In my political career, I have worked closely, as a minister, with a wide variety of professionals and workers: I have worked with lawyers, judges and magistrates, artists and culture professionals, mayors and councillors, pharmacists, public cleaners, immigration and identity officials, broadcasting practitioners, electoral officers, employment officers, competition experts, scientists and innovators and the list goes on.

With all of them I have had very good relationships and over time I have contributed to important reforms which affected them or their work positively. However, if I have to single out one profession which, on a personal level, is closest to heart that would be that of educators.

The positive, albeit very brief, stint as Education Minister transformed completely the way I look at educators and their crucial role in society.  Today, enriched with the experience I had in charge of the educational sector, I can understand better the crucial role educators play with regards to the three key areas of the Ministry which are under my political responsibility - Equality, Innovation and the implementation of the post-COVID strategy – and on a wider level, the future of our country in general.

In one of my first meetings with the Malta Union of Teachers, Marco Bonnici offered me a piece of advice, which I found to be very fruitful and positive.  “Take a look at what Rita Pierson had to say about education, and then you realise why a lot of educators dedicate their lives in this field,” he told me.

And this is exactly what I did.  I went home, and youtubed Rita Pierson’s videos.  I listened attentively to what this famed educator had to say about the subject.  And truly, what she had to say touched my mind and heart.

Probably the most famed quote attributed to Pierson is when she says that every child deserves a champion: an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the best they can possibly be.

And then she goes on to say: “Is this job tough?  You bet.  But it is not impossible. We can do this.  We’re educators. We were born to make a difference.”

This short phrase contains five important thoughts.  The first thought is about educators being that adult who never gives up on each child. The second is about the power of connection and what can be achieved through it.   The third is about the insistence of an adult on a child to become the best version of themselves.  The fourth is about the challenges which this profession entails. And finally the fact that educators are change makers.

For each point, whole dissertations have been written and continue to be written.  But if we apply those five thoughts to whatever we have under our responsibility as the “executive officers” of the entity which we call the Government of Malta, the crucial role of educators takes a tremendous new importance.

Let me apply briefly those points to the three sectors which have been entrusted under my political responsibility.

Euqality.  The main leitmotif here is that society has a moral obligation to make sure that every person is given the best opportunity to realise his or her potential (equality), each according to a person’s particular differences (equity). 

If opportunity were to be a country, skills would be its capital city.   And skills are best derived from an educational sector which puts as its main priority the right of all children to receive an adequate education that gives them the skills needed to become contributing adults in society.

Here comes in a whole debate about educational equity which is defined as the study and achievement of fairness, justice, and impartiality in education.  A true champion to a child is that educator who through his or her actions sees that the quality of education received by each child is not dependent on the level of wealth and education of his or her family.

Also a true champion to a child is that educator who through his or her actions proves that a child’s social, sexual orientation, gender, racial or geographical background is irrelevant to the quality of education they receive.

Through their teachings, educators are the prime revolutionaries in the sense that they slowly, carefully and with the power of connection change the way our society thinks.  In the quiet of the four walls of a classroom, a lot of change goes on, and this happens more powerfully than through any other means.  All this takes time, but had it not been for our educators, society would not have become as open and as mainstream European as it is today.

Research.  Of course at the basis of research and innovation is, academic or vocational excellence and, most often than not, a whole educational voyage which that researcher and innovator has passed through.  Here I am not speaking only about the research work that a particular scientist does at University or in a College but also about the talent itself which does not grow alone on trees but is the result of years of nurture.

Behind every success of a scientist, there is that educator who years before had instilled in him or her the curiosity to keep searching for knowledge. I know for a fact that the major satisfaction of every educator is seeing their former students move forward in life and realise their potential.

Post-covid strategy.  The strategy speaks extensively about the importance of a strong educational sector for a better future for our country in the various chapters dealing with quality of life, economic recovery and long-term success.  At the basis of all success is the need to see more and more students obtaining the necessary skill-set in order to realise their potential and that of our country.

A lot of good work has been done over the years, but we still need to do more to make sure that at the age of 16 years every child earns the right to be in a position to choose any path he or she wants to undertake in the educational voyage.    How to achieve that is a debate best reserved for another time, but we have to keep doing more for more people to realise their true potential.

All this cannot happen without the boots on the ground, our educators.  As a father, and as a citizen, I thank them and applaud them.  As a Minister I see them as crucial partners in the quest to make Malta stronger, better and more successful.