Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary School has applied to issue school leaving certificates at Malta Qualifications Framework Level 4 (A-Level standard), Education Minister Evarist Bartolo told the Malta Independent.
He said that the school are undergoing a rigorous process with the National Commission for Further and Higher Education to be granted permission to issue their school leaving certificate at level 4.”
Level 1 of the certificate handles primary school, level 2 up to middle school and level 3 up to secondary.
“As far as I know, the process is very advanced and I know that there are other post-secondary schools interested in this process. I believe it would be an interesting development”.
As regards to entry requirements for Giovanni Curmi Higher Secondary school, the minister explained that the prospectus has been issued and there are no changes as to requirements for students to undertake a course. “One requires at least two subjects at SEC level to join their revision course and then would need the required qualifications to join their Advanced Matsec certificate”.
Turning to the raising of the school leaving certificate to Level 3, he said that he was very surprised it wasn’t at this level before, “as if one is running an institution preparing students for a Level 3 SEC exam the leaving certificate should be of the same level”. Previously the leaving certificate would not be at the same level, but would only reach level 2.
“There were schools, even Church schools, who thanked me for this as it was an anomaly”.
He made it clear that a student would achieve a level 1, 2 or 3 in the leaving certificate according to the student’s achievement during his scholastic years. “Just going to school does not automatically mean that a student would be issued a certificate at the highest level”.
The certificate will be given in addition to O-levels, he said, and would not compete with them.
“We want to make sure that primary schools are organised in a way where they truly deliver Level 1 education. A Bill which passed through the second reading in Parliament, that also received support from the Opposition, will see the Directorate for Quality Assurance in charge of the Level 1-3 accreditation. This was already the case, however it was not clear in the law,” the minister said.