The Education Ministry has, following the first meeting of a working group it set up, announced initiatives for online learning and teaching in light of the recently imposed closure of schools.

“During the meeting, the Working group agreed that during these exceptional circumstances it has full faith in the professionalism, dedication and commitment of educators towards their learners. In fact, members of the working group gave a number of examples where educators have already started sending material online to their students to ensure that they can continue with their studies during this period”, a statement issued by the Ministry read.

The aim of the Working Group is to build on this and to provide additional support to educators, students and parents in this regard. It is made up of representatives from the three sectors: State, Church and Independent Schools together with the Malta Union of Teachers.

The group ultimately agreed firstly for schools to use their own IT systems to support online learning.

Furthermore, the Ministry will be creating a Resources page on its curricular website – www.curriculum.gov.mt – where resources and material for each Year group and each subject will be made available and freely accessible to all.

The Working Group also invited educators from all three sectors who would like to upload relevant material to do so in this common repository as well as on their schools’ IT systems. 

This page will be available to all students across the Island online as from next Monday 16th March 2020, while the Ministry said that it will be communicating the manner in which educators can upload educational material through a communication directly to them early next week. 

The working group encouraged all educators to contribute in making strong repositories of educational material for their students and to “send an important message to all that by working together we can overcome this challenging time for our students and indeed for our country.”

The Working Group also agreed that educators will be encouraged to use online means so as to provide educational material and resources to students so that they can continue working during this period.

Educators may request support to enable them to do this either through their respective schools or through a dedicated support service which the Ministry will be setting up through its Directorate for Digital Literacy. The Ministry said that it will be communicating directly with educators about this support service early next week.

The Working group appealed to all parents, guardians and students to realise the seriousness of the present challenge being faced by the country and to show a strong sense of responsibility by staying at home during this period.

“The resources being made available by teachers in schools across sectors, the online communication with students and the possibility of more time to work on important skills such as reading, will help students continue with their education during this period”, the statement read.

The Working Group will be meeting regularly next week in order to address other issues related to the curricular outcomes for this year and how, in practice, schools can support students who are home-bound due to the closure of schools, the statement concluded.