Parents express concern on benchmarking exams

Parents of grade six students attending a Fgura state school sent a petition to the education authorities expressing concern that their children are not being prepared for the upcoming benchmarking exams in May.

After attending a public seminar for teachers and parents on the new reform, the parents were informed that children would have to sit for oral exams that included a mental Maths paper. They would also be tested on skills such as formal e-mail and article writing.

Although the parents agreed with the system, they felt children were not being prepared to face such exams.

In May, the exams, which will benchmark students’ ability in English, Maltese and Mathematics, will replace the system of state Junior Lyceum and Church common entrance exams.

“We understand the system is good and it eases the stress brought about by the Junior Lyceum exams.

“However, children are even more stressed now they are seeing the exams approach but do not feel prepared,” the petition says.

The parents called on the authorities to ensure children were prepared for the exams.

The petition was sent to the Fgura primary school headmaster, the principal of St Thomas More College, the Education Minister and the Labour Party spokesman on education. Labour leader Joseph Muscat raised the petition during a party meeting in Gozo yesterday. He said he agreed with the reform but not with the manner in which it was being implemented.

“We cannot experiment with our children and use them as guinea pigs,” he said.

The situation was the result of lack of planning by the education authorities and was not the fault of teachers, he added.

Last week, the Malta Union of Teachers said its members were worried they were not prepared for the education reform because they were not being kept updated about the workings of the new process.

The union called on the authorities to take the necessary action to remedy the situation.

The Education Ministry had said it had been working on the reform for the past five years during which time it had consulted teachers and the union.