The many problems facing Malta’s system

Malta’s education system has been in the spotlight for the wrong reasons as of late, with the teacher shortage being front and centre.

Indeed this is one major issue that does need to be tackled, because if there is a shortage of teachers in certain subjects, then teachers will be overworked, will not be able to educate the next generation to the best of their ability, and thus students will end up suffering as a result.

Another issue is the conflict between the teachers’ unions, as well as the history of disagreement between these unions and the government. In order to solve this shortage, the best way forward is for all three to work together.

But while these two issues are the ones currently at the forefront of media coverage, they are not the only major issues.

Indeed, many have for years argued that different students are able to absorb information in different ways. Some students, for example, might be very smart, but do not do well in examination conditions.

The Malta Union of Teachers recently revealed that that the SEC (ordinary level) examination system is to include continuous assessment constituting 40 per cent of the final grade. This change will take effect as of the next scholastic year, starting with Form 3 students, who will be following a revised syllabus. This reform mirrors the system already in place across primary and secondary schools, where continuous assessment has replaced mid-yearly examinations and where students are now assessed throughout the scholastic year.

While this change only applies to SEC examinations, the MATSEC board has also announced a proposal to introduce continuous assessment as part of intermediate and advanced studies.

This is a welcome change. Indeed, those students who do not perform well in examinations will at the very least have the opportunity to show what they have learnt through continuous assessment.

Another welcome announcement was made by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. Just yesterday, Muscat spoke about having a discussion on the obligatory school attendance age, and possibly increasing it. He highlighted the positives and the negatives. He mentioned that the government wants a discussion about it. This is at the very least a good sign, and indeed while there are definitely challenges to this, if handled correctly, could lead to the upskilling of the workforce.

What is perhaps the greatest challenge that the education system needs to address is the skills gap. First of all, in order for Maltese students to get better jobs, it is imperative that the number of students who drop out at Olevel or A-level stage decreases, and raising the minimum school leaving age can help. That way, more students could undertake courses at university level.

Secondly, Malta’s education system needs to better prepare students for future jobs, and students need better guidance in terms of what future sectors Malta is targeting.

The skills gap is an issue that many business owners and managers have highlighted in the past. Malta has limited human resources, and because of that, lowend jobs are not really wanted by the Maltese anymore. At the same time, however, high-skilled technical jobs are also not going to the Maltese, as they do not have the skills required for them. If the government is intent on bringing in techbased industries, then the government needs to work on driving students towards undertaking the necessary courses to fill those jobs.