In the article entitled Education Commissioner highlights group bullying by ethnic school gangs, the Commissioner for Education seems to have equated the "rise of group-bullying in schools by ethnic students" to the perceived lack of English or Maltese language proficiency and to "the fact that some of them come from war torn countries".
On the first assertion I must stress that language differences are by no means a prescription for violence. On the contrary, research suggests that language conflict can in fact be used as an instrument to help to contain bullying and also violence. In fact, the greater the language difference between the language of the minority group and that of the dominant group, the lower is the probability of bullying. Moreover, research points to the fact that language grievances held by minority students regarding the official medium of instruction in schools are not associated with group bullying. In other words, there is a weak negative relationship between language grievances and bullying in schools.
It is crucial however, that teachers assist minority students in taking pride in their ethnic identity, feel active members of their group and their larger group, and contribute to a positive classroom climate conducive to learning. When students develop a high sense of attachment and contribution to the nation rather than to their ethnic group, they assert their ability to prevent conflict and maintain a sense of unity in the country.
Education can be harnessed in conflict prevention, in mitigating the effect of conflict on children and help in reconstructing their lives. Conflict prevention requires addressing issues of equitable development in the education sector. Issues to be considered might include language in education policy, rights education and equity in resource allocation. The curriculum should be developed to equip children with skills that enable them to address conflict issues in their own lives. This may include opportunities for both parents and students to participate in the running of the school. Schooling is an important institution in the lives of children and that is why displaced children need innovative approaches to ensure that their education is not seriously disrupted.
I strongly believe that students are open-minded about multicultural education and together with the assistance of their teachers are able to move beyond ethnic conflicts, critically analyze them when they occur, and take appropriate action for the future. We know that teachers strongly affect students' opinions, hence the importance of promoting training in multicultural education for all educators.
Education is a powerful tool for breaking the cycle of poverty, supporting child survival, growth, development and well-being; and closing the gap in social inequality. Simply putting children in a school without having the cultural competencies necessary to assist them in their educational journey does not make a school inclusive. The struggle for education is also about creating the environment and conditions for effective learning. It is when accidents occur that we realize that our school system is struggling to meet a variety of challenges: lack of teacher training, lack of cultural competencies, shortage of teachers, high student-teacher ratios, lack of support for children traumatized by warfare and so on. It is clear, also from personal research that some immigrants and refugees coming from countries of conflict have difficulty engaging in our school system. Simply placing children in settings with the hope that they "integrate later", without equipping educators to fulfil this important mission is proving to be a mammoth task.
My humble advice to the commissioner for Education - a person I hold in most esteem since my sixth form days - is to assemble educators who truly have the interest of all students at heart and together plot courses of action to prevent accidents from happening. It does not boil down merely to security issues.
It is when we embark on the exciting prospect of educating all stakeholders to live together in an increasingly globalized world that we can truly say that we are fulfilling our mission as educators.
Mr Brian Vassallo is an expert in Educational Leadership and Multicultural Education.