Social justice and education : a way forward for Malta

Abstract

Since the publication of the Coleman Study, commissioned by the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare in 1966, that the socio-economic context intersects with gender, ethnicity, and other human and socially-constructed attributes, to influence life chances and - in the context of compulsory education - academic success and scholastic achievement. An analysis of the local situation will at once reveal that despite the collective efforts undertaken by the local education community, and the millions of euro invested in the education system by different governments (an appreciable slice of the country’s GDP), children of low socioeconomic status, boys more than girls, those experiencing learning difficulties and with disabilities, and children of migrants who live precariously on a quotidian basis, are generally on the receiving end of the scholastic underachievement continuum (Borg, 2019). While second-chance opportunities and lifelong, open-door education policies and provisions have reclaimed several so-called scholastic underachievers back to the educational track, many others still live a life out of education and training, characterised by serious, if not chronic, challenges to their wellbeing (Borg, Mayo et al., 2017). This article makes a case for a social-justice approach to public education; an approach that embraces the emancipatory discourse in education, emphasizes consciousness building in the area of human rights, and joins together ongoing critical reflection with informed and context-specific action.