Visions for technology education in Malta, brief history and current issues

Abstract

This paper reports briefly about the evolution of visions for technology education at secondary school level in Malta during the last 20 years. Technology education is defined in its broadest terms to encompass technical vocational education. The work describes how technology education in Malta has started as purely utilitarian, targeting primarily employment and the economy within the vocational framework commonly referred to as “trade schools”(RG Sultana, 1992). Later, technology education in Malta evolved to seek more of an academic rationalist and personal theoretical perspective especially with the inclusion of a design philosophy within the subject referred to as “Design and Technology”(Ministry of Education, 1999). Currently, design and technology education in Malta has become a compulsory core for all students within the first two years of secondary schooling (Ministry for Education and Employment, 2012). It seems that the vocational scope of technology education is reconsidered useful to balance accreditation opportunities for diverse learning styles and a vision to introduce such vocational subjects at par with traditional academic subjects existed and has been implemented (Ministry for Education and Employment, 2012). It also seems that technical vocational education is believed to help alleviate the problem of early school leavers and unqualified persons (Ministry for Education and Employment, 2014). A chronological approach is taken to review the events and the documentation available on technology education in Malta.