The objective of the Ministry for Education and Employment (MEDE) is to provide present and future generations with the necessary skills and talents for active citizenship and employability, in the 21st century and beyond. Our collective moral purpose is that of providing our children the opportunity of developing their personal and social potential and acquire the appropriate knowledge, key skills, competences and attitudes through a value-oriented formation including equity, social justice, diversity and inclusivity.
In 2014 the Ministry for Education and Employment published its first inspirational Framework for the Education Strategy for Malta: 2014-2024. Our moral purpose and collective commitment at all levels is to reduce the gaps, decrease the number of low achievers and raise the bar in students’ achievement. We are actively engaged to support educational achievement of children at-risk-of-poverty and from low socio-economic status, and reduce the relatively high incidence of early school-leavers which in 2018 decreased to around 17.5% from almost 24% in 2010. We are providing more opportunities to increase participation in lifelong learning and adult learning which from 6% in 2010 increased to almost 11% in 2018, and working very hard to raise levels of student retainment and attainment in further, vocational, and tertiary.
My Journey: Achieving through different paths, launched in late 2016, ambitiously takes the education schooling system in Malta to the next level in further democratising academic, vocational and applied quality learning offered to all students under the same school roof and in all secondary schools.
My Journey builds on past and present educational aspirations, policies and reforms which promoted learning that is relevant to personal, social and economic development. My Journey equitably promotes core values and strives to achieve the targets highlighted in the Framework for the Education Strategy for Malta 2014-2024, and is very much in line with UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goal number 4. It also contributes towards the implementation of the National Curriculum Framework (2012), Respect for All Framework (2014), Learning Outcomes Framework (2015), and the 2017 Sectoral Agreement.
My Journey supports a comprehensive and inclusive secondary school system that provides equitable quality learning (academic, vocational and applied) programmes with parity of esteem and avoids dead-ends for our students. In this regard, the aim behind the introduction of learning outcomes instead of prescribed syllabi is to promote inclusion and respond to diversity by allowing students to choose from different education routes with all subjects leading up to the Malta Qualifications Framework level 3.
In 2018 we also launched the first ever careers’ online platform Explore More, http://exploremoreproject.eu/mt/, that guides and supports Year 8 students and their parents in understanding and identifying their knowledge, skills, attitudes and aptitudes together with educational and careers’ opportunities. The explore more web portal is also complemented by the My Journey national fair which takes place every year.
My Journey seeks to promote increased links between education and industry. Linking education to industry and vice-versa is facilitates the provision of high quality and relevant education and training; thereby our commitment in investinf in skills development whilst reducing skills mismatch. That is why the syllabi were designed in collaboration with the industry, and the Explore More online portal was set up as a result of collaboration with further and higher educational institutions and the industry. That is the reason behind around 80 new state-of-the-art vocational and applied workshops that were constructed in 13 State secondary schools in collaboration with the industry in the areas of Engineering Technology, Information Technology, Hospitality, Health and Social Care, Agribusiness, Retail, Textiles and Fashion. Hairdressing and Beauty, and Media Literacy.
In ensuring the supply of educators and to guarantee teacher readiness to teach vocational and applied subjects in our schools, the Ministry had no other option than that of investing further in new areas of studies in initial teacher training, re-training of existing teachers and up-skilling and professionalising of skilled trainers from specific sectors who do not possess teacher training. The Faculty of Education within the University of Malta and the Institute for Education are offering a number of full-time and part-time courses in this regard.
Almost 60 % of Year 9 students in State schools have opted for at least one vocational or applied subject, schools are equipped with around 80 new state-of-the art vocational and applied workshops, and to date 113 teachers are engaged for the teaching of vocational and applied subjects.
We are aware that this is a journey and definitely not the destination. The immediate future rests on our collective commitment towards an equitable, quality and inclusive education system.
Frank Fabri is Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Education and Employment