The teachers’ union has expressed reservations about the conclusions of a National Audit Office report calling for the integration of small State primary schools to save costs.
The Malta Union of Teachers said yesterday the report sent out a “worrying message”. It said the NAO report on a review of the class sizes at State primary schools did not present the full picture on which future policy decision-making should be based on.
“The report, unfortunately, sends a worrying message to all those involved in education because it evidently puts financial terms above all other considerations,” the union said.
Tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, the report found that 30 out of 68 State primary schools had a student population below 200 across all year groups in 2013.
About €68 million in operating costs was spent on primary schools – 94 per cent of which were wages.
The report, unfortunately, sends a worrying message to all those involved in education because it evidently puts financial terms above all other considerations
The NAO pointed out that there was no evidence to suggest that small class sizes were beneficial to students and proposed the amalgamation of certain schools.
For the MUT, the matter goes beyond a financial audit: “Holistic education includes much more than academic assessment results – many aspects that lead to quality education need to be also considered.”
It said efficiency in terms of cost per student was unrelated to effective learning and school management. These factors could not be calculated by simply adding the cost and dividing by the number of students and “other simplistic calculations”, the union added.
The NAO, it said, failed to include in its assessment the huge benefits that smaller classes had in terms of individualised support on an academic level.
The union referred to the law that provided clear guidelines about school standards, including minimum classroom space. “The MUT believes it is high time that such minimum conditions are adhered to.”
However, it called for better use of available space and human resources, acknowledging that it “does not make sense, for example in Gozo, to have one school full to the brim with children from all localities and hardly any space for proper recreation while other schools are allowed to dwindle in population”.