Which formation is best for our secondary education subject teachers?

About 40 years ago the basic requirements to present yourself as a possible candidate to serve as a teacher in the primary schools was the teacher's certificate. This was obtained following a residential course of studies and teacher training at a teacher training college, one for males and the other for females, run by religious orders in a very efficient manner.

Due to serious shortage of trained teachers, those with a good number of 'O' levels were also interviewed and, if found adequate, were recruited as emergency teachers.

In the case of secondary education, the teachers were persons of known standing and who had established themselves as having an acknowledged command of the particular subject.

With the expansion of secondary education those students with a degree in the area or at least an 'A' level in the subject were also employed as teachers for a specified subject.

Since then, teacher training has made gigantic progress and it reached university status first at the then established "new" university and then on amalgamation with the "old" university as a prestigious and dignified Faculty of Education with all rights and duties that belonged to other faculties established over 300 years before.

The Faculty of Education developed in all aspects of tertiary education not least in its outstanding research and publications. This fact was so aptly pointed out recently by the Dean of the Faculty of Education himself. So far so good.

Those who wished to teach at the primary level had a clear route to take namely to follow the B.Ed (Hons) where the training and education of these young persons showed excellence in all areas not least where pedagogical aspects were concerned.

Those wishing to teach a specific subject at secondary level have two routes they may follow. Either take the route of B.Ed with the specialised subject as a main area of study or they could follow a BA or B.Sc. course followed by the Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE).

Now the dilemma starts. At one stage it was suggested that the PGCE route should be abolished. The Departments in the Faculty of Arts strongly opposed this step. They pointed out that this is tantamount to abolishing the chances of attracting students specialising in that particular area in the departments in the Art Faculties. This is because a significant number of BA graduates join the BA course in the first instance with the intention to follow the PGCE and eventually take up the profession of teaching.

Many point out to the excellent service to education in Malta at the secondary schools level given by those who followed the BA route. The Faculty of Arts won the battle but not yet the war. Students would like to know, when all other things are equal, who would be selected as a teacher those with the BA and the PGCE or those with the B.Ed (Hons)? Potential students need to know these facts before they join a course at the University.

The situation is much more complex when dealing with science subjects. Since many students with the higher grades obtained in 'A' levels in the sciences opt to join the course of medicine, it is very rare to find students to join the B.Ed course with high grades in their science 'A' levels.

The other problem is that, because of the time limitations, and the great emphasis laid on teaching practice in the B.Ed Course, there is perhaps not sufficient time for students with sciences as a main option to get enough specialisation in the science subject to be able to give optimal teaching at secondary and even more so at 'A' level standard.

These teachers may meet with some difficulty to grasp the material in such an excellent manner that they can transmit it to others. They may be excellent teachers, but especially at 'A' level standard, it is very difficult to teach a subject with excellence if one himself has not grasped the subject at an excellent level himself.

This might be a reason why we are meeting with difficulties to attract students to the sciences at the younger age group.

It may be time for the University and the Ministry of Education to consider keeping one option open to become a subject teacher at secondary level namely that of following a BA or B.Sc. Course followed by PGCE.

In this way the resources spent on running the Faculty of Education, with such a large number of students, could be dedicated to producing primary school teachers of excellence and to the PGCE emphasising the pedagogical aspects.

The Faculties of Arts and Science will also have enough students to run sustainable departments in a cost-effective manner. Such a system should be studied especially at the time when severe financial constraints are being faced by the University.