Tuesday, 18th November 2008 - 10:42CET
Consultation document proposes to do away with streaming
The government has published a consultation document which may lead to the streaming mechanism in state schools being replaced by a system based on determining each pupil's level of achievement in individual subjects. The new system will also see the phasing out of the Junior Lyceum, with pupils moving to mixed ability colleges.
Education Minister Dolores Cristina explained that the current streaming method starts filtering students from year four . The Education Ministry is proposing to replace that with a method of assessment that is no longer based on a pass or fail mentality and alleviates stress on students. If approved through consultation, the new system would start being implemented from students that are in year four this year.
Through the current system students start being streamed in year four and five when they undergo five centrally set written annual exams: Maltese, English, Maths, Religion and Social Studies that are marked by class teachers. On reaching year six they sit for annual school exams that are set centrally and Junior Lyceum exams in the core subjects and, based on those results, they are selected for the lyceum or area secondaries.
Through the reformed system the exams will remain, however their purpose will no longer be streaming as year five and six students will remain in mixed competence classes. The end of primary school exam – that will serve as a national benchmark - will be offered to all state, church and private schools.
The new system also puts more emphasis on spoken languages with an oral exam in English and Maltese included in the national end of primary exam that does away with the Junior Lyceum and common entrance exams. Through this system the current year four students will not move on to Junior Lyceums or Area Secondary Schools – that are to be phased out – but move on to secondary schools within the colleges where a setting mechanism will divide them according to their level of attainment in individual subjects.
External monitoring, introduced in the fourth year of the programme, will evaluate children’s learning in different areas of the curriculum in Years 4,5 and 6 and in forms 1 and 2.
The new proposed system moves away from the preparatory approach that is geared a preparing children for exams and towards a developmental method concerned with the development of those capacities which enable one to make the personal choices, decisions and judgements that autonomous living implies.
The consultation document can be viewed on www.education.gov.mt and people can send in their feedback to skola@gov.mt. The consultation comes to an end on January 15. Another two consulation documents will soon be launched. One is about the acquisition of core competences in early primary school years and the other concerns changing the secondary school leaving certificate so that half the weight would no longer be subject based.
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Comments
First of all, I think we start some technical subjects very early, causing pupils to nurture a dislike for such topics simply because it is not the right time for them to be learnt at such a young age. In particular, I refer to the science subjects.
Secondly, the approach to literature should be one of involvement. For instance, in a poetry subject, pupils should be encouraged to write their own poems, to read them out aloud and discuss them with their peers. Besides helping with the appreciation for such works, it encourages the pupil to believe in his creative abilities and their exposition to the public. Public speaking should be encouraged from a young age. We're a nation of shy people (just look at vox pops).
Thirdly, I believe religion should not be a failing subject. In a world of globalisation, pupils must be thaught that Catholicism is just one of the many Abram-Judeo religions leading to God, with no "best" religion. Developing respect for other people, irrespective of their framework of beliefs, is the key.
It is virtually impossible to use differntiated teaching methods in a class of more than 15-18 students.
I sincerely trust he is not one of those hovering round the minister urging the introduction of such potentially damaging reforms
Some of us have been in education for a long time and have nurtured some of our most gifted and talented leaders. Thank God we always insisted on serious exams as achievement measures.
In the 70's parents who could of course voted with their feet away from the system and thanks to traditional private schools spared our children from the disastrous experiments of that time which had done away with exams and automatic promotion from one year to the next
.And let us not blame the minister of that time for the disaster. It was a cadre of so called illuminated educationialists who seized the opportunity to experiment with our children.
Why is it that children without parental assistance will now remain in the same situation and move forward whereas those who want to study will end up part of those who do not want to learn.
After the electricity and water tariffs ..... now this. The government is making it's utmost to ruin this country as this is not a reform but a disform form the way it is dealing with the future of our children.
I know that you are a great educator - but you have to believe that there are other educators with somewhat more experience in education, in the classroom, than your excellent self (no sarcasm, absolutely!).
I am afraid that you are unjust when you do not consider the historical context. Indeed, I remember the context, because I was about to sit for the Form I exam in 1971-72 when ... well, when the educational system went haywire in the name of progress, and all schools were the same and all students were also the same. This signalled the birth of the Church, or as they were known then, and as they should still be known, Private Schools.
Pupils are going to be put in the same bag - no teacher is going to make assessments which will go against the interests of the school and of the class and of the student and of that same teacher's reputation, etc ... You know it; I know it. We are all human!
In conclusion, I have to urge responsibility from those putting forward their own impressions and not to declare them as facts. In the concerned document it is not being proposed that all examinations are to be removed. For instance half yearly and annual examinations are to be continued and supported by formative assessments which are to be internally and externally monitored. Emphasise is being put on core competencies i.e. Maltese, English and Mathematics and subjects like information technology and science are given due importance too. An end of year national examination at year six is also being proposed.
May I aslo remind that public meetings for consultation are set up within all 10 State Colleges during which appropriate presentations are scheduled and discussions planned. (2 of 2)
Finally, this is far from a 70's rerun. There has been, and will be, an extensive consultation process. There are 25 years of research to back up the recommendations. The reforms will come in gradually over 6 years. They are complemented by other reforms from kinder to end of Form 5 to support fully the new reform. And they are supported by the non-state sector.
I personally believe this time we have what it takes to make a real difference
Who is going to stop this?
The present situation speaks for itself about the disaster we have in schools with many youths leaving without being able to read or write.
How about checking the figures of illiteracy in the 70's and compare them with the present figures before you make allegations?
Re exams, I don't think that they should be done away with, but it is stupid to expect children or anyone for that matter to remember certain things such as dates which will be of no use in life such as referred to by another correspondent.
As one of the 70's 'guinea pigs' I experienced Agatha Barbara's experiment first hand and I assure one and all it was a total disaster. This new system is a direct throwback to those days. Only God knows how a handful of people managed to get through that educational jungle unscathed. The rest perished (academically speaking of course!).
I agree perfectly. Only the private secondary schools did well in the 70's because the best students opted to go to them.
Prosit for your comment.
'Fin natura frotta hazina thassar it tajba, u mhux wahda tajba tfejjaq il hazina'
I don't know who is coming up with such ideas practically on all issues we are living today.
i. I don't think that the cause of all this is streaming. The fact that students have different abilities is undeniable, added to this is the fact that students have problems such as those due to broken families. I pinpoint the problems associated with students' capabilities to learn at an early stage to the lack of resources during the primary years. Education department should be more concerned about having more teachers, facilitators, psychologists etc then with the actual streaming process. I don't think that mixed ability classes will ever function.
ii. exams will always be a good metric by which to measure students' abilities, these however could be made to be more intelligent and to test various aspects of the students' capabilities and not just their memory, allowing students to be creative and innovative in their expressions.
up to Year 6 ? They should have the right to sit for the Common Entrance Examination.
I have the right to choose the school for my son. What is our situation now?
This setting (grouping by ability) applies to the core subjects; for the rest of the school day in a mixed-ability SCHOOL, all learners share the same experiences and activities.
Stop fantasising about practices which are good in theory but not in practice. I am speaking from a teaching experience of over 10 years. The authorities have to realise that miracles are not possible. An intelligent impaired child won't become a genius by just putting him with an intelligent child. Grouping and tailoring of programmes according to abilities, with teachers specialising in different ability categories, is the only real solution.
Without going into the merits whether a system without exams is good or bad, let’s be careful not to introduce a system which after 10 years it is discovered that it does not produce better results.
It is the madness of this century.
Obviously we do not want to learn from the failures of other countries.
I want to see how many children of Lawyers, Professors and Ministers will end up in certain schools.
As always it will be the middle class who will have also to carry this burden.
Ultimately, for those who want to succeed in something (not necessarily academic), the fact that some time you have to be examed for selection, ie show your abilities in a limited time (which inevitably requires memorising), is inescapable. So far our system introduced that concept very early, and in my opinion it was beneficial.
I agree that children should have more free time, but not use that as an excuse to eliminate exams. Just reduce them.
Even assessesments i think that these should be verified by outside persons from the education department.
No that am against the teacher's competence but one might be tempted to give that little extra mark....
It's good to see that now exams are going to be based on 3 subjects and that social studies (a vast syllabus) has been removed.
Lastly hope that a proper nation wide discussion is held, so as at least for once we come up with something concret in education and not need to change it again in the future.
The fact that the educational situation is currently far from perfect does not mean that mixed ability classes will solve the problem.
We must look closely beyond european educational theories and practices and analyse in depth how countries like Taiwan, China and Korea are achieving through their schools phenomenal academic and social success.
It is well known that the top gifted 15% of the school population rapidly lose interest in school if they are not constantly intellectually challenged. It is known that the bottom 15% have a disturbing influence in classrooms if they are not given substantial remedial support with guidance from specially trained teachers.
There are other classroom and school administration models which must be investigated before lumping all students together into mixed ability classes
By all means let us tweak the system by incorporating setting and more flexible syllabi but let us not throw a tried and tested model which is not currently delivering
for a range of causes well beyond streaming.