More inclusive system proposed

The streaming mechanism that pigeonholes schoolchildren according to their overall exam performance will gradually be replaced with a more inclusive system based on each student's level of attainment in individual subjects.

The government's planned reform aims to do away with the distinction between the state's junior lyceums for high achievers and the lower grade area secondary schools. In order to enter the lyceums, pupils need to obtain a pass mark in all five junior lyceum exams: Maltese, English, maths, religion and social studies.

Instead, all students in state schools will move on to mixed-ability secondary schools that form part of the college system after sitting for a new form of final exam at the end of primary school, consisting of Maltese, English and maths.

More emphasis will be put on spoken languages with oral school-based tests at the end of Year 6.

The final exam will serve as a benchmark of the pupils' attainment and the students in secondary school will then be taught in groups, through a "setting" mechanism, depending on their needs in different subjects, rather than streamed into different classes as is the case now.

Unlike the junior lyceum entrance exam that is held in May, the end-of-primary exam will be held in June giving students more time to prepare.

The exam will also be offered to Church and independent schools but, for the time being, not imposed on them.

"Our aim is to move away from the pass or fail mentality and reduce the stress imposed on children through exams... We want to give them back their childhood," said Grace Grima, director general at the Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education, at the launch yesterday of a consultation document on the transition from primary to secondary school.

She stressed that the proposals are built on the positive aspects of the existing education system while doing away with methods that no longer work.

The consultation document is the result of 18 months of meetings with stakeholders - including children, parents, teachers and representatives from state, Church and private schools - and proposes implementing the reform within six years.

Another important aspect of the reform is the removal of streaming in state primary schools. Under the present system, students start being streamed in Year 5 after they undergo five centrally-set written annual exams, again in Maltese, English, maths, religion and social studies, in Year 4.

These exams will be retained under the new system but their purpose will no longer be to stream pupils, who will remain in mixed-competence classes.

The annual assessment in Years 4 and 5 will still consist of the five centrally-set written exams, plus school-based assessment in other curriculum subjects.

If approved, the new system will be phased in over a few years. It will start with students that are in Year 4 this year. Those who are in Years 5 and 6 would keep to the existing system but will be given the opportunity to re-sit one subject.

External monitoring will be introduced in the fourth year of the proposed reform (when the present Year 4 students are in Form 1) to evaluate children's learning in different areas of the curriculum in Years 4, 5 and 6 and Forms 1 and 2.

Education Minister Dolores Cristina insisted that these proposals were part of a larger reform of the education system that includes the revision of the national minimum curriculum by the end of next year.

Another two consultation documents will soon be launched. One deals with the acquisition of core competences in early primary school and the other aims at changing the secondary school-leaving certificate so that more weight is given to non-subject based activities.

The consultation document on the transition from primary to secondary school can be viewed on www.education.gov.mt and feedback can be sent to skola@gov.mt by January 15.