Over the past two years, 1,537 migrant pupils, mainly from Italy and the UK, were registered at State primary schools. Sarah Carabott spoke to education department assistant director Raymond Facciol about the need to include different cultures in the school curricula.
Children have to be prepared for a multi-ethnic society even if there were still no migrant students in their classes, because the world is growing smaller and smaller, according to an assistant director at the Education Department.
“We would be doing our children a great disservice if we expected them to live in the past instead of preparing them for the future, and whether we want it or not, the world is becoming a global village.
“Most of our children will probably be studying or working abroad, and they need to be equipped with the skills to live with different ethnicities,” Raymond Facciol said. The Maltese have a long history of settling down within other cultures and absorbing traits of incoming ones, he added.
“We may not know what tomorrow will look like, but we do know what skills, competences and attitudes our children will need ... Curiosity, openness, the ability to accept and tolerate difference, to be free to choose, to recognise past mistakes and to empathise with those who suffer. Although knowledge becomes outdated, these skills will not because human beings will remain human beings.”
Mr Facciol is an assistant director at the Department of Curriculum Management, which in 2013 started an induction course for migrant children.
Migrant children are mostly registered in schools at St Paul’s Bay (where there are 47 ethnicities), Marsascala, Mellieha, Gzira and Sliema. The main focus during this induction period is language, which is their first access to culture. So far, the feedback has been positive.
Mr Facciol believes that both the migrating and the local population need to be equipped with skills to be able to live together. Integration is a two-way process as migrants cannot integrate into something that does not accept them.
The idea of including strands of cultures brought in by migrants into the school curricula “did not fall from the skies” and this recommendation features in documents such as Integrating Migrant Children in European Schools and Societies.
This document includes recommendations to the EU about integration as a major function of schools.
It says that the absence or distorted representation of migrants in school materials harms the image and self-esteem of minority group children and negatively affects their chances of success.
“We have always touched upon other cultures within the classroom, but nowadays we are conscious of the fact that sources, such as Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines, may transmit negative stereotypes.
“Just as we’re doing with sexual orientation and gender issues, we need to avoid negative stereotypes when selecting materials.”
Asked about racial issues, Mr Facciol said there have been no reports of racism among students.
Schools, he said, were already raising awareness about racism just as they were dealing with issues of discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, political and religious beliefs.
Mr Facciol said that the education department was also bringing on board the parents of migrant pupils as their participation could enhance their children’s performance by 40 per cent, according to research.