Literacy for School Improvement - Value Added for Malta (2004) by Charles
Mifsud, Rowena Grech, Dougal Hutchison, Jo Morrison, Peter Rudd, John Hanson
(Agenda Publishers, Malta)
In recent years ‘value-added’ techniques have been welcomed across Europe
and North America as a better means for tracking pupils’ development and
as a fairer way of establishing how much schools can contribute to their
pupils’ progress. Employing methods of sophisticated statistical analysis,
this innovative study applies the approach for the first time to Malta’s
primary schools.
Based on the work of an international team and drawing on the now well-established
tradition of research on school improvement, the study shows how aspects
of pupils’ home backgrounds facilitate or inhibit their literacy progress
between Years 2 and 5. It demonstrates that, on several measures of literacy,
the performance of Maltese children compares favourably with that of their
counterparts in England. But it also highlights the particular challenges
the cumulative effects of social disadvantage, language difficulties, special
educational needs and location can pose for a minority of pupils, families
and their schools.
Drawing on best practice, this pioneering study outlines some important strategies
for feeding back information to schools and teachers. It also offers a series
of searching questions schools might usefully ask themselves about their
current practices. As other educational systems have found to their benefit,
high-quality data on pupil performance in combination with a continuing commitment
to self-review can provide a powerful catalyst for school improvement.
Professor John Gray
Professor of Education and Dean of Research
University of Cambridge