| CODE | LAS2039 | |||||||||
| TITLE | Educational Policy Development in Malta. What Lessons Can we Learn? | |||||||||
| UM LEVEL | H - Higher Level | |||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | |||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | |||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Centre for the Liberal Arts and Sciences | |||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This Unit is intended for educational policy makers at school, College and National level, social policy makers and students of educational and social policy, and the general public interested in educational and social policy development and its implication to national development. The Unit starts with a critical-historical overview that includes educational policy by the successive administrations of the Knights, the French and the British, as well as policy transfer and the first attempts at autochthonous educational policy development by pre- and post-Independence Maltese governments up to the 1980s and early 90s. It then analyses attempts at formulating a new educational policy paradigm from 1995 to 2012, and the carry-over and new directions of development post-2013. The discussion will explore the distinctions and links between micro (school), meso (College or equivalent), macro (national) and supranational levels of educational policy, and between policy formulation, rhetoric and enactment. It will look at issues of power, empowerment and professionalization; inequality and equity with respect to social class, gender and ethnicity; and the evolving roles of schools, parents, students, communities, and central authorities. Finally it will analyse the challenges and opportunities that are likely to inform Maltese educational policy development in the future. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the Unit the student will be able to: - Explain how educational policy developed and was enacted in successive historical periods; - Comprehend how educational policy development effects educational entitlement and attainment with respect to social class, gender and minorities; - Comprehend how educational policy interacts with issues of power, empowerment and professionalization; - Describe the continuities, compromises, raptures and new developments in educational policy developments from 1995 to date. 2. Skills: By the end of the Unit the student will be able to: - Understand and utilise key concepts such as othering, subaltern agency, coloniality, paradigm shift, policy transfer and cargo cult transfer; - Distinguish between equality and equity; - Distinguish between different policy formulation paradigms; - Distinguish between policy formulation, rhetoric and enactment; - Distinguish between the micro, meso, macro and supranational levels of policy; - Critically analyse the evolving roles of schools, parents, students, communities, and central authorities in identified examples of educational policy formulation; - Identify the challenges and opportunities that are likely to inform Maltese educational policy development in the future. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Consultative Committee on Education. (1995). Tomorrow’s Schools: Developing Effective Learning Cultures. Malta. - Fullan, M. (2011). ‘Choosing the wrong drivers for whole-system reform’. Seminar Series 204. Centre for Strategic Education. Accessed on 1st September 2016. Available at: http://michaelfullan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/13396088160.pdf - Hopkins, D. (2013). ‘Exploding the Myths of School Reform’. In School Leadership and Management. 33 (4). Routledge. - Ministry for Education and Employment (2014) Framework for the Education Strategy for Malta 2014-2024: Sustaining Foundations, Creating Alternatives, Increasing Employability. Leaflet. Ministry for Education and Employment. Malta. Accessed on 2nd July 2015. Available at: http://education.gov.mt/strategy/Documents/BOOKLET%20ESM%202014-2024%20ENG%2019-02.pdf. - Spiteri, A. (2016) Communication and Power in the Colleges: Re-viewing the Networks and Vectors of Communication and Power in the First Years of Malta’s State Colleges Reform. Education Research Monograph Series. University of Malta. Malta: Malta University Publishing. - Sultana, R.G. (ed.)(2001) Yesterday’s Schools: Readings in Maltese Educational History. PEG: Malta. Supplementary Readings: - Ball, S.J. (2013) The Education Debate. Policy and Politics in the Twenty-first Century. Chicago, USA: The Policy Press. - F. Fabri and C. Bezzina (eds) (2010) School Improvement Through School Networks: the Malta Experience. Ministry of Education, Employment and the Family. - Hargreaves, A. and Shirley, D. (2009) The Fourth Way. The Inspiring Future for Educational Change. Corwin. - Hargreaves, A., Lieberman, A., Fullan, M. and Hopkins, D. (2010) Second International Handbook of Educational Change. Stringer. - Spiteri, S (2016) ‘Developing a national quality culture for further and higher education in a post-colonial micro-state: the case of Malta’. In Malta Review of Educational Research, 10(2). Available at https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/20786. - Spiteri, S. (2009) ‘Been There, Seen It, Living It: A Five-Year Eye-Witness Account of the Genesis and Development of the New College-Based Maltese Compulsory Education Reform’. In C. Bezzina (ed.) Educational Leadership: Nurturing meaning in a Context of Change. DQSE. - Zammit Mangion, J. (1992) Education in Malta. MAS: Malta. - Zammit Mangion, J. (2000) L-Istorja ta’ l-Edukazzjoni f’Malta. Independence Publications, Kullana Kulturali: Pieta’. Key policy documents: - Ministry for Education and Employment. (2013) Early childhood education & care in Malta: The way forward http://education.gov.mt/en/resources/Documents/Policy%20Documents%202014/early%20childhood%20educ.pdf - Ministry for Education and Employment. (2014) A National Literacy Strategy for All in Malta and Gozo 2014-2019 http://education.gov.mt/en/resources/Documents/Policy%20Documents%202014/A%20national%20Literacy%20Strategy2014eng_V2.pdf - Ministry for Education and Employment. (2014) A Strategic Plan for the Prevention of Early School Leaving in Malta http://education.gov.mt/en/resources/Documents/Policy%20Documents%202014/School%20Leaving%20in%20Malta%20June%202014.pdf - Ministry for Education and Employment. (2014) Malta National Lifelong Learning Strategy 2020 https://education.gov.mt/en/resources/Pages/Education-for-All.aspx - Ministry for Education and Employment. (2015) Learning Outcomes Framework. Malta. Available at: http://www.schoolslearningoutcomes.edu.mt/en/. - Ministry for Education and Employment. Education for All policy package https://education.gov.mt/en/resources/Pages/Education-for-All.aspx - Ministry of Education (1999) Creating the Future Together: National Minimum Curriculum. Malta. - Ministry of Education (2001). Strategic Plan. National Curriculum on its Way. Report of the National Steering Committee on the Implementation of the National Minimum Curriculum. Malta. - Ministry of Education and Employment. (2012) A National Curriculum framework for All 2012. Malta. Available at: https://curriculum.gov.mt/en/Resources/The-NCF/Pages/default.aspx. - Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports. (2007) Transition from Primary to Secondary Schools in Malta. Malta. Available at: http://education.gov.mt/en/resources/Documents/Policy%20Documents/biex%20it%20tfal%20kollha%20jmorru%20ahjar.pdf. - Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment (2005). For All Children to Succeed. A New Network Organisation for Quality Education in Malta. Malta. |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Pre-Requisite knowledge, skills and competences: Degree Level of Education | |||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture, Seminar and Presentation | |||||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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