Someone once wrote that learning is more like climbing a mountain than a staircase. You don’t climb straight up a mountain. You change your path at each step of the way – meandering sometimes, going back before continuing up. However, whether the journey is up a mountain or a staircase, setting the goal is easier than getting there.

I do believe that this analogy helps us to understand and confirm the strong belief that we cannot provide a one-size-fits-all education programme for all our children. We came to this conclusion long ago and yet our practices do not seem to connect or engage with all our students. A lot of students feel disengaged, disaffected by what happens in schools. However, I do feel that disaffection is a global problem.

Although substantial differences exist among countries, the attitudes of young people towards schooling are often eerily resonant of one another. From the poor to the affluent, from the academically inclined to those not yet proficient, many students succumb to negativity, frustration, anger and boredom in the face of an education they perceive as being irrelevant, disrespectful and unrewarding.

I believe that the three documents that have been published over the past few days by the Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Ministry help us refocus our attention on what Reva Klein describes as “the alternative three Rs of success: relevance, respect and reward”. Linked to this is the need for adequate resources, risk-taking, energy and determination to provide a learning programme that brings meaning to people’s lives.

The documents go another step towards enlightening the long debate about the transition from primary to second-ary, more specifically the eleven-plus examination that the majority of students have to sit. Back in 2006, a book on transition challenged us to consider whether it was time to break the mould. It went a long way towards setting the scene and providing us with information not only to take the debate forward but to reach a decision: “It is said that a journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. Let us be bold enough collectively to take that step…” (Grima & Farrugia, 2006, p.85).

The issue of transition has long been debated but it has now acquired urgency, given the reforms currently taking place, especially the creation of networks. The proposed discussion documents also reflect the seminal work carried out with the introduction of the National Minimum Curri-culum in 1999, the Strategic Plan that followed in 2001 and the policy document For all Children to Succeed (FACTS) (2005) which emphasised that we need to work on “how to eliminate the rather staccato if not abrupt manner by which students move from primary to secondary schooling in the state system.” (FACTS, pp.25-26).

We have heard, read and learnt a lot about the rigidity of the differentiation and transition systems in practice in Maltese state schools, namely streaming and the Junior Lyceum entrance examinations. Much of what has been written about these practices are highly critical, highlighting the negative effects on teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools, the stress and anxiety experienced by the children, parents and teachers involved and the negative consequences of such practices on a significant proportion of our primary schools. At the same time, the public has come to accept as normal the process of separating students and channeling them to different types of secondary schools.

The proposals that are being put forward call for social justice and for the reduction of anxiety and stress amongst students and teachers and encourages respect for the individual as a person and learner and one who lives within a community.

My aim through this brief article is not to try and “sell” to the reader the importance of accepting the reform piecemeal. Far from it. What I would like to do is encourage the reader to read the documents, take the time to reflect – in the same way that the climber takes time to look at the mountain s/he wants to climb – and hear and engage in the debate that will follow over the next few months as the climber constantly engages with the mountain’s environment as s/he prepares for the challenges of the journey ahead.

The documents propose the need for all of us to feel responsible for the future of our children and young people. Serious debate is needed. Your reflections, your ideas and those of your neighbours, your friends and your own children are needed for the consultation to prove an enriching experience that will lead to a well-informed decision.

The rationale behind the Junior Lyceum examinations, or of selection by ability at such an early age, and the whole philosophy of selection has come under strong criticism for over 20 years. Many of the objections have been of a moral and political nature, but we also acknowledge that it is psychologically harmful and economically wasteful to have a significant percentage of our students labelled unsuccessful or “failures” at such an early age – or at any age, for that matter. As one of the documents notes: “The current system of segregation at an early age goes against the needs of our country.”

In this article, however, I would like to emphasise a number of other issues that I feel the current review of the eleven-plus examinations could lead to. If we pause to reflect on the documents, we realise that they reiterate the principles of the National Minimum Curriculum which, amongst other things, refers to the need to reach all learners, to personalise learning, to help all students achieve, to strive for excellence, to teach for authentic achievements, to improve our teaching, to create assessment procedures that promote learning, to provide informative assessment, to encourage autonomy of practices, to create meaningful tests, to set standards that are high but attainable.

This remains the challenge. Education does matter. However, we have to appreciate that there is no standard approach for reaching our students. Although we may hold divergent philosophical and/or political views, we all want our children to succeed in life.

We need a system that acknowledges and respects every student as a unique individual. We need to close the gap between those who succeed and those who do not. We need to increase the achievement levels of all students and to do this we must focus on what really matters. More of our students will be successful if standards are in place, the curriculum is challenging; students are provided with extra help and every student has a skilled teacher. Let us look briefly at each in turn.

1. Standards are in place

We need to agree on what Maltese students should learn at each grade level. Clear national standards for what students should learn at benchmark grade levels are a crucial part of addressing the issue we are facing.

2. All students must have a challenging curriculum

Over the past few years we have witnessed a concerted move to allow schools – and now within and through the College network – to develop programmes that are directly linked to identified needs. In this way we can express respect to the student as a learner, create an environment of relevance to the whole community and reward progress. However, what is critical is that we are not talking of a diluted curriculum, of having lower expectations, of expecting little of students facing difficulties – where we give them A grades for work that would earn a C or D elsewhere. This is why standards are important.

3. Students need extra help

Ample evidence shows that almost all students can achieve at high levels if they are taught at high levels. But equally clear is that some students require more time and more support through different learning pedagogies. They may require support of a different nature, outside the school and dealing directly with the family. The approach here needs to be multi-disciplinary.

4. Teachers matter.

If students are going to be held to high standards, they need teachers who know the subjects and know how to teach the subjects. They also need teachers who are not only good at their subject and know how to teach it but are caring individuals. Various studies, including ones carried out in Malta, have identified various qualities that good teachers possess. These include:

•Treating students as individuals

•Nurturing a love for learning

•Making sure that students did their work

•Controlling the class

•Are willing to help students whenever and however help is required.

•Explaining work and content clearly

•Varying the classroom routine

•Taking the time to get to know the students and their circumstances.

A decade or two ago we might have said we didn’t know how much these things mattered. We believed that what students learned was largely a factor of their family income or parental education, not of what schools did. However, recent research has turned these assumptions upside down. Schools matter enormously and what matters most is good teaching.

The proposal being put forward is a sound one. It does not call for the elimination of examinations but for a concerted effort, directed at school-based assessment and external moderation, to ensure that schools are fair and consistent in the use of formative assessment tools. The reform aims to involve students so that they care about learning and not just grades or marks. It aims to provide meaningful feedback that gives advice as to how an individual can improve. Students need to learn to engage, just as teachers – and all professionals for that matter – engage in evaluating and revising their own work.

The proposal encourages schools and colleges to find their own way. Yet, what should be the same is the value we need to give to an academic core, clear and high standards and assessments that are aligned with those standards and accountability systems that demand results for all kinds of students. Intensive efforts to assist teachers improve their practice, and provide extra

support and help (not necessarily confined to academic work) for students who need it, is essential.

What the report has highlighted, and the reform respects, is that students care about their learning and more so when their teachers meet their need for affirmation, contribution, purpose, power, and challenge. This reform aims to bring this about.

Dr Christopher Bezzina

is Director of the Quality Assurance Department,

Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education