Consultation document on language policy for junior years launched
The document ‘A Language Policy for the Junior Years’ is now online for public consultation. The policy document for the later primary school years follows on the publication of the Language Policy for the Early Years in 2016.
Education Minister Justyne Caruana said that “this policy document is intended to offer direction and support in the use of languages across the curriculum and the teaching and learning of languages in the later primary school years. The preferred policy is one of multilingualism, giving importance to Maltese and English, and other languages.”
Learning foreign languages is a must in light of changing educational and labour market demands, as well as for growing mobility between countries which favour citizens who are able to speak two or more languages.
The language policy drawn up by the Language Policy in Education Committee of the Ministry for Education promotes the use of language mediation and translanguaging as a means of strengthening languages in the current situation, in which classrooms are becoming increasingly multilingual.
It presents the notion of agency where children, parents, and educators are to be empowered to make informed decisions about the promotion of multilingualism at home and within education settings. Families, schools and the media are called upon to foster positive attitudes towards Maltese, English and other languages and to support language education policies and practices which promote language diversity.
Children are to be supported so that they can engage in activities that promote their use of languages. In schools, teachers are to adopt language mediation strategies to meet the educational needs of learners with diverse language backgrounds.
Minister Caruana explained that, through this consultation document, the ministry is requesting the public’s feedback, as well as public opinion on this policy. The public is requested to review the document and send its feedback on lara.ann.vella@ilearn.edu.mt until 30 June 2021.
The document can be accessed on the following link:
NGOs said that the quality of life at Cottonera has been undermined further with the approval by the Planning Authority of plans for the Sally Port promenade.
Infrastructure Malta’s Birgu Sally Port road application was approved by the Planning Authority in spite of over 320 objections - some of which were still not up on the PA’s site after the hearing decision hearing, the NGOs said in a statement.
Sally Port promenade is a deadend road running along Birgu’s Kalkara flank. In its present dilapidated state it is not functioning as a road, providing a stretch for walking, jogging and cycling, a sliver of foreshore where the children of Cottonera learn to swim, a fishing zone, area where children play and the community socializes in the evening. It is a key public space and one of the few remaining in Birgu accessible to the public without commercialisation. The area definitely needs to be repaired and embellished but not reduced to a tarmacked road and cement strip over virgin foreshore.
During the PA hearing, eNGOs Tuna Artna Lura, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Moviment Graffitti and Birgu residents presented a long list of policies violated by this application: SPED, DC2015, Local Plans, and Malta Road Safety Strategy - as well as the Slow Streets initiative issued by Infrastructure Malta itself. Furthermore, the proposed plans go against the mission of the ‘Kottonera Strategy’ issued by the Planning Authority, the Ministry for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects and the Ministry for Justice, Culture and Local Government, calling for “the improvement of the quality of urban living in Cottonera” “to provide a number of publicly accessible open spaces which will greatly increase the quality of life of the people frequenting the area.” “These spaces are to be embellished in line with the requirements of the locality …as well as to provide for informal sports and activities within them.”
However, none of these were discussed.
This session made a mockery of every planning policy, all of which specify measures to improve urban facilities and foster a healthy lifestyle, to safeguard our country’s beauty and communities’ wellbeing, the NGOs said.
The plans show no bicycle lanes, dangerous pavements, benches with no backrests, no ladders to the sea, no play area, no space for sports and recreation. Where small trees like Judas trees would provide shade without marring the fortifications, the proposal provides no shade, very little greenery or decent landscaping. Just an uninspired sea of concrete and a beautiful foreshore buried under concrete, destroying the habitat of the local, protected marina flora and fauna. Cars are prioritised over people, as the seashore becomes a road with parking spaces, a race track not a slow traffic zone, against the PA’s directives, common sense and the community’s wellbeing, the NGOs said.