Malta does not have enough teachers to raise the age at which children can legally leave school past 16, teaching unions have said.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has floated the idea of raising the compulsory education age so that the young could be better prepared for the challenges of the future.

During an address to a Labour political conference on Sunday, he observed that some other countries had a minimum school-leaving age of 17 or 18.

However Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) President Marco Bonnici has questioned the feasibility of the proposal, given the current shortage of educators.

“It is evident that more employees will be needed in schools if the compulsory school age is raised,” he said.

He said that the union questioned whether the underlying principles behind the proposal were educational or statistical.

Malta has one of the EU’s highest rates of early school leavers.

According to statistics published earlier this year, one in every six students – 17.5% - leave school early.

That is down from the one in three who quit school early 15 years ago, but still the second-highest such rate in Europe and far from the 10% target it was meant to achieve by 2020.

Mr Bonnici suggested this could be the reason the government is keen to raise the compulsory education age.

“It is well known that Malta has a high rate of early school leavers.  

“Other countries have solved the statistical issue by increasing the compulsory school age, thus reducing the percentage of early school leavers. If statistics is the reason, there must be serious rethinking about the proposal,” he said.

“If instead the proposal is being raised for educational aspects, these must be outlined.”

The MUT chief also had questions about how the change would affect teaching qualification requirements and whether 16-to-18 year-olds, who currently receive a student maintenance grant as sixth formers, would continue to do so if they were in compulsory schooling.

The student’s maintenance grant is a scholarship system for students in higher education.

Students in Diploma and General Courses receive €88.44 every four weeks while students in prescribed courses receive €154.77 every four weeks.

“In a sector overwhelmed with reforms, will this be an additional reform? Why wasn’t this proposal raised within the context of the Education Act?” Mr Bonnici asked.  

The Union of Professional Educators (UPE) director for State schools Rita Catania echoed concerns that a shortage of teachers would worsen should the compulsory schooling age be raised.

Ms Catania also had questions about the curriculum students would follow should compulsory education be extended, and wondered whether it was ethical to force students to remain in the system.

“We do not know what skills these young people, 16 to 18 year-olds who can already vote in elections, will be taught,” Ms Catania said.

“We feel that if this proposal had come in earlier years and in a different context, we could have taken it seriously. But presently, with the looming problems of a growing school population, this idea might lead to even more unrest in the teaching profession.”

A spokeswoman for the Ministry for Education said that a document about raising the compulsory school age will eventually be launched for a national discussion.

What do other countries do? 

A rough estimate of school leaving ages across Europe finds that the average school leaving age in European countries is 16 years old.

In Belgium, Germany and Italy full time education is compulsory up to the age of sixteen, but those who choose to quit then must attend at least part-time schooling or vocational apprenticeships that also includes schooling until they are 18 years old.

In the Netherlands education is compulsory from the ages of five to 18 and students must have a level 2 or higher diploma before being allowed to leave school.

In Poland students graduate from secondary education at age 15 but are legally required to continue schooling up until 18. Those in a vocation can however satisfy this requirement through regular full-time employment.

The United Kingdom’s school leaving age is set at 16 across the board. Since 2011, 16 to 18 year-olds are required to continue with some form of education or training, including apprenticeships.

In the US school leaving age varies from state to state but most are within the range of 16 to 17 years old. Many students complete compulsory education by sitting for standardized testing to obtain a General Equivalency Degree.

In Japan, while the school leaving age is set at 15 years old, around 90 per cent of students complete their secondary education up to age 18.