Evarist Bartolo: “Joseph Muscat managed to make the party electable.” Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

The biggest concern for educators in Malta is mixed-ability teaching but at the same time this is key to addressing the high rate of early school leavers, according to Education Minister Evarist Bartolo.

Malta holds the unenviable record of having the highest number of students who do not further their studies at post-secondary levels among EU member states, Mr Bartolo told The Sunday Times of Malta in an interview.

“We are far from satisfied with the academic level in State secondary schools and so must act immediately.”

The minister added that in some cases, students have been absent from schools for up to two years, with authorities seemingly toothless.

He also pointed out that only 17 out of every 100 students starting the Mcast foundation course are successful.

The government has announced the introduction of middle schools from the next scholastic year.

This will address one of the major concerns raised by teachers, who complained that pupil numbers in recent years had soared to unmanageable levels.

As a result, Forms 1 and 2 will no longer be in the same organisational structure as senior students.

The minister said this is being introduced in conjunction with co-education following the positive experience at St Clare College.

He fended off criticism that these reforms are being introduced hastily, but added that change is not an option.

“Globalisation means change is inevitable but at the same time we have to be careful to carry out reforms at the right pace.”

According to Mr Bartolo, the biggest concern for teachers is mixed-ability teaching, which was introduced in the aftermath of the decision to merge Area Secondary schools and Junior Lyceums.

“The reality is that teachers have to simultaneously cater for very high-achieving students and those who still lack basic literacy skills.”

This will be addressed by training teachers and introducing more vocational subjects.

The plan is to open educational avenues and introduce new forms of assessment. Mr Bartolo laments that the present set-up is not catering “for those who learn by doing”.

On the other hand, he acknowledges that the PN-led administration had already started to address this problem by introducing BTech subjects.

Mr Bartolo said discussions are under way with the University and Mcast to introduce tailor-made, vocational courses that would be recognised as an equivalent of SEC exams.

“This will also help to address behavioural problems in schools as students will feel that school is more relevant to their everyday life experiences.”

However, he completely rules out re-opening trade schools.

The mistake in the late 1990s was that no new opportunities were created for trade school students, he said.

One criticism levelled by the Opposition in the early days of this legislature was that the Labour administration was not fully committed to continuing the ambitious plan to build a new school each year until 2020.

Mr Bartolo said even though this programme had to be reviewed to allow for the introduction of middle schools and co-education, the required capital investment will still be made.

We are far from satisfied with the academic level in State secondary schools and so must act immediately

“We are planning to build new schools in St Paul’s Bay and Marsascala while carrying out extensive refurbishment at St Andrew’s school, which will be hosting the sports school,” he said.

The minister expressed strong views when asked about the recent remarks made by St James Cavalier’s outgoing manager Chris Gatt that culture was lagging behind in our educational set-up.

Mr Bartolo says successive surveys have shown only about two per cent of Maltese regularly attend cultural events.

“We have to get our act together and address this issue,” he said.

The minister added that one of the measures would be the introduction of performing arts, but not from the next scholastic year, since this requires a lot of preparation.

Asked about Labour’s first 10 months in government, he said the overall experience has been positive, even though he acknowledges that some things could have been handled better, such as the controversial citizenship scheme.

Nevertheless, he said he is very keen for the scheme to start as it would make it possible to channel more fundsinto education.

Probed about the fact the Labour Party had not mentioned the citizenship scheme in its electoral manifesto, he said the additional stream of revenue would be welcome in order to beef up some initiatives, especially capital projects and research.

Touching on party matters, Mr Bartolo – who had unsuccessfully contested the leadership – lauded his party leader Joseph Muscat for ringing the neces-sary changes.

He admitted that back in 2008 he was not convinced and had infamously remarked that “the more things change, the more they remain the same” in the Labour Party.

However, he concedes he was proved wrong, “as Joseph Muscat eventually managed to make the party electable”.