Reviews by Education Ministry to include maintenance grants system

The Ministry of Education is conducting a series of reviews of various areas in the education sector including the Matsec examinations system, the inclusive education policy and the maintenance grants system, Education Minister Louis Galea has told parliament.

An Attendance Improvement Task Force has been formed to tackle the issue of truancy and a SWAT exercise has been launched to look into the strengths and weaknesses of the teaching of all subjects, starting from English and mathematics.

Speaking during the budget debate on the Ministry of Education, Dr Galea said education officials were also considering whether primary and secondary schools should remain separate and fragmented or whether they should be linked.

He said the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools was drawing up a plan up to 2010 which aimed at ensuring that all state schools were refurbished and had the environment expected of modern schools.

A new education law would also be moved to better distinguish the regulatory and operative aspects of the education sector.

Dr Galea at the beginning of his speech said the debate had been constructive and positive and set an example to all the people of how debate and dialogue on such an important subject should be conducted.

Referring to opposition remarks on the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC), Dr Galea said the corporation, like other bodies, needed more funds, but one had to appreciate the national situation. Government policy had undoubtedly resulted in job creation, improved working conditions and higher earnings from employment. The economy was going through restructuring, which had its difficulties, but he was confident the end result would be beneficial for all the people. Dr Galea said apprenticeship schemes clearly needed to be updated and the links between the schemes and MCAST improved.

Turning to funding for education, Dr Galea said almost 80 per cent of spending on education went for the salaries of educators, the most essential element of the education system. One needed to ensure, therefore, that the quality of such people's work was of a high standard. The ministry vote for 2004 was up by almost Lm1.5 million over this year's. There would be less spending on EU programmes because as from next year, Malta would not be charged for its participation.

It was true, funding was being reduced for a number of sectors such as Skolasajf, the Foundation for Educational Services, the Let Me Learn unit, the Literacy unit, the Development Science Centre and others, but nonetheless, spending on them was still four times as high as five years ago. Indeed, some of those programmes did not exist then.

Capital spending was being reduced because the introduction of computers was now complete.

The estimates also showed funding increases in various sectors, such as the funding for Church schools, an allocation of Lm300,000 for research, higher recurrent expenditure for MCAST and St Patrick's School, among others.

The Lm300,000 being allocated for research was a first. The funds would be used by the Malta Council for Science and Technology. Over the past two years the council had worked on the drawing up of an innovation scoreboard and how Malta compared in research and innovation with other countries. The council had also headed a study on the decisions which needed to be taken on where Malta should focus with regard to emerging technologies. It had been decided that the focus should be on information technology, the resources of the sea, and biotechnology.

The council had drawn up a three-year programme for science, technology and research focused initially on research capacity building, the training of scientists and engineers on research, and applied research.

In the education sector, Dr Galea said, progress had been made in the literacy programme. Children found weak four years ago had made progress since, according to a fresh study.

The student population at Junior Lyceums had grown by 23 per cent in 10 years and the pass rate for the lyceums was rising by five per cent annually and was now close to 55 per cent.

The number of pupils in opportunity centres was declining, which was a good indicator. The ultimate aim was for secondary schools to be able to handle children of more diverse abilities. The setting up of workshops within those schools was aimed at meeting the needs of pupils who had wished to go to the trade schools, a point mentioned by Mr Abela.

He would admit, Dr Galea said, that the Malta education system needed to catch up in various sectors compared to other countries. The emphasis now was not only on giving education to everyone, but quality education.

One had to ask why quality standards were not uniform everywhere in Malta. Why did private schools feel empowered compared to state schools? Why did parents feel they should send children to private or church schools? How could one bring about better school management, better discipline, better security, higher academic results and a higher sense of duty? How could one improve assessment of heads of school, teachers and students?

On a reference to consultants in the Foundation for Tomorrow's Schools, made by Mr Abela, Dr Galea said the foundation had suffered from a lack of professional staff, a situation which needed to be rectified.

Dr Galea said the invoice tabled by Mr Abela was issued within financial regulations and there was nothing wrong with it. Furthermore, one could not issue a call for tenders to buy art. And Mr Abela could have pointed out that works of art from various Maltese artists had been bought.

Dr Galea said the foundation deserved praise for the innovative way it had handled the refurbishment of schools over the past few months, with a higher rate of work than there had ever been in this area.

Near the end of his speech Dr Galea said there was no doubt that the University needed more funds, especially as the student population rose. He said that in all, Malta was expected to benefit from some €4 million through participation in EU education programmes.

Earlier in the debate, Nationalist MP David Agius said the National Minimum Curriculum, although needed, had to be continually updated.

School management also needed to improve, and the schools needed to place increased focus on sports, culture and the arts.

Mr Agius congratulated the 2,000 students who graduated recently from the university. He augured that students would be trained better in communication and they would be able to translate their skills to the labour sector.

He also welcomed the fact that information technology was being given greater emphasis in education. He also praised the Libraries Department for its computer services.

The Nationalist MP also praised the ETC for its course on entrepreneurship.

Mrs Helen D'Amato (PN) said she agreed that schools should enjoy autonomy, but the Education Division should strengthen its role as regulator to ensure that autonomy was not abused of.

She stressed that a school's success should not be measured only through academic results. For example, a school which had a high truancy rate should be considered successful if that rate was reduced.

She also underlined the important role which parents had in education. Happily the Foundation for Educational Services was doing good work with regard to parent empowerment, ensuring that all parents understood their role in education. Clearly parents should participate in school activities not only when their children were in primary school but also in secondary school.

All heads of school, however, should view parents as collaborators. Parent leadership courses should also be considered.

Mrs D'Amato also suggested the holding of literacy and numeracy projects in the community aimed at all sections of the public. Indeed, a working group should be set up under the Policy Unit to draw up a national basic skills policy and coordinate the various sections of the education division related to adult and community education, among others.

Mrs D'Amato welcomed government plans to review its inclusive education policy. She said one should also give greater attention to children who lived in difficult social environments, which had a bearing on their character, because such children also had a right for inclusivity. The centres for those pupils who fell back in the transition to secondary schooling should function as educational recovery centres to enable the pupils to return to mainstream schools as early as possible.

Mrs D'Amato underlined the concept of 'learn to play' for kindergartens and said one should not try to make professors of small children. Kindergarten assistants should benefit from better in-service training and staff development programmes.