The newly-introduced O-Level assessment format, featuring student-based assessments (SBAs) throughout the final three years of schooling, is not going anywhere anytime soon, director general Jude Zammit, from the Ministry for Education, told The Malta Independent on Sunday.

Zammit, who is the Ministry for Education's director general for Curriculum, Lifelong Learning and Employability, said that the Ministry's focus, amid this assessment format's criticisms, is to retain and fine-tune it.

With the new SEC assessment format concluding its first cycle in this May's examination session, the director general accepted this newsroom's invitation to discuss how the first cohort of students have been handling their final three years of schooling with ongoing SBAs contributing to 30% of their final O-Level grade.

When asked whether there is a chance that authorities revert to the previous O-Level assessment format, DG Zammit dismissed this possibility from being worthy of consideration.

He said that such a decision would be a major step backwards, akin to "going back in time... before we had technology" or before schools still used to use chalk on blackboards.

"In education, we can never go back, you have to move forward," he said. "The system that we had, that was solely based on exams, worked and served its purpose for a time, until we knew better."

Zammit described that a lot of thought, research and countless discussions were put to the table before it was decided to opt for this new format at SEC level - including analysing what other foreign countries are doing. The Education Ministry will continuously collect feedback to see in which areas this system may be improved or optimised.

"We're gradually changing to make more students reach success," he said.

Zammit highlighted several benefits of the new system and SBAs, noting that this format enables students to be better aware of how they are progressing throughout the years, as it provides several new opportunities for educators to provide them with feedback on what they have been assessed on.

In contrast, through an exam-centred system, students simply receive their marks and just see whether they've passed or not, he added.

Zammit dispelled criticisms that the new O-level assessment format is too strenuous on young students' mental health.

Last October, psychiatric specialist Dr Gabriel Ellul told this newsroom that the ongoing assessments throughout the final three years of secondary school were resulting in psychiatrists around Malta observing "an increasing number of secondary school students seeking professional help". One of the primary reasons cited by Dr Ellul for this contemporary trend was the added pressures placed onto students by the SBAs through this reformed assessment model.

On this point, Zammit noted that authorities have been notified about these concerns and that they have in fact observed an increase in this trend recently. However, he does not believe that these struggles are solely the result of the introduction of SBAs - "some might attribute it to homework, some might attribute it to the high stakes, or too much work in school" he said.

While acknowledging that the SBAs may have been the straw that broke the camel's back, Zammit cautioned for people to look deeper into what is causing stress in young people nowadays. He also mentioned that high levels of stress have been observed in students of all strata; stressed high-performing students tend to feel pressured by the importance of their O-Level exams and SBAs, while many struggling students feel this way since they do not see a reliable way forward for them, according to Zammit.

Zammit said that the National Education Strategy incorporates several measures to counteract the issue of increased stress and anxiety among young students, such as enlarging the number of available extra-curricular activities, conducting more outdoor lessons and promoting more physical activity.

After being asked whether extensive workloads are pushing secondary school students to resort to the assistance of artificial intelligence, the director general emphasised that we should move towards these technologies, rather than thwart their use.

"AI should be incorporated in all of this," DG Zammit said, "We can't escape it and we'd be foolish if we try to escape it."

In this light, he commented that by incorporating these technologies, educators must amend the way they teach and how they give homework.

As an example, he recounted that a primary school recently asked some 10-year-olds to describe a fun day and ask generative AI to illustrate this into a picture. This enabled bright students to express themselves through several images and struggling students to not feel shy about only writing a few basic sentences. He added that this also turned into a lesson on using AI responsibly after it was observed that the AI-generated images added certain details which were not described by the children.

"It doesn't make sense anymore if I am a teacher and I simply give my students a 200-word essay. We know for sure: all students will use ChatGPT," he said.

According to surveys carried out by the Ministry for Education, "the absolute majority of teachers are on board" with this assessment model, while the majority of students also support the change.

Breaking down the new O-Level assessment format

O-Level examinations are a rite of passage for all Maltese youths as they mark the end of obligatory education following the end of their time spent in secondary school. This year's O-Levels are the first of their kind, however. 2025 marks the first time that SEC examinations will incorporate an SBA to make up 30% of students' global O-Level mark. O-Level examinations now make up 70% of students' final grades, rather than 100%.

Following the announcement of this assessment reform in late 2022, over the past three scholastic years (since the commencement of Year 9), students doing their O-Level exams now have been being assessed in school by their teachers. Aside from typical homework, assessments, and school tests, teachers have been made responsible for assigning their students with a grade via these SBAs which contributes to 30% of their respective subject's O-Level mark.

This means that as of 2025 onwards - with the exception of O-Levels taken up by private candidates - students taking their O-Levels take just one exam paper (Paper II), instead of two.

Just a few years ago, students doing their O-Levels would have their futures decided solely by their exams. Prior to the new system, all students took two written papers per subject, Paper I and Paper II; while taking each paper, they would hope that the questions asked would derive from the topics they felt most comfortable with in order for them to achieve the best grade possible, as well as do their utmost to keep their nerves in check.

Starting from this year's exam session, students will enter their O-Level exams already aware of the marks they have earned through SBAs from Year 9 to Year 11. Previously, this was only present for science subjects with practicals (lab work) consisting of 15% of students' final grade.

Zammit commented that knowing the SBA mark before going into their written exams is a big boost for students. He said that if a student got a high SBA mark through their hard work at school, they'd go into their written exam with a sense of reassurance that they only require a third of the available marks to achieve a passing grade, and that a top mark was still on the cards for them.

Zammit said that under the previous O-Level system, "the fact that everything depended on just a one-off exam at the end of Year 11 was not fair towards students". He described that the previous system was unsuitable to test students' personal array of abilities, but rather prioritised how successful they were in memorising knowledge by heart.

"These things, though you might have been very good at, we couldn't test them before just from a one-off exam. Now we are testing other skills that the student might have or might be good at," he said.

Zammit said that teachers are being advised by central authorities to assess students "in as many different ways as possible", so that they can evaluate what students can do. He said that through the SBAs, teachers can grade students on skills which previously could not be tested through a written exam, such as group work, creativity, managing projects, researching, discussing, and so on.

Students' SBAs will remain valid for five years after achieving them. This means that if someone wishes to upgrade their attained O-Level mark later in the future, they will have five years to do so, using their previously awarded SBA mark and by sitting for just one written exam; otherwise, they'll have to take two written exams, as private candidates do (like the preceding system).

Classification

When students receive their O-Level results later this summer, they will see three columns of scoring marked for each subject they have been assessed on. Their report cards will feature the classic scores on the grade achieved in the written exam, with the best score being a "1"; their SBA grade, out of 30, which they have known since early April and a new metric: their achieved "level".

Students may achieve one of three levels, with Level 3 being the highest - it is considered as "achieving SEC level"; through the previous system, Level 3 would equate to grades ranging from 1 to 5. A student's final level is determined by the combined marks from their SBAs and controlled assessments.

"The two marks together will give you a better chance of achieving Level 3, which everyone agrees, is a much fairer system because it's a more realistic picture of what that student can do," DG Zammit said.

Levels 1 and 2 were added so that struggling students may have a better chance to end their secondary education with certification, even if they do not qualify for Level 3. That being said, the possibility of a student failing to achieve any sort of classification still remains possible. Students opting to attain Level 1 or Level 2 certification are receiving different exam papers; Level 2 was compared to be the equivalent to Paper B under the preceding system.

"Rather than having students ending with no O-Level at all - like they were never present at school - we've included the very basic level, which is Level 1," Zammit explained. He said that the possibility for students to achieve any of these lower levels of certification for certain subjects is significant, since, in terms of lifelong learning, this could offer the possibility for these students to be granted another opportunity to continue studying in the future.

"We don't believe that students should end their scholastic years without anything - with nothing to show. At least, you need to show that you have reached the basic level, which is Level 1," he said.

While describing that SBAs may help borderline students to achieve Level 3 classification, rather than a Level 2 (or nothing under the previous format), Zammit said that authorities are striving to have a greater percentage of successful students.

"It's not like everyone will get [at least] a Level 1 - far from it," Zammit said.

He stated that through the focus shifting towards promoting learning outcomes, authorities want to end the culture where students simply study for exams and proceed to forget all the studied information days later. Hence, authorities wish to provide students with sufficient skills so that they are better equipped to pursue the things they want in the future, and not just help them achieve the "passport" to continue on to post-secondary and tertiary education.

"There is the real purpose of continuous assessment and SBAs - it's not just to get a grade, it's more about supplying better skills to students," he said. "Exams make students study just for the exam."

Zammit also sustained that this new SEC assessment model is fairer and more just towards students whose emotions get the best of them during their written exams.