Employers need to be actively engaged in shaping education vision – Malta Chamber of Commerce
Make learning and development a central part of longterm planning and strategy, president of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry Marisa Xuereb said during an education conference titled Jumpstart Learning.
She emphasised that the upskilling and reskilling of the workforce are imperative for every business that wants to remain competitive. President Xuereb noted that "employers need to be actively engaged in shaping the vision for education, not just as the future employers of today's students. They must also act as life-long education providers of today's workers and future workers who are still in formal schooling".
During this conference attended by both educators and employers, Xuereb said that there needs to be more coordinated action and more systematic public-private partnerships when it comes to training and education. In the past few months, the Malta Chamber said it has embarked on a number of collaborations with both MCAST and the University of Malta, while trying to bridge the different ambitions and expectations between academic institutions.
Xuereb reminded the audience that while employers do not have a crystal ball, they are in a better place than educators to anticipate the future needs of their industry. "To this end, it is important for educators to acknowledge that what is required from their end is to provide students with the skills that are required in the immediate, plus the ability to learn over time what may be required in future," she said. Xuereb concluded her
speech by addressing the needs of the students. "What they really need is the ability to read and understand the knowledge they can access, the crucial ability to reason what makes sense and what is
to be ignored, and the ability to synthesise that knowledge in a way that they can retain it, apply it and transfer it to others. Educators need to acknowledge that learning needs to be predominantly skillsbased rather than knowledgebased because it is no longer about being able to memorise a lot of information."
During this conference, the importance of soft skills was also highlighted, as well as the acknowledgement of neurodiversity, and the need of different learning channels that ensure that learning is accessible to all.
Professor Colin Calleja, dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Malta, said that the educational system needs to have a better understanding of its strengths and weaknesses. Calleja said that although the country invests a lot in education, students still score low when they are compared to their European counterparts. He emphasised that, "we can't keep wasting time because each minister wants to leave their personal mark".
Another keynote speaker in this conference was Märt Aro, co-founder of DreamApply and the Nordic EdTech Forum – N8. Aro stressed that all European countries need to prepare for automation and Web 3.0. He said that both interphases are being ignored by schools and instead the focus is on teaching things that are quickly becoming irrelevant. He said that the problem is that children are taught not to question what they are learning, but then they are expected to reach the workplace with cognitive skills and decision-making powers. He encouraged educators to adopt adaptive digital learning environments and to overcome the barriers that the existing education system has built over time.
Marthese Portelli, CEO of the Malta Chamber highlighted the importance of this event as it brought both academia and business together to discuss a way forward. Portelli said: "The Malta Chamber has the proper structure in place to pave the way forward and design a strategy focusing on short-, mediumand long-term goals. She referenced the Education for the Future Policy Document launched in June 2021 wherein the Malta Chamber had highlighted the importance of lifelong learning, having period curriculum reviews, developing and empowering educators and introducing Social Emotional Learning and Service Learning for both students and teachers.