Lately, two interesting and quite compelling articles which touched on an important concept, were published in your newspaper. I am referring to your editorial (TMID, 14 December, Education for life) and that of Daphne Caruana Galizia (TMID, 15 December, The importance of being educated).

Both articles tackled an important concept, namely that of lifelong learning. I am not going to go into detail about the above-mentioned articles. I believe that they are relevant and touch important aspects and they make a good read. I will pen in my two cents because I believe in lifelong learning as a concept, which is valid enough to give our nation the citizenry that we need. Yet, it is still a far away concept, though it is available on paper.

Lifelong learning – or learning how to learn – is the important concept, which, unfortunately I feel is not applied in our schools. We teach our students “subjects” – whatever they might be. This sharply contrasts the lifelong learning concept.

This concept is about equipping the student with the necessary skills/tools so that whenever he/she encounters a need for information, those skills/tools can be availed to enable the student to acquire that information.

The legitimate question now is: “What are these skills/tools composed of?” It is here that I highlight the need of “information literacy” (IL). Information literacy is the highest form of literacy because it is not just knowing how to read and write, or being IT literate, but it encompasses all these and more. Thus, being an IL person/student leads to being a lifelong learner.

In my limited capacity, I am trying to inculcate this concept in whatever I do and wherever I am, starting primarily with my own offspring and extending it with the various students I encounter. Again, I will not go into quoting either the literature or the professional websites pertaining to IL, but I will offer my time and energy if those interested – private entities, schools or the government – are interested in the matter. There is ample literature and empirical research to suggest that we should have an IL programme in place at schools. I speak what I believe and I believe what I speak. Not only, I know that this concept works as it worked in other countries.

In our educational system, I feel that there is a serious lacuna, namely that students in the secondary school have no adequate bridge when crossing over to the Sixth Form and to a certain extent from the latter to university. How do we expect a secondary student to perform well in writing a paper/assignment and this without any kind of plagiarism and the correct quoting style, when for the previous five years he/she has never been taught such a thing?

How can we expect that a secondary student performs well in research, when no training was available for the past five years of schooling – and now, all of a sudden, he/she has to do research because now one is at Sixth Form? In Daphne’s words, students “barely articulate and only able to manage information with difficulty” (Ibid.)

I feel that our educational system is just based on exams, and not on one’s ability to be a “conversationalist” (Daphne Caruana Galizia, TMID, 15 December). In fact, our students do go under great pains through the mill of exam preparation, already starting at Form III level. This intensifies at Form IV and hardens all the more at Form V, with the effect of less and less time for reading.

Unfortunately, this has a counter effect on reading, which is seen as a “waste of time”, because time now should be used for studying/memorising information to be able to pass the exam. This also contributes to the lack of reading. Additionally, we find both the government and other school entities doing their bench-markings. But this is not right, for there are too many variables, which affect the learning process of children throughout the years.

On the other hand, it is no longer logistically possible for the government to cater for all the learning of Maltese students, which brings me to conclude that, yes, there should be other entities catering for students.

I believe that there will be a time when students will choose their own topics, which they want to learn about; those topics in which they would want to excel in; and those subjects in which they may use their artistic potential. Surely, they would need to know mathematics, geography and religion, but only at the basic level unless they really want to delve deeper into them. This adds the flavour of being “flexible” in our teaching methods, which I fear is quite a far-fetched aspect for some. However, it is not impossible to take place, if only a new way of doing things is introduced in our system.

Feeling secure in one’s own way of doing things – whether teaching or the system itself – is a feature that gives control because of our same expectations from every student. Precisely, this is our mistake in growing up and exploring new ways, which help us grow new muscle. Even the history of dinosaurs is being re-written with every new evidence that we discover; new light is shed on our “secure” past. Yet, newness, while it uncovers our lack of knowledge, at the same time, equips us with new skill for the future.

Daphne Caruana Galizia (Ibid.) touches on various aspects on being educated. I get the impression that she hints (and this is my personal interpretation) to many “schoolings” but few “educated”; those “whose mental horizons are not constricted”. Additionally, the editorial (Ibid.) hints at another important notion, namely that of having schools with more time for “drama, art, music and sport”. Yes, I too agree with this; these subjects are also important in the development of the child. But there we go again to the exam issue: “are there any examinations?”

It seems to me that only the examination determines the validity or not of the subject but of the child/student; whether he/she will be truly “schooled” as opposed to “educated”, and therefore, anything, which is not examinable, is not worth commencing because it is not sufficient for society. But then, how can anyone present himself in front of the media and talk about the importance of sports in the small nations or drama or music when they are not fully supported at school level? These subjects are what make people “a cultured people” and “conversationalists”; to be able to shift their minds on different topics (to be eclectic) and talk freely with no hindrances. Theses subjects too have their history which also can be studied in order to be able to flavour its present form.

Another thought to which I would like to devote a few lines to is the “autonomy” aspect. To what level is autonomy functioning in our schools? Lately, it has been reported (The Times, 19 December), that even academics wrote about their feeling of a possible infringement of their autonomy – to this letter/concern, a reply was promptly issued (The Times, 21 December).

I am in no way supporting the academics on the issue, but I see no true school autonomy. I believe that the various schools (state or otherwise) should be given full flexibility in the various subjects which they might like to endorse and teach at their school and therefore, the student will have the possibility of choosing that school where he/she feels that the personal potential could be fully enhanced to the extent that we could possibly have a happier society.

They say that hope is a very important virtue. What I have shared might be a long way ahead of us for a thousand and one reasons. I believe that even on this subject of education, we should keep an open-minded attitude and keep our dialogue fresh, and put aside our fears and the security of the past since the past had no present things at hand.

Claudio Laferla DLIS – librarian