Being able to read and write

The reform in compulsory education that our country has embarked on since the publication in 2005 of the concept document For All Children To Succeed has led to a review of a whole range of practices, procedures and services. One of the areas that is undergoing a profound change is the attainment of literacy in the early years.

Ensuring literacy attainment for all… is a fundamental condition…- Sandro Spiteri

The need to make literacy attainment a key priority in the education reform in the primary sector has been felt increasingly in the last years. When compared with European peers, Malta has improved considerably its rate of early school- leavers but still has one of the highest rates in the EU. The incidence of early school-leavers has been linked, among other things, to failed literacy attainment in the early years. This is now being addressed through the literacy strategy.

Prior to 2008, apart from the education officers of the then Education Division there were a range of providers that supported teachers and schools in the state primary sector in the development of literacy attainment.

The specific learning difficulties service focused particularly on dyslexia needs. The complementary education service supported young learners that required specialised tuition mainly in literacy. The literacy unit focused on helping schools develop literacy programmes and resources. The foundation for education services provided family literacy programmes and contributed to teacher training in specific strategies.

The setting up of the Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education provided the perfect opportunity to maximise the efficiency of these various services. By removing the service overlaps, synergising and rationalising the considerable expertise available and placing all provision within the context of a coherent national policy, schools would be able to address learners’ needs much more effectively.

In fact, one of the first acts of the DQSE was to set up a working group to develop a national policy and strategy not just for literacy but for the core competences that include mathematics, Maltese, English and eLearning. This policy and strategy were launched in the beginning of 2009. As part of this process, a literacy strategy for state schools has been developed and is presently in its third year.

This strategy places the onus of ensuring the achievement of literacy attainment on the school and the class teacher with appropriate guidance, training and support. Class teachers have a set of three checklists for both Maltese and English. These checklists have diagnostic, referral and assessment functions.

Thus, they are used to identify the learners who do not have age-appropriate literacy skills and to devise focused learning programmes according to their needs.

Schools also use the indications provided by the checklists to review school policies, resources and strategies to ensure literacy attainment in the early years. These literacy plans are included in the school development plan, which is reviewed on a yearly basis.

The checklists are also used at the end of a scholastic year to assess development in identified learners. At the end of Year 3, all state primary schools are required to report whether there are any learners who still do not have age-appropriate literacy mastery. This is called the literacy attainment baseline and is considered a critical point that determines the learners’ likelihood of a successful lifelong learning journey thereon.

If there are still such learners, the head of school coordinates the development of a detailed action plan to ensure that these learners are adequately supported in Year 4. This is based on a handing-over process between the Year 3 and Year 4 teachers that identifies the learners’ literacy competences and needs.

As from 2011-12, a representative sample of all Year 3 learners in state schools is being tested at the beginning of the scholastic year to give an overall picture of the state of literacy attainment in and to provide a point of reference for schools and teachers in assessing learners’ needs at the literacy attainment baseline.

This intricate mechanism requires effective support, resources, direction and monitoring. The direction is provided by a literacy strategy team within the DQSE.

In all, there are over 100 school, college and central staff focusing exclusively on the implementation of the literacy strategy.

Additionally, the Church Schools Secretariat has also started to recruit literacy support teachers, who will be working with the complementary education teachers in Church schools and collaborating with the state literacy strategy structure to ensure coordinated work in this critical area.

The literacy strategy has another key objective. It is serving as a training ground for the empowerment of primary schools in taking on board core curricular responsibilities and ensuring actual attainment, in the context of the decentralisation process of the state school colleges. This is critical to the successful implementation of the draft national curriculum framework undergoing consultation.

Ensuring literacy attainment for all, and ensuring that this is done by schools that are ready, willing and able as well as accountable for doing so, is a fundamental condition to a leap forward in national educational development and the eventual fulfillment of our aspirations for our country.

The author is director of the quality assurance department within the Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education and coordinator of the national core competences strategy.