'Lift the colonial-era gag on teachers immediately' - ADPD

ADPD has called for the “colonial-era gag” on teachers to be lifted “immediately and permanently” and for educators to be entrusted with greater responsibility as they presented their electoral proposals for the education sector.

Led by Sandra Gauci, who is a teacher, ADPD argued it “has never been more crucial” to nurture critical thinking but this cannot be achieved if teachers themselves are being “gagged”.

Gauci said it was “contradictory” that teachers are still required to seek permission before speaking publicly about education. Quoting the Ombudsman, she said it was difficult to teach children critical thinking when educators themselves are effectively "gagged".

She pointed out that the current education system still relies too heavily on top-down decisions, leaving educators expected merely to implement orders instead of participating in shaping educational policy and practice.

She linked this to ADPD’s broader insistence on the principle of subsidiarity across all sectors, noting that the party is proposing to enshrine subsidiarity in the Constitution through its electoral manifesto.

“Greater subsidiarity in education would help educators feel more involved in their work, improving their wellbeing and ultimately benefiting the quality of education children receive,” Gauci said.

“An educational project should be an expression of participation and inclusion. Schools should be the cradle of a sense of community that is increasingly fading in society.”

ADPD’s “green vision” for education focuses on empowering people and developing their potential while strengthening a sense of community.  It added that, while wellbeing in education is important, particularly for children, it “should not simply help children cope within a system that may itself be harmful”.

“Instead the focus should be on changing the system where necessary,” ADPD candidate Mario Mallia said as he explained the party’s proposals in greater detail.

ADPD’s proposals on education include smaller schools where children are not just numbers, and a “more relaxed curriculum” focusing on cooperative learning, thematic teaching, inquiry-based learning and transversal skills.

Among the party’s proposals are:

• Giving state schools, including colleges, the ability to choose their own staff, as non-state schools already do, to strengthen school ethos.
• Greater subsidiarity and cooperative school models where educators have a more active and democratic role.
• Replacing competitive educational models with cooperative principles.
• Reducing fragmentation during the school day through fewer but longer lessons.
• Launching discussions on starting primary education at a later age, as practised in many countries.
• Greater emphasis on media literacy in response to misinformation and AI misuse.
• Giving humanities, arts and spiritual education equal importance to STEM subjects.
• Expanding opportunities for interfaith educational encounters.
• Developing culturally responsive school policies.
• Creating a linguistic policy for multilingual secondary education.
• Greater focus at MCAST on trades linked to the circular economy and repair culture.
• Raising the compulsory education age from 16 to 18.
• Removing MATSEC from under the University and placing it under the Education Ministry.
• Reforming school-based assessments to reduce stress and prioritise learning.
• Encouraging church schools to enrol more migrant children.
• Ending the practice of taking key educational decisions behind closed doors.
• Giving greater recognition to learning support educators.
• Guaranteeing all children access to education regardless of their parents’ legal status.
• Removing the requirement for educators to seek ministry permission before speaking publicly on educational policy.
• Improving standards, conditions and funding models in childcare and early education.
• Encouraging more men to enter early childhood education to help challenge gender stereotypes from an early age.