Education Minister Evarist Bartolo dismissed teachers’ concerns on the new applied subjects being launched in the next scholastic year, insisting the issues will be sorted out before September.

Commenting to Times of Malta in the wake of concerns flagged by the teachers’ union that the introduction of the new subjects was half-baked, Mr Bartolo insisted that any “genuine” issues that could be addressed would be dealt with ahead of the launch.

“Meetings have been going on with teachers and they will continue. We will address genuine concerns and we want to make sure we prepare our teachers for this new development,” he said.

He added that the introduction of the new subjects, which will see students learn solely through a hands-on approach, would benefit not only the pupils but their teachers too.

One of the reasons students misbehaved, Mr Bartolo noted, was because they felt their educational experience was irrelevant. Pressed on whether the government would insist on launching the new subjects “come what may”, even in light of scepticism by the teachers that the change would be incomplete, Mr Bartolo reiterated that the government would be sticking to its planned timeframes.

We want to make sure we prepare our teachers for this

“No, we will take all the necessary action to introduce these subjects. The biggest challenge in education is always how to do things with urgency but slowly because if you rush things that would be a problem,” Mr Bartolo said.

The 13 new subjects in the pipeline mark a major shift in the education system, moving away from a purely academic approach. State school students struggling with traditional teaching methods will be able to take subjects focusing on hands-on learning when the new academic year starts.

The Malta Union of Teachers has warned there might not be enough educators to cater for all the new subjects and said a number of educators who signed up for a 10-day crash course to obtain the skills needed to teach such topics had dropped out, which the ministry refuted. It insisted that 62 people had attended and concluded the course.

The teachers’ union said it was informed that several people had opted not to take up the teaching of the new subjects after attending the course.