The continued reform in compulsory education and the expansion of the college network were among the highlights that resonated last year. Yet, what probably echoed most was the agreement signed between the government and the Malta Union of Teachers, an agreement dubbed by the MUT as "historic".
Education Minister Louis Galea looks back at 2007 with satisfaction: Considerable improvement has been registered on the compulsory education front - including the targets set out in the Ministry's For All Children To Succeed - which featured high on the agenda last year, and will continue to take centre stage. The progress registered with the aim of reaching the Lisbon targets also met the approval of the European Commission.
"In Malta we have already achieved the UN's Education For All targets. Yet, this does not mean that we are reaching out to every child, or that every child is being given the best quality education possible. We need to make sure that all children receive what they are entitled to - their right to full and free access to quality education to develop the knowledge, skills and competences for today's and tomorrow's jobs," the minister said.
Educare centres
The reform to the compulsory education sector also included the aim of providing the best quality education at the earliest start possible through the provision of "educare" centres.
"At the tender age of three, a child is already feeling the impact of the family background, the education levels of his/her parents, and their quality of work. The childcare facility should not simply be a place where young children can eat and play, but should reflect an 'educare' system where a child can develop his/her abilities through play, visuals, interaction with other children, and through the help of carers, who will soon need a diploma and degree to be able to work in such facilities."
In fact, the ministry's target of increasing the quality of kindergarten centres will mean improving the quality of human resources. As from 2010, a kindergarten assistant must be in possession of the appropriate diploma, while as from 2016, such assistants must be in possession of a degree in early childhood education. The Ministry of Education is working hand in hand with Minister Dolores Cristina who is actively ensuring quality child care centres both in the private sector as well as in the public sector, including at schools.
MUT agreement
More than 70 provisions were included in the agreement between the government and the MUT, signed in July 2007. So far, the ministry has implemented 37 measures, including the induction of new teachers. The two new directorates already have their own directors general - Micheline Sciberras in the Directorate for Educational Services, and Grace Grima in the Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education. The process for the appointment of the new directors and college principals is now almost completed. Other measures were implemented with regards to learning support assistants, the training of teachers in resource centres, the procurement of professionals for the Youth Work Service, and the introduction of an additional parents' evening in the first semester.
Explaining a number of other measures, the minister said: "We have started to implement the measure whereby primary schoolteachers can now devote an hour and a half every week to curriculum development and activities. In the secondary level, the agreement seeks to strengthen the ICT sector by upgrading computers and providing for laptops to teachers. Student services will also be updated to reflect the changing social factors, that is, what goes on outside school hours, the environment where children are raised, and the way family values have changed."
In relation to the agreement, whose aim was to facilitate the implementation of the education reform process For All Children To Succeed, last year also saw the continued reform in the reorganisation of state schools into colleges, initiated by this process and designed to uplift the quality of state schools.
"The network of the kindergarten centres, primary school and secondary schools within the same region, which will now be extended to every local school, ensures that resources, experiences and best practices are shared, and that the educational experience is no longer fragmented," the minister explained.
"Additional tools to enable the smooth progress of a child through primary and secondary levels are the continuous assessment and profiling of students, which will be also applied to kindergarten levels. This will make sure that every child will have detailed records and a portfolio of his/her progress and achievements as from the very first stages of formal education.
"Yet, although continuous assessment and portfolios will substantially better inform the educational experience, especially since it will no longer remain exclusively exam-oriented, the portfolios will not replace the exam system as I believe in exams as a method of gauging the progress of students. However, since the exam alone does not show us a complete picture of a child, the continuous assessment would make it possible for educators to scan the development of a child, not simply in a particular moment in time, but through the whole educational experience. "It will also teach us how to discover the different talents, attitudes, and skills of each child.
This will also inform us about how to apply the strategy of the differentiated learning, that is, a way of enabling each and every child. By analogy, if a child is able to fly fast and high, this should be encouraged. If a child would like to fly only up to an average level, which is still qualitatively satisfactory, the educator should make sure the child is capable of doing so. On the other hand, if a child is unable to reach the average, he/she should be aided through special resources."
Minister Galea explained how Malta's special schools are being shaped into resource centres and made available also to mainstream students. However, he hopes that their vast resources can also help children who are diagnosed with special learning difficulties and who are attending mainstream schools. The government will also be providing a network of better psycho-social services, including the services of youth workers, and prefects of discipline. Lifelong learning centres will be introduced in the community. A crucial aspect is eventually offering this service after school hours.
Towards the end of the year, the first steps towards a new curriculum were being undertaken. In fact a formal and structured process of consultation with all stakeholders - which will run through 2008 - was launched in the first few days of this year.
Dr Galea explained how the first curriculum, in 1988, was prescriptive, in that it provided a set of measures covering top-to-bottom levels. In 2000, although the new curriculum was still partly prescriptive, it became wider in scope and expanded its parameters.
"The current curriculum dates back to 2000, a time when Malta was not yet a member of the EU or formed part of the eurozone, and at a time when globilisation, global warming and the environment were beginning to attract debate and concern. Many positive results were achieved through the present curriculum. Among other indicators one finds that the pass rate for Junior Lyceum entrance exams increased to 61 per cent, while 70 per cent of today's youth aged 18+ are still studying.
"Now that the world has changed - and Malta has followed suit - we need to ask what type of educational system should there be to reflect these changes; how should our vision and direction be influenced and refined; and what strategy should we now evolve to ensure that all of our children and students can make maximum use of the benefits that the new world provides. These will be among the many questions that the dialogue leading to the new National Curriculum Framework (NCF) will be addressing."
Dr Galea said that the context for the new NCF will be the ICT: "Undoubtedly, the National Curriculum Framework has to inspire itself by the potential and the opportunities new technologies offer. It is these technologies that will be at the basis of each and every moment of our living where we will have to transform conventional teaching methods, leading us to phase in the interactive computer and audiovisual technological innovations and pedagogical tools and programmes."
Looking ahead
The Education Minister now looks forward to a year in which reaching the targets, especially those set by the EU, becomes even more important.
"The challenges for this year include increasing the potential for all children to succeed, which poses another set of challenges - that of drawing up a differentiated learning strategy to recuperate children who tend to fall by the wayside while still going through the obligatory educational process; that of attracting more adults, especially those who never had the opportunity to learn, to the advantages of adult and lifelong education; and that of making parents effective partners in learning.
"Another important challenge will be the quality and success of initial and continuous professional development. Like any other profession, it is up to the teacher to ensure that he/she furthers his/her own professional development. The government will of course continue to support, encourage, and provide the tools, opportunities and resources we need to ensure that we have today's and tomorrow's teachers, and to ensure that yesterday's teachers and today's teachers are enabled to become tomorrow's teachers," Minister Galea concluded.