There are students who need more time to make the step from obligatory schooling age to post-secondary education and the Gem16+ programme is specifically intended to give them this chance to proceed with their studies.

Gem16+ educator and guidance counsellor, Karl Galea, said one must do away with the mentality that 16 is a cut-off age in which everyone has to be mature and at the same level, “as if it’s some magic number which will determine whether you are successful or not”.

Speaking to The Malta Independent on Sunday, the guidance counsellor explained that it has been known for a long time that there are many students who simply have to take more time to mature and really determine what they want to do. He said that oftentimes he realises, through students who attend the Gem16+ programme, that throughout the year or two they spend attending the school, they come to the realisation o: “wait, I can still make it, you know?”

He said that the project began initially because there was a noticeable trend of many students finishing secondary school while lacking the basic skills necessary to continue their academic studies and were faced with a lack of alternatives for their academic future. He recounted how the programme was created as an alternative for students who wanted to continue studying but may not have been interested in other routes such as MCAST or ITS. “Its role is essentially to be that missing step in the process for students who have completed Form 5 and did not get the O Levels necessary to continue their academic studies in certain post-secondary options.”

He said that there are many reasons why someone may have had trouble with obligatory schooling such as personal issues and a lack of interest or motivation, among others. “Should that mean that because of these issues that’s it, you can’t continue studying?” He said that he believes there should be a greater push and emphasis on the fact that if someone hasn’t necessarily succeeded by Form 5, it is okay that they may need another year or two of steady guidance and teaching to further their studies. He said that these students would benefit by spending a year with the programme and getting accustomed to the post-secondary system while studying to earn their O Levels. “Throughout that year you will mature, you will meet teachers who can guide you and you will begin realising where you want to go and do.”

The educator was asked for his thoughts regarding whether or not the education system, as it currently is, can be considered at fault for the level of anxiety among students, as well as whether the general attitude of teachers, politicians and parents is affecting student motivation overall. He agreed that unfortunately, the education system still follows the mindset of “one-size-fits all mentality – it’s as if there is this shoe which you begin wearing at primary, and whether it’s too big or too small, you simply have to wear it, and if you don’t want to do that then you are considered a failure”. He said that this is an incorrect mentality which has always been present and has never changed.

“I think everyone has to carry part of the blame, including educators. Politicians, with all due respect, live in a bubble and often don’t necessarily understand the education sector.” He detailed how some educators are suffering from burnout due to the vast syllabus they are expected to deliver to each student to prepare them for their exams. He said that parents often add pressure and stress on both the educators and the students. He expressed his fears regarding how a generation of students is being raised where they are scared of exams.

“I have nothing against exams, but I don’t agree that exams should be a cut-off point where you either succeed or fail.” He said that raising a generation to be afraid of exams is worrisome because our lives are full of exams, not just academically but in general. “If you begin adopting the mentality of being afraid of such challenges from a young age then everyone will be scared of making decisions.”

He said that a system which completely eliminates exams is not the solution. Life is full of exams so it is important to teach the younger generation that they are important but are not life or death. “It’s okay to fail, the important thing is to learn and try again.”

He clarified that students often are not scared of exams, but that they are in fact scared of failure. “We are bringing up a generation where it’s as if failing is the biggest sin in the world,” he said, “as if you fail once in life, you’ve had it and you have no chance.” He explained how he always tells his students that everyone goes through failure in life and what needs to be done is to grab that failure and improve upon it to turn it into a success. He said that an exam should not be the make or break of a person, and referred to the upcoming changes to the O Level grading, beginning in 2025, which will allocate 30% of the grade to in-class assessments from secondary school. He explained that Gem16+’s grading is made up of 50% exams, 40% ongoing assessments and 10% executive function skills.

He went on to say that something needs to be done to address this problem and that it begins at the top. Galea said that we need politicians who enact policies and really understand education. “We need to really sit around a table and create a system which is fair to everyone.” He said that such a system could include exams and continuous assessments such as what is done at Gem16+. “It needs to be a system which is not just intended to educate you in an academic sense, but also on a personal level. There are other extremely important skills for someone to know for everyday life.” He detailed how there are students who are successful academically but suffer socially and have trouble connecting with others, and how these students can be academic geniuses but suffer greatly in terms of social and interpersonal skills.

“Education needs to be examined through a holistic lens,” he said, adding that it should not include only academia. He continued that education should not feel like something you are forced to engage in, but that it should be something you like to do. He said that the education system needs to leave the premise of “you have to do this” and move towards encouraging students to study what they are interested in and provide them with the aforementioned critical everyday skills.

Expanding on this topic, The Malta Independent on Sunday asked Galea if there should be a greater focus on information education throughout obligatory schooling, and how Gem16+ operates in this regard. He explained that the programme focuses significantly on this aspect of education. He detailed how the course is an intensive one, as within a year it needs to encompass the work carried out from Form 3 to 5.

However, having said that the programme puts a great focus on the personal development of the students. “For us, a student is not a container to be filled with information and sent to take an exam. Students need to be viewed as individuals.” He said that they know that each student is unique with their own method of learning and that they treat them as such. “We have to cater for the different kinds of teaching and learning that students are inclined towards. We need to understand what they struggle with and what they want to achieve.”

“My favourite question to ask students is what their wishes are and what they want to do in life,” Galea said. He continued that we need to raise a generation which will eventually go into a career and that this career needs to be something they genuinely enjoy. “If education should be fun, then the same applies to work.” He said that this is the basis of Gem16+ and that he doesn’t want a student to wake up in the morning and be upset that they have to go to school.

The Malta Independent on Sunday recently spoke with PN education spokesperson Justin Schembri, who particularly emphasised the importance of individualising the education experience. Galea was asked for his thoughts on the matter and to explain how Gem16+ addresses the issue in their programme. “I agree with this point,” he began, “every student is an individual with their own personal experience and I need to acknowledge that when I have 15 students in my class; they are all different from each other”. He said that it is important for educators to realise what students are personally interested in and tailor the class experience around some of their interests to get them invested. He said that the whole class doesn’t need to be tailored around each student’s personal interests, but that you can do enough to get them interested and allow them to relate their experiences to the topic at hand.

Galea was asked what students tend to go on and do after graduating from Gem16+. He answered that from the statistics they have, a large part of the students continue with their studies at a tertiary level. He said that most often students tend to go on to GCHSS and that Gem16+ works hand in hand with the school. He said that the programme also has graduates who go on to JC and that a good number of students also go on to either Level 3 or 4 courses at MCAST. “Some of our students also find certain opportunities and choose to go into employment after Gem16+.”

“How do I know that the programme is a success?” He said that he likes to keep in mind an interaction he had with a parent of a former student from a couple of years ago. He recounted how the parent had recognised him at a store and wanted to thank the school for not only setting his daughter on the path to furthering her studies in accounting but also for how much the programme had helped her in terms of making her more confident and sociable.

Galea concluded by explaining how Gem16+’s policy is simply that students are not just a number. “Each student has a name, a background and aspirations. We just want them to enjoy their time with us and to put them on the road to success. Every student that enrols with us is a personal victory because I know that we will work with that student to get them to the point they want to be at.”