Legal issues arising from Malta’s legislation on home education

Abstract

With the adoption of Act XXIX of 2019, legislators sought to reform the law governing education in Malta and legalize home education. Articles 46 and 47 of Chapter 605 of the Laws of Malta recognise the right for parents of a minor of compulsory school age to apply for home education. The legislation also stipulates the conditions under which the required authorization must be granted, albeit bound by several demanding criteria. Since this legislation raises certain legal issues, this dissertation sought to explore the following implications of this legislation. First, this dissertation investigates the stringent nature of the law. Further questioned is why the Division of Education was given so much discretion in deciding each home education application on its own merits rather than having the law stipulate specifically the grounds on which an application is to be accepted. Moreover, this dissertation examines the measures the law stipulates in terms of monitoring and investigates whether these required steps are adequate in properly safeguarding minors in home education settings. This dissertation conducted a comparative exercise to shine a light on Malta’s own home education legislation vis-à-vis other regulatory frameworks regulating home education in Europe. This comparative exercise sought to identify any overlaps and to determine whether Malta faces the same legal challenges as other countries regulating home education. The dissertation discovered that the current Maltese legislation is restrictive when it comes to home education, and chapter 3 of the dissertation compares Malta to other European states to illustrate this. Malta is viewed as one of the states with the most demanding home education laws in Europe. It has been evidenced that these restrictions found in the law are not the most effective strategy in guaranteeing that minors receive a quality education as the law is not feasible in the first place.