Claim: Malta should lengthen its school hours.

Verdict: Maltese students typically spend less time in class and have more holidays than almost any other students in Europe.

A study suggesting that Malta should lengthen its school hours to bring them in line with working schedules sparked a barrage of reactions across social media in recent days.

Even within the corridors of power, everyone seemed to have an opinion on the matter, from government MPs to the education minister and the opposition.

Both education minister Clifton Grima and his opposition counterpart Justin Schembri dismissed the prospect of extending school hours, raising similar arguments about how this would negatively impact children’s quality of life.

But studies show that, compared to their European counterparts, Maltese students receive fewer hours of schooling, enjoy longer holidays and are the last to return to school after their summer break.

Fewest school hours in Europe

Although it might not seem immediately obvious to students shuffling from one interminable lesson to the next in Malta’s schools, Maltese students receive fewer hours of school tuition than any other in Europe.

An EU report on the recommended annual instruction time across schools in Europe argues that upper secondary school students should receive a minimum of 873 hours of tuition across a year.

Basing its findings on the 2022/23 academic year (and looking specifically at state schooling), the report finds that some countries – Spain, France and Romania – take this advice to the letter, keeping their students in a classroom for more than 1,000 hours in a year.

Others take a softer approach. Portuguese secondary school students receive at least 739 hours of tuition, while Finnish students get 713 hours.

The only country beneath 700 hours? Malta, at just 691 hours.

Middle school students are kept a little busier, with at least 729 hours of school tuition, the report finds.

But this is still far below most other European countries, with only students in Hungary, Montenegro and North Macedonia receiving fewer hours of schooling.

Primary students, on the other hand, spend roughly as much time in the classroom as most of their peers from across the continent.

These figures do not take into account non-compulsory tuition, such as private lessons. A survey published last year indicated that 60% of students in Malta attend some form of private lessons - double the European average.

How many holidays do students enjoy?

Another report, also published by Eurydice, the EU’s education network, shows that no two countries adopt the same school calendar.

Based on the 2022/23 academic year, the report reveals that most countries give students anywhere between 100 and 120 days of holidays throughout the year.

Only seven countries exceed that threshold, with Malta topping the list altogether with 135 days.

The calendar for the current academic year suggests that this could now be even higher, with students set to have 138 holidays throughout the 2024/25 academic year.

Long summers, more public holidays

Much of this is down to two factors, the report indicates.

One is Malta’s lengthy summer lull, with students typically out of school for 13 weeks, the longest break in Europe alongside Latvia and certain Italian regions.

This year, Maltese students will return to school on 27 September, exactly 90 days after the summer holidays begin on 27 June.

Maltese students will have 90 days of holidays over the next summer. File photo: Jonathan Borg

EU data seems to indicate that the length of the summer break is directly proportional to the weather.

Students in southern Italy, Greece and Malta will have over three months to enjoy the baking Mediterranean sun, while those in Denmark will only have a miserly 38 days off next summer.

The second factor is Malta’s multitude of public holidays, with students set to have days off for Republic day, Freedom day and the feasts of St Paul and St Joseph this year, aside from other internationally-recognised holidays such as Labour day.

High spending on education but poor outcomes

The debate comes as Malta’s relatively poor education outcomes continue to flummox policy makers.

EU data shows that Malta spends roughly 5% of its GDP on its education system, more than most other European countries. Malta’s spending in the sector has remained consistently high across much of the past decade, only occasionally dipping below the 5% mark.

Despite this, Malta remains above average when it comes to early school leavers, with one in ten students opting to leave school early and almost a third of the population only holding a primary or lower secondary level of education.

Expenditure on schools is high, but results lag behind. File photo:Chris Sant Fournier

Verdict

Maltese students are in class for fewer hours and typically enjoy longer holidays than almost any other students in Europe.

EU experts recommend that secondary school students should receive a minimum of 873 hours of tuition each year. Maltese students, by comparison, receive just 691 hours.

Students will enjoy 138 holidays this academic year, amongst the highest in Europe. These include 90 days of summer holidays. While this is in line with some other Mediterranean countries, it is far more than almost all Nordic and central or western European countries.

Despite this, Malta continues to spend a relatively high portion of its GDP on education with questionable outcomes.

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MUT disputes figures

In a reaction, the Malta Union of Teachers disputed the figures published by the European Commission, saying that “the Maltese data in the report is false”.

MUT argued that, rather than the 691 hours of tuition that the EU cites, Maltese primary schools students were in school for 836.5 hours in the 2022/23 academic year, while secondary schools students had 873 hours of compulsory schooling.

This, the MUT said, means that Maltese primary students had longer tuition times that the European average, while secondary students were in line with the EU average.

Both EU reports remain publicly available on the European Commission’s website.