Articles written by

Mario Cutajar

Volume 1-Issue 2: November 2003

The Maltese SECE: An Evaluation

This paper attempts to present an evaluation of the Maltese Language SEC 16+ exam. The study evaluated all the components of the May 1998 Maltese SECE, reviewed changes that may have been made to any of the Exam components ever since, and strives to show how accurately a perspective is this exam giving of the students' writing skills and linguistic competence in the Maltese language. A Mixed Research Methodology is employed: a cross-sectional survey, employing self-administered questionnaires distributed to 486 First year Post-Secondary students of varying abilities, and a number of interviews with syllabus and paper setters, markers, lecturers, assistant lecturers and teachers. The evaluation is carried out on the aspects of examination format, content, level and backwash effect.
51 min read
Volume 5-Issue 1: June 2007

Educational Reform in the Maltese Islands

The political change in 1964, when the Maltese Islands became an Independent Archipelago, initiated a number of revolutionary reforms that the Maltese Education sector has been going through ever since. These last ten years have been extremely significant for Maltese Education, because of the several major measures and reforms that have been introduced. Their aim was to augment the country’s intellectual capital and provide improved quality education that will help all Maltese children to succeed. Replacing the questionable dichotomy of ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ has been, for the past decade, part of an extensive drive by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment and the Education Division to reform the education system in Malta. This paper will present a historical overview of the educational reforms aimed at devolving greater responsibilities to the schools and in particular the establishment of school networks. It will also treat the kind of leadership that has helped to sustain this transition in Maltese Education, so that schools will ‘provide improved quality education in Malta’ (Galea, 2005: xii), and the implications of educational reform in the Maltese Islands.