An uneasy partnership : Malta, 1530-1565

Abstract

The recent changes in the local Matriculation History syllabus which place a new emphasis on the ability of the student to evaluate critically primary and secondary documents of historic nature have made necessary a new kind of textbook. It is the specific purpose of this series to provide such assistance to students and teachers. Each pamphlet will seek to involve the student in an active evaluation of historical evidence and at the same time provide the teacher with relevant source material. Its aim is certainly not to supplant the teacher but to supply a varied choice of exercises which will hopefully render the study of history more than an amassing of boring facts and dates. Each pamphlet will, however, not be restricted to that part of the Matriculation paper dealing with the active interpretation of historical documents. Other sections will cover the period under review amply enough to enable the student to answer the 'essay' question which will still feature in the examination paper. This it will not do by giving straight answers or personal opinions, but rather by encouraging the student to think along the right lines so as to discover on his own that truth which the study of history is meant to encourage and faster. Each pamphlet will feature a concise but exhaustive introduction. It will set ow the main aspects in a critical review. A critical reading list will provide a guide to the available books and, as far as possible, this will include works which are comparatively more accessible, though the student will have to realize that a serious study of Maltese history must involve some time in libraries employed in active research.