Education in Malta : a handbook

Abstract

When did Education begin in Malta? Education cannot be divorced from civilization, and one must imagine an educational process going on during the period of the great Neolithic temples, when the people of our pre-history must have been interested in passing on from father to son, from initiate to neophyte, the craftsmanship, the art, the cult or cults they practised. We know very little of education when the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Arabs, were here. We do know, however, that the Maltese commune, maintained a school at Melina, in the later Middle Ages. The Grammar school attached to the Cathedral provided the first formal schooling we know of from our extant documents, but with the establishment of the Collegiurn Melitense in 1592, the foundations of a system were laid, destined in time to produce a University, and later a whole educational structure. The present handbook is neither a complete, nor a concise history of education in Malta. It was never intended to be. It does, however, provide the reader with a general notion about Malta's educational programme, intended to help in the formation of every individual from early childhood to adulthood, and an equal opportunity to every citizen, young and old, for the continuous development of the 'self', in the lifelong quest for education which is innate in Man. The work was planned to provide a handbook for the use of all those interested, and contains the latest legal provisions, especially the Education Act ( 1988) and school curricula, which form the basis of the educational programme for Malta. The people who laboured on the collection and organization of this handbook are quite a few; some had greater responsibility than others. It would not be fair to mention the former and not the latter. They would rather remain anonymous. They did a wonderful job. However, I am sure some would agree that there is still place for more information to be included. This may be the case for future revised editions. But I must admit that the compilers of this first edition of the handbook have indeed outlined the system in an admirable way. [excerpt]