An ongoing independent survey of the Colleges System, Commissioned by the Malta Union of Teachers, has found that 54% of people involved in the system do not agree that the reforms are actually filtering down to students. However 70% feel that the Colleges System has placed increased pressure on schools to perform and deliver.

The MUT said the main findings were the following: :

Positives

46% feel that the Colleges System has resulted in more logistic collaboration & cooperation in terms of sharing of resources among schools in a college.

56% feel that the Colleges System has rendered schools more inclusive in the general sense of the word.

70% feel that the Colleges System has placed increased pressure on schools to perform and deliver.40% feel that the several reforms are much needed and long overdue.

69% in favour of the Colleges System.

94% in favour of setting.

87% in favour of benchmarking.

83% in favour of the new forms of assessment.

Negatives

54% do not agree that the reforms are actually filtering down to students.

53% do not feel that the reforms are resulting in a better quality education for all children.

69% feel that the many reforms are negatively affecting teachers' work in class.

82% feel that they have not been adequately consulted about the reforms.

82% do not agree that their voices are being heard.

76% feel that they are not being properly prepared for the reforms.

89% agree that there are too many reforms taking place at the same time.

67% do not agree that the pace of implementation is reasonable.

66% do not agree that the abolition of streaming was a good decision.

49% agree that the Colleges System has given rise to unhealthy competition among colleges.

Of the several reforms the two which personnel feel most uncertain about is mixed ability teaching (64%) and new assessment practices (61%).

71% do not agree that they have been properly prepared to teach a mixed ability class.

89% feel that the student load in a mixed ability class should be 15 or less.

60% do not agree that compared to about five years ago they feel they are now deriving more satisfaction from their work.

58% feel that compared to about five years ago they do not feel happier in their work.

88% feel that compared to about five years ago pressure in their work has increased.

The survey is being carried out by an autonomous team of academics led by Professor Mark Borg.

This was the second phase of this research project, which saw the termination of the collection and processing of hundreds of questionnaires.