One Chinese proverb goes: “Do not confine children to your own learning for they were born in a different time.”

With changes in society and technological developments happening so fast, it is difficult to ascertain what subject content is relevant to our schoolchildren’s life and what will best prepare them for their future in the 21st century. Students need to be helped to think and understand, to learn ‘how to learn’ because in our fast changing world, they are likely to be learning for the rest of their lives.

Junior school is the best time to create an environment whereby children are, for the most part, taught in such a way that encourages them to think critically and imaginatively, to learn from each other (peer learning) and to develop the self-confidence to be able to question and to challenge long held ideas and beliefs.

This will develop pupils, who, instead of slavishly writing notes and memorising facts (although this is sometimes also necessary), become autonomous learners able to be effective problem-solvers, to express themselves orally and in writing, and to be flexible and adaptable.

Children need to be empowered to discover things with guidance, to be allowed to be creative and, above all, motivated and enthusiastic about their learning. Such children are well on the way to becoming effective citizens of the 21st century, better able to deal with complex change.

Without doubt, discipline and structure in a classroom environment are essential because if these are missing, children quickly become confused and distracted and this has a huge impact on their learning.

Only the most-highly trained and professionally developed teachers can strike a good balance between disciplined structure and creativity. Only these are up to the challenging task of really facilitating learning for children, many of whom may have issues, be they academic, emotional or social.

School work becomes more difficult as these influences intrude on the children’s ability to concentrate. Professional teachers are able to develop a relationship with these children which will influence their attitude to learning. Again, highly-trained teachers encourage creative behaviour in the young and find it stimulating rather than troublesome or time consuming.

Precocious and creative children tend to be unpopular with some untrained teachers who would prefer the more conformist and orderly ones.

Why is there such a scarcity of creativity, such a dismal lack of thinking ‘outside the box’?

However, it is these children, who, if properly handled, will develop into our future scientists, artists, writers or philosophers.

The emphasis in most schools is now on children with learning difficulties at the lower end of the spectrum. This in itself is laudable. Learning support assistants are employed everywhere. They have the challenging task of interpreting the lesson and then teaching it in the learning style of the child/children in their charge.

However, is this being effectively done?  Can it be improved upon? Can we take this concept to a different level?

What about the gifted and talented children at the other end of the spectrum: are they being helped to reach full potential?

Radical and courageous action is necessary and long overdue in our education system for change to be brought about. We need to ask ourselves: why is there such a scarcity of creativity, such a dismal lack of thinking ‘outside the box’, such dull, unoriginal platitudes spoken by so many?

Why are there so few who can speak an international language, such as English, fluently? What about the level of writing of many university students? Again, how is it possible that illiteracy still exists in Malta?

The answer must lie in our education system which is sadly lacking in many of the aspects necessary for life in 21st century Europe.

The first step, in concrete terms, would be to employ only professionally-developed teachers both from Malta and beyond.

Teachers also need to keep up with changes in teaching methods and should be sent abroad both to follow courses in the latest educational developments as well as to observe classes in action and learn from that experience.

During the last scholastic year, some teachers were sent to the Netherlands to follow a T.U.L. (Think, Understand, Learn) and see it in action in Dutch primary school classrooms. What was learned was then passed on to other teachers back in Malta.

Observations of other teachers at work can and should be done on a regular basis, even in one’s own school. It is important to keep in mind that teachers are for the most part isolated in their classrooms and thus do not have the opportunity to learn from others.

When this strategy was implemented, teachers understood the benefits of the exercise and embraced the experience of learning from their colleagues.

They got many hints from each other as well as constructive advice.

Let me end with the saying attributed to Ignacio Estrada: “If children cannot learn the way we teach, we must teach in the way they learn.”

Let us employ only the best-trained teachers and let us have the courage to ask ineffective ones to move on. Only then will we begin to see tangible results in our education system.