The first 300 candidates who successfully passed a new test for TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) teachers were presented with their letters of appointment yesterday.

Whereas until two years ago the main requirement was to have an Advanced Level in English, this has been substituted by this new exam.

In the words of TEFL monitoring board chairman Joseph Muscat, this better equips teachers for the situations they will be facing in a TEFL class than the sole knowledge of A-level English.

The new exam has five parts: language description, language sensitivity and awareness, language in context, writing skills, and an oral test.

Before presenting the letters, Education Minister Louis Galea congratulated the TEFL teachers for succeeding in their examination.

He said it was positive for the sector to have so many qualified teachers.

Dr Galea said that the government would like to see the TEFL sector grow more and he thanked the TEFL monitoring board, chaired by Joseph Muscat, for its sterling working in monitoring the profession.

He said that education was one of the three pillars listed by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, the other two being the economy and the environment.

The education sector was important for the country to be able to build a knowledge-based economy, Dr Galea said.

Education should be used as a tool for economic prosperity, he added. “Don’t tell me we cannot make the education sector as successful as the financial services sector,” he said.

Dr Galea said that FELTOM, the Federation of English-Language Teaching Organisations in Malta, which represents TEFL language schools in Malta, was showing the way forward.

“They can bring 50,000 to 60,000 to Malta only to learn English. We would like to see more,” he said.