A worrying 55 per cent of adolescents sitting for the Secondary Education Certificate exam are failing the six main subjects necessary for them to proceed to post-secondary education, according to Education Minister Evarist Bartolo.
“We are not at all satisfied. And it is not acceptable to encourage students not to work hard to achieve the desired results, telling them that they could go to Mcast instead.
“You need a good basis to succeed.”
Mr Bartolo was speaking at a joint press conference with the president of the Malta Union of Teachers, Kevin Bonello, marking World Teachers’ Day.
This year’s theme is “Unite for Quality Education”, which is in line with the stand taken by Education International and the European Trade Union Committee for Education.
Mr Bartolo agreed with Mr Bonello that Malta couldn’t afford to waste resources, especially in light of the fact that human resources are the only resource available to Malta.
Responding to a number of points explored by Mr Bonello, Mr Bartolo observed that more professional flexibility was needed for educators to adapt the situation of their classrooms to their students’ needs.
This included increased flexibility with regard to curricula and syllabi.
SEC exams needed to be drafted in a different way so as to encapsulate other skills.
“We need a different, but not inferior, route for those who learn differently. They should therefore be assessed in a different way.”
He advocated the benefits of embedded learning, where subjects ranging from vocational ones to subjects such as English and Maths, should be more inclined towards the practical and the applied, as opposed to the merely theoretical.
Greater investment was also needed in the education system, which currently sees 95 per cent of its allocated budget being absorbed by salaries, leaving very little money for programs, initiatives and resources.
In a statement, PN education spokesman Joe Cassar paid tribute to teachers and educators on the occasion of World Teachers’ Day.
He said teachers' work was crucial for the country's social, cultural and economic development and Nationalist Government had always given recognition to the commitment of Maltese and Gozitan educators.
This could be seen in the several collective agreements reached substantially improving their pay and conditions of work.