Call for vocational subjects to be taught at secondary school

The head of the Matsec Examinations Board has appealed for technical and vocational subjects to be taught in secondary schools in a bid to encourage more students to continue studying at post-secondary level.

Prof. Frank Ventura was speaking at a two-day national conference last week on how Malta can achieve the educational goals set out in the EU's Lisbon agenda.

The EU has set itself the ambitious target of becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010, creating sustainable growth and more jobs. Improving the educational provision is one of the pillars of these objectives.

Two of the educational goals, to be reached by 2010, are to achieve an EU average rate of not more than 10 per cent of students leaving school at 16 or before, and having at least 85 per cent of 22-year-olds completing upper secondary education.

The figures provided by Prof. Ventura show that Malta is still some way off from achieving these targets.

Right now, only 41 per cent of 16 year-olds obtain Secondary Education Certificate passes that qualify them for sixth form, and another 25 per cent reach the standard required to study subjects at advanced level in other upper secondary institutions.

That leaves about a third of students who don't obtain the needed passes or who don't even sit for the exams - the early school leavers whom the EU wants to cut to just 10 per cent.

On the plus side, there has been a sharp rise in the number of 16-year-olds sitting for the SEC exams over the last 10 years, from 50 per cent in 1994 to 78 per cent this year.

"This is a good measure of the success of the SEC system in attracting candidates with a wide range of abilities. However, the 21.4 per cent of the cohort who do not even sit for one SEC level examination constitute a stiff challenge to the whole system of education. This percentage includes a significant number of students who leave school before the age of 16," said Prof. Ventura.

He also expressed concern that some 17 per cent more girls sit for the SEC exams than boys and that the participation rate in the core subjects of English, Maltese and Mathematics is not as high as expected.

"These observations suggest that action is needed especially at the lower secondary level to motivate students to obtain qualifications that permit them to join courses at upper secondary level. Such courses should aim at developing the students' intellectual potential and skills thus enabling them to become more effective and efficient operators in our economy."

The challenges, he said, were tough. All 16-year-olds, but especially the males, needed to be motivated to try and obtain qualifications required for upper secondary education.

It also needed to be ensured that the system or systems of certification were "accessible to a very wide range of achievements in the core subjects and other subjects".

And the number of students who request permission to leave school before 16 needed to be drastically reduced.

He said the method of assessment was one of the factors that affected early school leaving: "A Matsec review is underway to consider how the assessment can be improved to make it more accessible to a larger proportion of the students..."

A second factor was the curriculum. Right now it is dominated by subjects with an academic orientation. Only a few subjects could be classified as technical or vocational.

"The latter subjects could attract students who prefer this orientation and who would otherwise shy away from academic subjects. This is not an appeal for the re-introduction of trade schools but for the introduction of subjects with a technical and vocational orientation available to all students within the current secondary schools."

He praised a recent proposal for the introduction of design and technology as an optional subject, and said other subjects such as leisure and tourism studies and health and social care studies could be developed on the same lines as environmental studies.

"These would prepare students for higher level courses at the upper secondary level. Of course, any change has implications for teacher recruitment and re-deployment, curriculum materials and resources, time tabling, and assessment. However, it is worth tackling these matters with urgency if we wish to develop the potential of all our students."

Another factor with an impact on early school leaving was the teaching methods and school management: "It is well known that certain schools are more successful than others in motivating students to learn. This success can be attributed to the methods used for teaching and school management which promote high expectations, encourage the students and build on their success.

"More action is therefore needed to strengthen teaching and management skills and to provide support to teachers and heads of school. Such action should translate into a larger number of students who are willing to proceed to the upper secondary level."

He said the educational benchmarks arising from the Lisbon objectives present "formidable challenges to our educational system". Certification had an important role to play in the strategy needed to meet the challenges, and a review in the area was necessary.

"However, a more holistic approach is needed to reduce the proportion of early school leavers."

The conference was organised by the Education Division and co-financed by the EU Commission.