Too many students are being lost in the education system, Nationalist MP Justin Schembri, the party’s spokesman on education, said.

“There’s nothing wrong with going into the world of employment,” he said in an interview with The Malta Independent on Sunday, “but we know that in this current age we need youths who are experienced enough to work by also enrolling in courses such as those offered by MCAST and other institutes”.

The situation we find ourselves in, he said, is one in which we have students who may not be academically inclined in the traditional sense, but are not taking the alternative route of applied or practical learning.

This leads to the problem of too many youths exiting their obligatory education years with a lack of basic or essential skills.

“We need to begin looking at the sociological and cultural trends along with all that which surrounds us,” he said.

Maltese society puts continuous stress on parents, who often both need to work for long hours. He said that this is resulting in a reduction in the time they can spend with their children and providing them with much-needed support during their formative years. “When we look at the studies, we realise that there is a major difference between children who have support from their parents and those who do not,” he said, adding that these social issues need to be addressed in order to truly begin solving the issues in Malta’s education system and annual exam results.

“The numbers never lie, they tell the truth.” Schembri said that when analysing the result statistics provided by Matsec, the revelations are “very concerning” and show a significant number of students who are unfortunately failing to achieve sufficient results after years of obligatory education.

He detailed the statistics, comparing the 2022 results to 2023. He said that the number of students receiving a failing grade in English went up from 21% to 23%. In Maltese, the number went up from 29% to 30%. In Mathematics the number went up from 37% to 41%. A failing grade is a 6, 7 or Unclassified.

Schembri said that this shows that there is an increase in students who are unfortunately not obtaining sufficient results. He said that this is not a problem which can be analysed in an interview, and that there needs to be a precise study carried out by the government which seriously analyses what the problem is. “However, if the government continues to paint the picture that these results are not as bad as they look, and if the government tries to diminish the truth, then it will surely not admit that there is an issue and will not conduct a proper analysis.”

He added that it is important to recognise that there is a student behind each one of these numbers. “There is a person who has spent 11 years in the education system and was not able to achieve their desired result.”

Schembri said that we need to further incentivise parents to be part of the education process of their children. He said that stopping our neglect of this social aspect is part of the solution to begin improving Malta’s educational experience. The PN MP said that education needs to be individualised. “It needs to be tailored and looked at from an individual perspective,” but for this to happen the number of students per class needs to be decreased. Schembri explained that large, full up classes make it difficult for educators to address each student’s education as individuals.

Part of this issue is the need for more educators per number of students. He said that as the Minister for Education he would work towards having more attractive salaries and conditions for current and future teachers. He added that one needs to be realistic and admit that this is not a unique problem to Malta, and that other European countries have seen a drastic decline in youths who are choosing to become teachers. He attributed this downward trend to a general lack of competitive salaries in education compared to other fields.

Schembri said that in a country, which is spending millions to attract investments, “such as in films”, he presumes that millions should be invested to attract more youths towards the field of teaching and education. He said it is not enough to just have educators, but that we need them to remain in the field by providing sufficient salaries and conditions so that they can continue giving their all in teaching upcoming generations. He said that the PN will continue working towards ensuring that every school has a suitable environment for educators and students. He said that this would be done by offering better packages for teachers and reducing the bureaucracy which discourages youths from entering the profession.

The Malta Independent on Sunday raised the question of whether the education system as it is can be considered at fault for rising levels of anxiety among students, as well as whether the general attitude from teachers, politicians and parents is negatively affecting student motivation.

He said that in Malta there is a mentality that the exam is everything and that success is often scaled to academic results. “How much are we truly helping students to develop their character?” He said that these students are informed through the academic material, but questioned if they are being informed as citizens of tomorrow. “We need to begin to properly look at how we can help our youths to develop in fields aside from academia,” he said, “then we can slowly begin improving the overall quality of their lives and production.”

Schembri explained that from the year 2025, O Level exams will begin having 30% of their mark attributed to the work which students conduct throughout the last three years of secondary school. He said that during Forms 3, 4 and 5 students will work towards gaining 10% of their O Level grades each year, respectively up to 30%. As a result, he said, we will now be seeing how important the educational or applied development of a student is during those final three years. “Many have argued that it is not right to gauge a student’s success after 11 years of obligatory education from a two-hour exam.”

With all of that in mind, however, he said that this loops back to the problem he mentioned earlier regarding the need to analyse social issues. He explained that those students who may experience social or health difficulties during the final three years of secondary school may still fail to benefit from the assessment-based grading. He said that because of this it is very important to ensure that schools have enough professionals and that the necessary services are working properly to help students during their most difficult moments.

One of those services is CYPS (Children and Young People's Services). Schembri explained that CYPS is a service which helps children who have difficulties in learning, however it is currently not functioning in the way it should, he said. “You have a waiting time from when you submit your application of nearly 300 days before receiving your first appointment.” He said that at the moment there are 180 children of a very early age who are awaiting their first appointment.

“It is important that we begin helping these children early on … We need to recognise that the educational problems which children keep dragging with them often begin at primary school.” He said that the consequences which occur from failing to address these problems results in children entering secondary school without basic skills in writing, reading, listening and discourse.

“We are failing to provide them with the foundation of primary school and their early years,” he said. Continuing, he said that schools need to be staffed with all the necessary professionals to ensure that every child’s issues can be properly addressed. “If we do not do this we will be repeating the same results.”

The PN spokesperson was asked whether the curriculum should be changed to emphasise informal education, and what the benefits of doing so could be. He agreed that this shift in curriculum should happen, explaining that there is a need to promote diverse and critical skills. He added that it is common to see students who are capable of following a lesson and studying to pass their exams, but end up not being capable of practically applying what they are learning. “This is one of the ailments of the education system in general, not just in Malta.”

Educators feel obligated to only teach the syllabus, he said. “Often as educators we expect that the parents will handle the rest of the informal education.” Schembri said that with the fast pace of life nowadays, it often becomes the case that the educators are the ones who need to teach these informal skills. He continued that the syllabus needs to continuously be revised and reviewed to ensure that it is accurate and relevant to the reality of current life.

“We need to be realistic. While it is important to remain loyal towards tradition and culture, we need to recognise that the world is moving forward and therefore we must provide our children with material relevant to today so that they can understand it and apply it to their lives.”

Schembri was asked for his thoughts on discussions regarding the removal of homework or exams, and whether radical changes like these are necessary. He said that he disagrees with the notion of removing homework or exams. He explained that the shift towards attributing parts of the O-Level grade to assessments is a move in the right direction, and that he believes that eventually we should go further and raise the percentage from 30% to 50% in order to have a balance. On this matter, he concluded that getting rid of exams entirely would be a mistake and that it is not a proper solution.

What would Schembri do to combat the educational issues in Malta if he were the Minister for Education today? “This is not something which can be adjusted in the process of a few years,” he said, “before anything else we need to look towards a plan oof10 years where we begin taking children in primary school and analysing why they have problems in reading, writing and numeracy.” He said that doing this will allow for a process to provide children with the necessary basic skills.

He said that he does not believe any minister in the upcoming legislature will be capable to address these issues within five years if they are not looking at a long-term plan. He explained that such a plan would need to ensure that all the children who graduate from primary school are being prepared enough to go to secondary school and get ready for their exams. “We need to think and plan long-term. This is not something that is solved between today and tomorrow.” He concluded by adding that it is also vital to ensure that we have adequate Learning Support educators who are prepared to assist vulnerable students and provide them with the necessary skills.