Despite spending more than the EU average on education, Malta has some of the most unenviable achievement levels in this critical sector.
The latest PISA assessment of 15-year-old students’ achievement levels in mathematics, reading and science confirms that Malta ranks amongst the worst performers. Even worse, Malta currently has the EU’s highest levels of early school leavers.
Public opinion seems more interested in discussing Malta’s chances of winning a music festival or achieving sporting victories against bigger nations. But education is badly in need of some transformational decision-making. It is time for our politicians and other societal leaders to press the reset button and do it as a matter of priority.
Education, skills and continuous learning have been the Cinderella of public policy prioritisation for decades. This does not mean that no efforts have been made to increase focus on the debilitating problem of educational underachievement.
It just means that the country risks falling further behind in the competitiveness league.
It also means a greater dependence on extracting value from already depleted natural resources, such as land, or relying on smart tax legislation that risks becoming ineffective when international tax loopholes are eliminated.
At least five factors influence the dropout rate of students in schools: family and community; the school environment; peer pressure; the educational system; and the employment market.
The interaction between these elements is complex. But we can hardly deny that we have still not understood how to address this complexity to prevent so many young people from failing to reach their potential to achieve success in life.
Those who are rightly worried about our poor performance in educational achievement expect our political leaders to define their plans to address the structural weaknesses. They will also want to know how those workers who have underachieved in the past can be rescued through second-chance learning programmes managed by competent organisations chosen purely on merit.
It is time for political parties to move away from gimmicks like competing on which party promises more handouts to students, including increases in stipends, free electronic gadgets and other student perks. Instead, we need to hear how the teaching profession can be upgraded through continuous training, better recruitment and working conditions as well as performance-related career advancement incentives.
Expenditure in education needs to be more focused on creating better opportunities for those children living in distressed socioeconomic conditions.
While education is free for all, the openings that can be provided for all young people to overcome their social stumbling blocks are still not sufficiently in place.
Political leaders also need to articulate future equity-enhancing policies to help workers with low skills get a second chance at upskilling. This is one way of promoting social inclusion, which, sadly, is in decline despite the political rhetoric.
Unfortunately, businesses have become addicted to treating investment in human capital as a commodity. Low-skilled workers have lost their bargaining power due to the mass importation of cheap labour from low-cost countries. A future government needs to incentivise business to invest more in local workers. These are the future of Maltese society because their roots will always be on these islands.
Family, financial and cultural resources can prevent children from failing the educational phase of their lives. But those who cannot rely on the bank of mum and dad to prop up their educational achievement need to be given a viable chance to succeed in life despite their early socioeconomic challenges.