Country report : Malta [International symposium on career development and public policy]

Abstract

Malta, a small island in the centre of the Mediterranean with a population of 400,000, has had career guidance services since the late sixties, with a guidance unit for the education sector being set up soon after political independence from Britain in 1964 (Degiovanni, 1997; Sammut, 1997; Camilleri, 2005). Many of the structures and practices in Malta's educational system were directly inherited from the UK, including a pastoral care orientation at secondary school level which involved guidance staff in both career guidance and personal counselling work. The fledgling service, which started off with a core team of staff being trained in UK universities (Keele and Reading in the main), developed over the years, ensuring that a guidance counsellor was available for every 300 students at the secondary school level. A diploma in career guidance and counselling started being offered at the University of Malta, but with time, this diploma dropped the dual focus on guidance and counselling, leading to a situation where few 'guidance teachers' had training in career guidance. [excerpt]