Mid-summer marks a period of anxiety for many sixth form students who await their Matsec results that could open the door to pursue their dream of obtaining a university qualification.
The Holy Grail for most students and their parents is a good university degree in one of the preferred professions that traditionally brings with it a good lifestyle and respect from the community. But society is changing very fast and continuing education can now take various forms not necessarily linked with study at tertiary level.
Many find the results for Matsec achieved this year as rather disappointing. Two out of every three youths sitting for the exams failed to make the grade for access into university.
The Malta University entry requirement vary according to the courses on offer but, generally, they are set at lower levels than those required by major renowned international universities. Demand for places in international reputable universities is often controlled by high entry grade requirements and other vetting criteria like subject-specific entry tests, thinking skills assessments, interviews and written entry exams. Formal good results obtained in the sixth form are not always sufficient to guarantee a university place.
It is important to determine why so many students failed to gain sufficient passes to join even the softer university courses. One has to assume that Maltese students are just as capable as other overseas students to obtain similar educational grades to enter university.
Is our educational system tuned well enough to help the majority of students achieve the same level of competence in subjects like English, mathematics and computing as students from other countries? The fact that Malta ranks third lowest in the table of university-educated 30-34-year-olds with barely one in four locals at that age bracket having a university degree is indeed worrying and not a good endorsement of our educational system.
Students who did not make it in the first round of Matsec exams should not be discouraged. It is essential that competence in basic academic subjects like English, Maltese, mathematics, computer studies and at least one science subject are obtained by every student irrespective of whether they intend to join a university course or not.
A university qualification is just one option available to today’s students who want to continue with their education beyond the statutory age. Mcast now offers vocational qualifications in various levels with some qualifications equivalent to a university degree. Many students prefer to pass on from the academic stream that characterises our primary and secondary phases of education to the vocational stream that offers a more practical approach to learning. A good Matsec certificate will make this transition to vocational education a less arduous one for many students.
Matsec exams are a tough reality that most students have to face whether they want to follow the academic stream, the vocational stream or the apprenticeship route to further education. For our free educational system to pass the value-for-money audit we need to establish whether the poor results registered in a particular year can be attributed to poor teaching or whether some students are being streamed into the wrong routes to higher education.
Poor Matsec results should not mean an end to continuing education. They may just be an opportunity to consider other viable options.