life; and this is where, I believe, a lot still remains to be done. I am aware that the aim in our schools is to make our students become autonomous learners, but this is easier said than done. The problem lies in the fact that our educational culture has a tradition of spoon-feeding students. Students expect to be directed all the time in what they learn and how they learn. Indeed, ask anybody who has ever taught at the University of Malta and he/she will tell you that students feel lost when a lecturer expects them to act as autonomous learners. The same applies to older learners who attend other adult courses.

The problem becomes much more serious as one goes down the educational levels from post-16 to kindergarten. It is here that we need a change of mentality involving students, parents and teachers. This takes time because to change traditional ways of teaching and learning is not something that can be accomplished overnight. The change has to start at home. Parents have to be educated in giving children leeway and guidance to organise their own learning.

Unfortunately, we still have parents who choke their children's creativity by interfering in every aspect of their work. While adult guidance is recommendable, the aim should always be the autonomy of the child learners. Children have to be taught how to learn by themselves, without having some adult steer them all the time through their lifelong learning journey.

Teachers also have to do their utmost to fade into the background in the classroom and eventually achieve the ideal situation where children can carry out tasks autonomously and where the teacher simply takes on the role of a facilitator of learning, a person available in case of difficulties during the learning process.

Of course, this is not easy to achieve. Some teachers who have done this have even been criticised by some uninformed parents who thought the aim of the educators was to shirk their work, "tfarfar fuq spallejn it-tfal" (dodging one's responsibility by making the children do the work instead)! This is why it is so important to involve all the stakeholders involved in such changes by consulting them and informing them of the rationale behind such educational reform.

At the end of the day, it is the child himself/herself who has to accomplish the goal of becoming an autonomous lifelong learner. Which is why it is imperative that both parents and teachers provide positive reinforcement whenever the child manifests examples of autonomous learning.

If we fail in making children autonomous, we will end up with the situation we still have today where some teachers who treat adults as adults are asked by the adult learners themselves to be taught in the same way as children! There is nothing more frustrating for an adult educator.

This is an exciting time of educational reform in Malta, and the revolution in our approach towards lifelong learning and the encouragement of learning for its own sake and for self-enrichment form probably the most important part of this long and complicated process of educational change.

If we succeed in this, we shall have established a solid base to consolidate the present ongoing changes as well as future ones.