SEC results published this week confirmed concerns that education system reform would not lead to improvements in students’ performance, the teachers’ union said yesterday.

This newspaper reported on Wednesday that although the number of students sitting for the Maltese and mathematics examinations had increased when compared to the previous year, the number of those who secured a pass had not.

Of the 4,166 students who sat for their Maltese exam, only 2,720 obtained a pass and while there were 4,597 students who sat for the maths exam, only 2,485 obtained a grade higher than five.

In a statement, the Malta Union of Teachers labelled the results as “very significant”. The students were the first to sit for the O level exams without having sat for the now-defunct Junior Lyceum entry examinations five years ago.

“Five scholastic years down the line, the union is being proved right,” the statement said.

According to the MUT, the results proved that the drastic change from a selective system to one where schools used a “one-size-fits-all educational system, without providing the necessary training and resources” was not sufficient to improve results.

Five scholastic years down the line, the union is being proved right

“The MUT is currently discussing the new sectoral collective agreement with the government and it is hoped that this will include the possibility for more flexible systems,” the union said in the statement.

It hoped that space, resources and flexibility would be given to enable educators “to match their professional status and to reach the maximum potential of the students entrusted to them”.

The Education Ministry last week announced it would be holding a consultation process on a number of proposed changes to the Education Act in an attempt to modernise the education system.

The proposals include regulating kindergarten assistants and learning support assistants, and granting the civil court the power to take children away from their parents if they refuse to send them to school.

Student impact assessments would be held when introducing new policies and educational initiatives and subsidiarity and self-governance would be promoted in the running and management of State schools.