The teachers’ union said its recommendations to help address the two-year attainment gap between students in public and independent schools were ignored despite being put forward in 2018.

Times of Malta reported on Tuesday that a European Commission report found students attending a private school are likely to be two years more advanced in their learning when compared to those in public schools.

In a reaction to the claim, the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) said it was clear that “recommendations made by the union and [an] independent researcher [in 2018] have not been followed”.

“The union notes that the claim made in passing in the said report is based on the results of the PISA international study and report of 2018. During the same year, the MUT had commissioned a study carried out by Vincent Marmarà and it was followed by a conference that same year,” the MUT said.

Recommendations included “focusing less on syllabus content and more on problem-solving, looking at the language of these tests (including PISA, PIRLS and TIMSS) since they might be affecting their results, looking at the situation whereby tests in Malta are considered ‘extra’ and ‘irrelevant’, looking at the period when these tests are conducted  and also looking at human resources being allocated to science in primary which is constantly being reduced”.

Sadly, the MUT added, the study was shelved and, despite changes in the education ministry and a pandemic, the union is still waiting for a response to start “a serious discussion on the said recommendations”.

On the commission’s report, the MUT said it did, however, consider the statement on the attainment gap as “very generic and highly questionable” given that it was based on only one international study.

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