Maltese - Mercator Research Centre€¦ · 10 Summary statistics .....46 Endnotes ... language Maltese or il-Malti is a Semitic language, closely related to Arabic in structure and

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Maltese

The Maltese language in education in Malta

The MalTese language in educaTion in MalTa

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This document was published by the Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning with financial support from the Fryske Akademy, the Province of Fryslân, and the municipality of Leeuwarden.

© Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning, 2013

ISSN: 1570 – 12391st edition

The contents of this dossier may be reproduced in print, except for commercial purposes, provided that the extract is proceeded by a complete reference to the Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning.

This Regional dossier has been compiled by Professor Lydia Sciriha (University of Malta). Unless otherwise stated, academic data refer to the 2012/2013 school year. A draft of this Regional dossier has been reviewed by Professor Mario Vassallo (University of Malta).

AcknowledgementsThe author wishes to express her gratitude to Mr Raymond J. Camilleri, Mr Michael Pace Ross, Dr Tania Muscat, Mr Ian Mifsud, and Ms Bernadette Gerada Aloisio.

Contact information of the authors of Regional dossiers can be found in the Mercator Database of Experts (www.mercator-research.eu).

From August 2012 onwards Ineke Rienks and Saskia Benedictus-van den Berg havebeen responsible for the publication of the Mercator Regional dossiers series.

Albanian; the Albanian language in education in ItalyAsturian; the Asturian language in education in SpainBasque; the Basque language in education in France (2nd ed.)Basque; the Basque language in education in Spain (2nd ed.)Breton; the Breton language in education in France (2nd ed.)Catalan; the Catalan language in education in France Catalan; the Catalan language in education in Spain (2nd ed.)Cornish; the Cornish language in education in the UKCorsican; the Corsican language in education in France (2nd ed.)Croatian; the Croatian language in education in AustriaFrisian; the Frisian language in education in the Netherlands (4th ed.)Friulian; the Friulian language in education in ItalyGaelic; the Gaelic language in education in the UKGalician; the Galician language in education in SpainGerman; the German language in education in Alsace, France (2nd ed.)German; the German language in education in BelgiumGerman; the German language in education in South Tyrol, ItalyHungarian; the Hungarian language in education in SlovakiaHungarian; the Hungarian language in education in SloveniaIrish; the Irish language in education in Northern Ireland (2nd ed.)Irish; the Irish language in education in the Republic of IrelandItalian; the Italian language in education in SloveniaKashubian; the Kashubian language in education in PolandLadin; the Ladin language in education in ItalyLatgalian; the Latgalian language in education in LatviaLithuanian; the Lithuanian language in education in PolandMaltese; the Maltese language in education in MaltaMeänkieli and Sweden Finnish; the Finnic languages in education in SwedenNorth-Frisian; the North Frisian language in education in Germany (2nd ed.)Occitan; the Occitan language in education in FrancePolish; the Polish language in education in LithuaniaRomani and Beash; the Romani and Beash languages in education in HungarySami; the Sami language in education in SwedenScots; the Scots language in education in ScotlandSlovak; the Slovak language in education in HungarySlovene; the Slovene language in education in Austria (2nd ed.)Slovene; the Slovene language in education in Italy (2nd ed.)Sorbian; the Sorbian language in education in GermanySwedish; the Swedish language in education in Finland (2nd ed.)Turkish; the Turkish language in education in GreeceUkrainian and Ruthenian; the Ukrainian and Ruthenian language in education in PolandVõro; the Võro language in education in EstoniaWelsh; the Welsh language in education in the UK

Contents

Glossary ..............................................................................2

Foreword ..............................................................................3

1 Introduction...........................................................5

2 Pre-schooleducation..........................................20

3 Primaryeducation..............................................22

4 Secondaryeducation..........................................26

5 Vocationaleducation..........................................31

6 Highereducation................................................33

7 Adulteducation...................................................37

8 Educationalresearch..........................................39

9 Prospects............................................................41

10 Summarystatistics.............................................46

Endnotes................................................................................50

EducationsysteminMalta......................................................52Referencesandfurtherreading..............................................53Addresses...............................................................................58

Otherwebsitesonminoritylanguages...................................65

WhatcantheMercatorResearchCentreofferyou?..............66

ContentsGlossary2Foreword 31 Introduction52 Pre-schooleducation203 Primaryeducation 224 Secondaryeducation265 Vocationaleducation316 Highereducation 337 Adulteducation 378 Educationalresearch399 Prospects 4110 Summarystatistics 46Endnotes 50EducationsysteminMalta 52Referencesandfurtherreading 53Addresses 58Otherwebsitesonminoritylanguages 65WhatcantheMercatorResearchCentreofferyou? 66

Education and lEssEr usEd languagEs

2

Glossary

BTEC BusinessandTechnologyEducationCouncilCARD CollectingandArchivingResearchontheDialectsofMaltaand

GozoITS InstituteofTourismStudiesMCAST MaltaCollegeofArts,ScienceandTechnologyNCF NationalCurriculumFrameworkNMC NationalMinimumCurriculumNSO NationalStatisticsOfficePGCE PostGraduateCertificateinEducationSEC SecondaryEducationCertificateMATSEC MatriculationandSecondaryEducationCertificateExaminations

Board

thE MaltEsE languagE in Education in Malta

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Foreword

background The Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualismand Language Learning aims at the acquisition, circulation,and application of knowledge in the field of regional andminority language education. Regional or minority languagesarelanguagesthatdifferfromtheofficiallanguageofthestatewhere they are spoken and that are traditionally used withina given territory by nationals of that state forming a groupnumericallysmallerthantherestofthestate’spopulation.Forseveral yearsan importantmeans for theMercatorResearchCentre to achieve the goal of knowledge acquisition andcirculationhasbeentheRegionaldossiersseries.Thesuccessofthisseriesillustratesaneedfordocumentsstatingbrieflythemostessentialfeaturesoftheeducationsystemofregionswithanautochthonouslesserusedlanguage.

aim Regional dossiers aimat providing a concise description andbasicstatisticsaboutminoritylanguageeducationinaspecificregionofEurope.Aspectsthatareaddressedincludefeaturesof the education system, recent educational policies, mainactors, legalarrangements,andsupportstructures,aswellasquantitativeaspects,suchasthenumberofschools,teachers,pupils,andfinancial investments.Thiskindof informationcanserveseveralpurposesandcanberelevantfordifferenttargetgroups.

target group Policymakers, researchers, teachers,students,and journalistsmay use the information provided to assess developments inEuropean minority language schooling. They can also use aRegionaldossierasafirstorientationtowardsfurtherresearchorasasourceofideasforimprovingeducationalprovisionsintheirownregion.

link with Inordertolinktheseregionaldescriptionswiththoseofnationaleducationsystems,theformatoftheregionaldossiersfollowsthe format used by Eurydice, the information network oneducation in Europe. Eurydice provides information on the

Eurydice


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administration and structure of national education systems inthememberstatesoftheEuropeanUnion.

contents Theremainderof thisdossierconsistsofan introductionto theregionunderstudy,followedbysixsectionseachdealingwithaspecific levelof theeducationsystem.Thesebriefdescriptionscontainfactualinformationpresentedinareadilyaccessibleway.Sectionseight to tencover research,prospects, andsummarystatistics.Fordetailedinformationandpoliticaldiscussionsaboutlanguage use at the various levels of education, the reader isreferredtoothersourceswithalistofpublications.


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1 Introduction

language Malteseoril-MaltiisaSemiticlanguage,closelyrelatedtoArabicin structure and morphology though unlikeArabic, Maltese iswritten from left to right and in the Latin script. Linguistically,theArabswhocolonisedMaltaforslightlymorethan200years(870-090), left an indeliblemarkon theMaltese language.Sodidsubsequentcolonisers,notablytheOrderofStJohn(1530-1798), the French (1798-1800) and the British (1800-1964)as is evident by the number of Romance and English wordsinMaltese. In fact, according to Brincat’s (2011) etymologicalanalysis of the lexical entries in Joseph Aquilina’s Maltese-EnglishDictionary(1987-1990),only32.41%areSemiticwords,while a staggering 60.23%are non-Semiticwords; 3.63%arelocal formationsonSemiticorRomancebasisand3.72%arewordswhoseetymologyisunknown.

TheMaltesearchipelagocomprisesMalta,GozoandComino

withtheoverwhelmingmajorityoftheMalteseresidinginMalta,thelargestofthethreeislands.ThetotalsurfaceareaofMaltais thatof 246square kilometresand its largest distance fromthenorth-west to thesouth-west isabout27kilometres inaneast-westerlydirection.Malta isonly93kilometresaway fromSicily and 288 kilometres from the North African mainland,whileGibraltaris1,826kilometrestotheeast.Maltaliesatthevery heart of the Mediterranean and its strategic importancecontributedtoitschequeredhistory.

This dossier focusses exclusively on the Maltese languagespokenby theMaltese living in theMaltesearchipelago, anddoesnot include information on its useor status in theothercountries which are also home to thousands of speakers ofMaltese.

population In Malta, censuses have been taken every ten years since1842.Thelastcensustookplace in2011,onlysixyearsfromthe penultimate one (2005) on account of the fact that as amemberstateoftheEuropeanUnion,Maltahadtocomplywith


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a European Parliament and Council regulation on populationand housing censuses that stipulated that every EUmemberstatehadtoconductacensusin2011.

Data published byMalta’s National Statistics Office (L-UffiċċjuNazzjonali tal-Istatistika; hereafter: NSO) reveal that over aperiodof100years,thepopulationofMaltanearlydoubled(1911:211,564;2011:416,055).Moreover,non-Maltesenationalsnowcomprise4.8%ofthepopulationofMalta–astaggeringincreaseof65.8%overthe2005census(MaltaCensus2011PreliminaryReport,2012).

MaltaisthemostdenselypopulatedcountrywithintheEuropeanUnion,withanaverageof1,320personspersquarekilometrewhen compared to a mere average of 116.6 persons persquare kilometre for the EU (MaltaCensus 2011PreliminaryReport,2012).

language proficiency Whereas the Census 2005 (National Statistics Office, 2007)

questionnaire specifically included two questions related to (i)languageuseat homeand (ii) languageproficiency in six lan-guages(Maltese,English,Italian,French,German,andArabic),intheCensus2011questionnaire,onlythequestiononlanguageproficiency was included. Although the Census 2011 data onlanguage proficiency have not yet been published, provisionaldataobtainedfromtheNationalStatisticsOffice1revealthattheoverwhelmingmajority(91.6.%)ofthepopulationdescribedtheirproficiency in spokenMaltese as ‘very good’, 2.4% rated it as‘average’,while2.2%saidthattheyhave‘verylittle’proficiencyinthelanguage.Amere3.2%ofthepopulationdeclarednotknow-ingMaltese‘atall’,while0.6%didnotanswerthequestion.

As regards language use in the home domain, the data arenot thatrecentandhavebeenobtainedfromtheCensus2005report:theoverwhelmingmajority(90.2%)ofthepopulationaged10 years andover, declaredMalteseas themain languageofverbalinteractionathome.“For6%ofthepopulationinthisage


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bracket it wasEnglish; a small fraction stated that they speakanother languagewhich is neitherMaltesenorEnglish, as thelanguage of interaction at home, while another 3% returnedspeakingmorethanonelanguage”(Census2005Report,p.xlii).

Furthermore,ananalysisofthe2005Censusfindingsbydistrictrevealsthatasahomelanguage,Malteseisnotequallystrongacross the Maltese islands. Effectively, it is strongest in theSouthern Harbour District (97.1%), followed by the SouthernEasterndistrict(94.9%)andtheWesternDistrict(91.7%).It isleast strong in theNorthernHarbourandNorthernDistrict (at84.3%each). InGozoandComino, the other smaller islandswhichareconsideredasadistricton theirown, the incidenceofMaltesewas registered in2005at93.7%.Figures1and2graphicallyportraythegeographicaldistributionofthedistrictsandtheratingsinhistogramformatrespectively.

Figure 1: Malta by district. (Source: Adapted from NSO Census 2005 Report Vol.1).


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Figure 2: The strength of Maltese as a home language in Malta’s districts. (Source: NSO, Census 2005 Report Vol.1).

language status Although Malta’s indigenous language had been spoken forseveralcenturies, itonlyobtainedofficialstatus in1934.Priortothattime,Italianwastheofficiallanguageandthelanguageof the highly educated, commonly referred to as the ‘literati’.As a result, most Maltese intellectuals tended to look downonspeakersofMaltese,since toall intentsandpurposes theindigenouslanguagewasforthemmerely,‘thelanguageofthekitchen’.

WhenMaltabecameanIndependentStatewithintheCommon-wealthin1964,thenewConstitutionhighlightedtheimportanceofMaltesebygivingitbothanationalandanofficialstatus.

Chapter1,Article5of theConstitutionofMalta (1964) (Il-Ko-stituzzjoni ta’Malta) laysdown theofficial languages togetherwiththestatusofMalteseasthenationallanguageanditsuseindifferentdomains:

“(1) TheNationallanguageofMaltaistheMalteseLanguage.

(2)The Maltese and the English languages and such otherlanguage as may be prescribed by Parliament (by a law


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passedbynotlessthantwo-thirdsofallthemembersoftheHouse of Representatives) shall be the official languagesofMaltaandtheAdministrationmayforallofficialpurposesuseanyofsuchlanguages:Providedthatanypersonmayaddress theAdministration inanyof theofficial languagesandthereplyoftheAdministrationtheretoshallbeinsuchlanguage.

(3)ThelanguageoftheCourtsshallbetheMalteselanguage:ProvidedthatParliamentmaymakesuchprovisionfortheuseoftheEnglishlanguageinsuchcasesandundersuchconditionsasitmayprescribe.

(4)TheHouse of Representativesmay, in regulating its ownprocedure,determinethelanguageorlanguagesthatshallbeusedinParliamentaryproceedingsandrecords.”

Moreover, in 1994 the Maltese Government stepped up itseffortstoprotectandpromotefurtherthenational languagebysetting up a Maltese Language Review Board, even thoughthe status of Maltese had been enshrined in the Constitutionfordecades.Subsequently, inMay2001, thisBoardpublishedthe report ‘A Strategy for the National Language’ (‘Strateġijagħal-LingwaNazzjonali’),writtenbyManuelMifsud.Mostoftherecommendationsinthisreportweresubsequentlyincorporatedin theMaltese LanguageAct (2005) (Att Dwar L-IlsienMalti).ThroughthisAct,theNationalCounciloftheMalteseLanguage(Il-KunsillNazzjonali tal-IsienMalti;hereafter:Kunsill),wassetup“topromotea languagepolicyandstrategy for theMalteseislandsandtoverifytheirperformanceandobservanceineverysector ofMaltese life, for the benefit and development of thenationallanguageandtheidentityoftheMaltesepeople.”Article5statesthattheCouncil“(1)shallpromotetheMalteseLanguageboth in Malta and in other countries by engaging activelyto foster recognition and respect for the national language;

(2)updatetheorthographyoftheMalteselanguageasnecessaryand, from time to time,establish thecorrectmannerofwritingwordswhichentertheMalteselanguagefromothertongues.”


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Maltese isnotonlyofficial in theMaltesearchipelago,butonthe8thMay2002, twoyearsbeforeMaltabecameamemberstate of the European Union theMaltese language was alsoaccordedofficiallanguagestatuswithintheUnion.

status of Since Maltese had been an overwhelmingly spoken, ratherthanwrittenlanguageformanyyears, itwasimportantforthealphabettobestandardisedsothattherewouldbeoneuniformwriting system. Standardisation commenced in 1920 and in1934theneworthographywasofficiallyapproved.

The systematic teaching of Maltese started in earnest in theearly 20th century, even though in1895MikielAntonVassalli2

had already proposed that Maltese should also be taught atschool.Although primary educationwas available and free intheearly20thcentury,therewererelativelyfewprimaryschoolsand not many children were sent to school then. Only afterWorldWarII,in1946,dideducationbecomecompulsory.Sincethen,Maltesehasalwaysbeenoneofthecoresubjectstaughttoallchildrenatbothprimaryandsecondarylevels.

Article3 (1) (a) to (e)of theMalteseLanguageAct seals thesalienceofMalteseineducationandinsocietyatlarge:

“(a)Maltese is the language ofMalta and a fundamental ele-mentofthenationalidentityoftheMaltesepeople.

(b)The Maltese Language is an essential component of theMaltese Language national heritage, being constantly de-velopedinthespeechoftheMaltesepeople,distinguishingthe Maltese people from all other nations and giving thesamepeopletheirbestmeansofexpression.

(c)The Maltese State recognises the Maltese Language asa strongexpressionof the nationality of theMaltese, andfor thatpurposeacknowledges itsunique importance,andprotectsitfromdeteriorationandperdition.

(d) TheMalteseStateshallmakeprovisioninsuchmannerthatthestudyof theMalteseLanguage in its linguistic, literary

languageeducation


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and culturalmanifestations shall always be given primaryimportance in both state and other schools from the veryfirstyearsofeducationofallMaltesecitizens;

(e) TheMalteseStateshallpromotethroughallpossiblemeansthewidestuseoftheMalteseLanguageineducation,broad-casting and themedia, at the law courts, and in political,administrative,economic,socialandculturallife.”

education Unlike most countries in the European Union where formalschoolingcommencesattheageof6or7,inMaltacompulsoryformal schooling starts at the age of 5 and ends at 16. Thisnotwithstanding,mostchildrenattendpre-school fromtheagesof3to5years.Whereastheprimarycyclecomprisessixyears,thesecondarycycleisslightlyshorterandisfiveyearslong.

In Malta there are three types of schools: state, church andindependent schools. According to Eurydice (2009), theoverwhelming majority of children attend state schools whichare free (68.7%), while 22.4% go to church (government-dependent3) or to fee paying Independent schools (8.9%)(government-independent). This means that a total of 31.3%of children are not enrolled in state schools. More recentunpublished data by the Quality Assurance Department, onLearnerDistributionasatFebruary2013revealthatatprimarylevel 56.7% of children attend state schools, while 43.3% goto non-state schools (church: 31.0%; independent: 12.3%).Atsecondary level, slightly lower percentages are registered forthoseattendingstate(56.3%)andindependentschools(10.0%),whiletherearemarginallyhigherpercentagesofthosewhogotochurchschools(33.7%).Thus,atsecondary level,atotalof43.7%attendnon-stateschools(churchandindependent)whencomparedwith56.3%whogotostateschools.4

In line with the setting up of School networks in 2006, Stateschools are now grouped into colleges, with each collegeincludingbothprimaryandsecondaryschoolsscatteredinthedifferent localities. Article 49 of the Education Act (Att DwarL-Edukazzjoni)outlinestheaimsoftheschoolnetworksystem

system


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soas to improve: “thequality,standards,operation, initiativesandeducationalachievementsinStateschools,thereshallbeestablishedthoseColleges,insuchmannerasitmayfromtimetotimeappeartotheMinistertobenecessaryinMaltaandinGozo, which shall network within them State boys and girlsschools,andwhichwouldensureeducationalexperienceandservices in a full land continuous process starting from earlychildhood education, and through the primary and secondarylevels.EveryCollegeshallbeundertheresponsibility,guidanceand administration of a Principal.” Primary and secondaryschoolsarenetworkedtogetherandarenowundertheumbrellaofColleges.

Before the College system was introduced, schools used toworkontheirownwithissuesbeingclarifiedwithHeadOffice.Therewasnonetworkingbetweenschools.Now thesituationhas changed. Schools forming part of a College networkmeet through the ‘College of Heads’ on a roughly once amonthbasis.WithineachCollege thereareaboutsix toeightfeederprimaryschools(whichareco-educational)eachwithasecondaryschoolforboysandanotherforgirls.Therearestilla fewCollegeswhere the formersecondary (areaandJuniorLyceum)schoolsarebeingphasedoutsothateventuallytherewillbetwentysecondaryschools,twoforeachCollege.Thereis also a secondary co-educational school for athletes whichstartedlastyearatStBenedict.ThenewGovernmentislookingatthepossibilityofhavingco-educationalschoolsatsecondarylevel,sothesystemmightwellchangeinthefuture.

Asregardsnon-stateschools,until1991,parentssendingtheirchildrentochurchschoolspaidtuitionfees.However,followingaChurch-StateagreementonthedevolutionofChurchpropertytotheState,whichwassignedbytheHolySeeandMaltaonthe28thNovember1991,thesereligiousschoolsarenownon-feepaying,andthegovernmentpaysthesalariesofallthechurchschools’ teaching and non-teaching staff. The implementationof this Agreement was enacted in 1992 by means of theEcclesiastical Entities Properties Act (Att Dwar Propjetà Ta’Entijiet Ekklesjastiċi). However, monetary contributions areexpectedby theadministratorsof theseschools tohelpcover


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costs related to teaching tools and the general upkeep of theschool.Entryintosuchschoolsisbymeansofaballotsystemat the primary level. On account of this new system, churchschoolsnowenrolahealthymixofchildrenfromdifferentsocio-economicbackgrounds.

There are fewer independent schools than church schools,

with most independent schools having been established inthe last two decades or so, although some schoolswere setup earlier. Though both church and independent schools areconsideredasnon-state institutionsof learning, unlike churchschools, independentschoolscharge tuition feesandparentsofchildrenwhoattend independentschools tend tobelong tothe professional and business classes (Cilia & Borg, 1997).IndependentschoolsarenothelpedfinanciallybytheState,butthegovernmenthasrecentlyintroducedtaxrebatestoparentswhosechildrenattendsuchschools.

private and InMalta, there are three typesof schools: state, churchandindependentschools.Moreinformationonthesedifferenttypesof schools has been given above in the section education system (p.11).

bilingual Malta is officially bilingual in both Maltese and English. Thepredominantuseofeitherof these two languages is tosomeextentdependentonthetypeofschooloneattends.ResearchconductedbySciriha(1997,1998)hasshownthatthemediumofinstructioninstateschoolsand,toalesserextent,inchurchschools is overwhelmingly Maltese, whereas English-basedinstructionisafeatureofindependentschools.

administration TheStateisresponsibleforallstateschoolsandasnotedearlier,italsofinanciallysupportschurchschools.Moreover,withregardto the schools’ academic content, it is theState that regulatesthecurriculumforallschools.Article7oftheEducationActlaysdownthatitistherightoftheStatetoregulateeducation:

public

education forms


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7. ItshallbetherightoftheState–

“(a) toestablishaNationalCurriculumFrameworkofstudiesforallschools;

(b) toestablishthenationalminimumconditionsforallschools;and

(c) tosecurecompliancewiththeNationalCurriculumFrame-workofstudiesandthenationalminimumconditionsforallschools.”

Together with English and mathematics, Maltese is a coresubjectinthecurriculumofallprimaryandsecondaryschoolsin Malta and an entry requirement to institutions of furthereducation.

The official languages of theUniversity ofMalta (Statute (1.1,Education Act) and the Malta College of Arts, Science andTechnology(Article88,EducationAct)areMalteseandEnglish,andfor thisreasontheadministrationmayuseeither languageforofficialpurposes.

the National Curriculum Framework The National Curriculum Framework (Il-Qafas tal-Kurrikulu

Nazzjonali; hereafter: NCF), which replaces the 1999NationalMinimumCurriculum (Il-KurrikuluMinimuNazzjonali; hereafter:NMC),wasofficiallylaunchedonthe14thFebruary2013bytheDirectorGeneralforQualityandStandardsinEducationandtheMinister ofEducationandEmployment.Theprocess todevisethis NCF started in 2008 and in 2011 the draft documents oftheNCFwereupforconsultation.WhileConsultationdocument1 provides an Executive Summary (Ministry of Educationand Employment, 2011a), the Rationale and Components are presented in document 2 (Ministry of Education andEmployment, 2011b). Consultation document 3 (Ministry ofEducationandEmployment,2011c)discussesthethreecycles,namely theearly,primaryandsecondaryyearswhileTheWay


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ForwardisdiscussedinDocument4(MinistryofEducationandEmployment, 2011d). The National Curriculum Framework for All 2012 (Ministry of Education andEmployment, 2012)whichintegratesthefourconsultationdocumentswillcomeinforceasfromthescholasticyear2013-2014.

“For the first time in Malta’s educational history, the longawaitedframework–whichhasbeendelayedduetoextendedconsultation – sets the minimum number of hours studentsareentitled to invarioussubjectareas. Individualschoolsarethen left free to choose how to spend a certain number ofschool-based hours. According to the Minister of Education,an important aspect of the NCF is the fact that there is ‘astrong element of flexibility so that individual schools couldtailor their teaching according to the needs of the students.ThisentitlementapproachwillbeimplementedinStateschoolswhileChurchand Independentschoolscanconsideradoptingthesystem”(Calleja,2013;p.1).

language policy Todate,theNationalCurriculumFrameworkdoesnotoutlinea

languagepolicyregardingthelanguageofinstructioninMalta’sofficialbilingualcontext,thoughthepreviousNationalMinimumCurriculumdidstipulateMaltese,asthelanguageofinstructionforsomesubjects,andEnglishforothers.

ThefactthatthenewNationalCurriculumFrameworkdoesnotyetincludeaspecificlanguagepolicydoesnotmeanthatitwillnot be establishing parameterswith regard to themedium ofinstruction,butitisalltoocognizantofthefactthatsuchataskisnomeanfeat.

In fact, theofficialdocumentstates:“TheNCFrecognisestheneed for clear direction on the language of instruction andassessmentaspartofa revampednationalLanguagePolicy.Suchapolicyisacomplexmatterwhichneedstoaddress:

• entitlementissues –studentsneedtobecomeproficientin


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MalteseandEnglishandpreferablyinanotherlanguagefortheirfullsocial,culturalandeconomicintegration.

• culturalissues –therightfulplaceofMalteseasanexpres-sionofournational identity; thepreference forEnglishasthefirstlanguageofaminorityofourpopulation;thediversenationalitiesofstudents inschools;overcomingprejudicesorperceptionsrelatedtootherlanguagesandcultures.

• implementation issues – theuseof language/s indifferentlearning areas; language of assessment; the 1999 NMCrecommendation that schoolsdevelop theirown languagepolicyaccordingtotheirownneeds.

• professional issues – teachers who are proficient in bothEnglish and Maltese; the development of resources inMalteseand inEnglishasnecessary; thedevelopmentofMalteseforspecificpurposes;theneedtoheighteninterestinandaccessresourcesforotherlanguages.

• economicissues –theneedtohaveproficiencyinEnglishforcompetitivenessinaglobalisedeconomicenvironment;the importance of foreign languages for the fostering ofinternational relations” (MinistryofEducationandEmploy-ment,2012;p.41).

For this reason, a ministerial committee on language policywassetupand it isexpected that in thenext fewmonths, theDirectorGeneraloftheDirectorateforQualityandStandardsinEducation,will“integratetherecommendationsofthelanguagepolicy committee in the working of the Learning OutcomeFrameworkBoard”(MinistryofEducationandEmployment,2012;p.26).ThisBoardwhichwillbesetupbytheDirectorGeneralfor Quality and Standards in Education will be responsible“for setting up LearningAreas Panels for the designing of thelearningoutcomesandmonitoringofthedifferentlearningareas”(MinistryofEducationandEmployment,2012:p.26).

Itisimportanttohighlightthefactthatinthisdossierreferencewill also be made to the previous 1999 National MinimumCurriculum,whichisstillinforce,andwhichincludesalanguagepolicy,albeitnotadetailedone.


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inspection The functions and duties with regard to the inspection ofeducation by the Directorate for Quality and Standards inEducation(DirettoratGħalKwalitàuStandardsfl-Edukazzjoni)withintheMinistryofEducationandEmployment(Ministerutal-Edukazzjoni u x-Xogħol) are outlined in theEducationAct byArticles18(1)to(2)and19(1)to(2):

“18.(1) TheDirectorateforQualityandStandardsinEducationshall have an Educational Inspectorate which provides aprofessional service of support, guidance, monitoring, in-spection,evaluationandreportingontheprocessofteach-inginschools,ontheapplicationofthecurriculum,syllabi,pedagogy, assessment and examinations, and on the ad-ministration,andontheassuranceandauditingofqualityinCollegesandschools.

(2)TheDirectorGeneraloftheDirectoratementionedintheprecedingsubarticleshallhavesuchEducationOfficersandotherofficersasnecessaryfortheexecutionofthefunctionsof the Education Inspectorate and those other functionswhicharerelated to thegeneral implementationof thisActorofanyregulationsmadethereunder,andalsotoperformsuch work as may be necessary to assure and audit thequalityinCollegesandschools,andtoperformsuchdutiesasmaybeassignedtothembytheDirectorGeneral.

19.(1) Such officers, with relevant qualifications as may benecessary and duly authorised in writing by the DirectorGeneral of the Directorate for Quality and Standards inEducation, shall have the power to enter in any College,school,classorplaceofinstruction,andinspectandreporton the teaching process, the physical environment, andthe observance of the conditions, standards, policies andregulationsestablishedandmadebyvirtueofthisAct.

(2) Colleges, schools and educational institutions, publicand private, shall provide any information and accessrequestedby theseofficersas theymaydeemnecessary


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fortheimplementationofthefunctionsoftheDirectorateforQualityandStandardsinEducation.”

It is the Director General of the Directorate who employsEducationOfficersandother officers to inspect andaudit thequalityinallschools.

Article11(1)oftheEducationActlaysdowntheestablishmentofanewDirectorate forEducationalServices (DirettoratGħalServizziEdukattivi)anditsfunctionstosupportschools:

“11.(1)ItshallbethegeneralfunctionoftheDirectorateforEdu-cationalServicesinconstantcollaborationwiththeCollegesand schools, to plan, provide and allocate the resources,human and otherwise, services, and learning tools, bothof a pedagogical, psychosocial,managerial and operativenatureandotherancillarysupporttools,asrequiredintheStatecolleges,schoolsandeducationalinstitutions,andtoencourageandfacilitatetheirnetworkingandcooperation.”

Assessment of activities concerning all subjects includingMaltese, are carried out by the Directorate for Quality andStandards in Education through its Education Officers. ThisDirectorate is also in charge of distributing textbooks andconductingin-servicetrainingcoursesforteachers.

Inaddition,aspreviouslymentioned,bymeansof theMalteseLanguage Act (2005) the Kunsill Nazzjonali tal-Ilsien Malti(National Council of theMaltese Language; hereafter: Kunsill)wasestablished.PriortothesettingupoftheKunsill,itwastheAkkademja tal-Malti (Academy of Maltese) ‒ previously calledtheGħaqda tal-Kittieba tal-Malti (Maltesewriters’Group)‒ thatendeavoured to cultivate and nurture the Maltese language.In fact, it was the Għaqda tal-Kittieba tal-Malti which in 1920embarked on standardising the Maltese orthography. Morerecently,theKunsill hasalsotakenimportantdecisionsregardingMaltese orthography. In fact, as stipulated in Article 5 (2) oftheMalteseLanguageAct: “TheCouncil shall also update the

support structure


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orthography of theMaltese Language as necessary and, fromtimeto time,establish thecorrectmannerofwritingwordsandphraseswhichentertheMalteseLanguagefromothertongues.”

However, it is important to point out that the remit of theKunsill5 goes beyond issues regarding the standardisation oftheMalteseorthography; it also includesproposals related toMaltese languagepolicyasstated inArticle4(1)“Thereshallbeabody,tobeknownastheNationalCounciloftheMalteseLanguage,havingtheaimofadoptingandpromotingasuitablelanguage policy and strategy and to verify their performanceandobservance ineverysectorofMaltese life, for thebenefitanddevelopmentof thenational languageand the identity oftheMaltesepeople.”

Asonecansee,thesituationregardingtheMalteselanguageisconstantlyevolving,andchangesmightbeundertakeninthenearfuture.Whatfollowsinsections2to7 isadescriptionofthesituationasitisatthetimeofwriting,i.e.inthefirstquarterof2013.


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2 Pre-school education

target group Children from 3 to 5 years may attend kindergarten but it isnot compulsory for them to do so. Kindergarten classes areavailabletoallchildrenandarealsoprovidedbythethreemajorinterested stakeholders in the education provision services,namely,stateschools,churchandindependentschools.

structure State kindergarten classes are in general available in mostlocalities and are free of charge. Children are registered inschoolsat theearliestwhen they turn2yearsand9months.Kindergarten education, though not compulsory, is the firststeptowardspreparingchildrentoenter into theprimary levelof education. At kindergarten level, children learn the basicliteracy and social skills through play with their classmates.Churchandindependentschoolsalsorunkindergartenclasses.Even though “attendance at kindergarten centres for 3 and4-year-olds is not compulsory some 80% of 3-year-olds and95% of 4-year-olds attend kindergarten centres available intheState,ChurchandintheIndependentsectors”(MinistryofEducationandEmployment,2011c;p.11).

legislation Since school attendance is not compulsory until the age offive years, there is no law that enforces parents to send theirchildrentokindergartencentres.Article43(3)of theEducationAct states that: “the statemay provide school for infants whoare under compulsory school age.”This notwithstanding, suchcentresareavailableinallthreetypesofschools(state,churchand independent) and the most recent unpublished data bythe Quality Assurance Department on Learner Distribution bySector,asatFebruary2013,revealthatthehighestpercentageofchildren(70.7%)attendstatekindergartens,whilst17.8%and11.5%respectivelygotoindependentandchurchkindergartens.6

language use Particularly in the state and to a slightly lesser extent churchschools, the language used by the teacher during groupactivitiesandwhentheteacherspeaksindividuallytothechild,is generally Maltese, although English words are also used.


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The linguistic scenario is somewhat different in independentschools where English is more likely to be the language ofcommunication, although some children do interact with theirpeersinMaltese.

teaching At this level there is no formal teaching and children areinitiated in elementary numeracy and literacy skills throughplay.ChildrenattendingkindergartensessionsareexposedtoalotofbooksinbothMalteseandEnglishthroughstorytellingsessions7.

statistics

District State Church Independent Total

Southern Harbour 1,318 226 325 1,869

South Eastern 1,067 77 12 1,156

Northern Harbour 1,214 380 820 2,414

Western 815 250 191 1,256

Northern 833 119 203 1,155

Malta 5,247 1,052 1,551 7,850

Gozo and Comino 320 221 - 541

Table 1: Number of students in pre-primary education, by sector and district: 2007/2008 (Source: Education Statistics 2007/2008 NSO Malta).

Pre-primary education

Males 17

Females 742

Total 759

Table 2: Teaching staff in pre-primary education by gender: 2007/2008 (Source: Education Statistics 2007/2008 NSO Malta).

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3 Primary education

target group Eurydice(2009)mentionsMaltaasoneofthefewcountriesintheEuropeanUnionwherecompulsoryschoolingcommencesat theageof 5; for themajority of countries in theEuropeanUnion,thefirstyearofcompulsoryschoolingstartsat6years.Compulsory education is 11 years long and ends when thechildis16yearsofage.State,churchandindependentprimaryschoolscaterforchildrenfrom5yearsuntil11yearsofage.

structure Malta’s Education Act provides the general framework. Allteachingprogrammesworkedoutbytheschoolsneedtoabideby the National Minimum Curriculum, and eventually by theNationalCurriculumFrameworkwhenthiswillbeimplemented.

InviewofMalta’sofficialbilingualism,bothMalteseandEnglishare formally taught fromgrade1with the core subjects beingMaltese,EnglishandMathematics.Inparticular,Eurydice(2009;p.201)mentionsthefact that“Inmostcountries,mathematicstakes second place in terms of recommended taught-time.Malta is the only country in which compulsory mathematicsteachingisallocatedproportionallymoretimethanthelanguageofinstruction(19%comparedto15%).Maltaalsohasitsownparticularreasonsforspendingmoretimeonforeignlanguageteaching–MalteseandEnglisharebothofficiallanguages.”

At the end of Year 6 of primary school “a national end-of-primarybenchmarkinMathematics,MalteseandEnglishissetand marked centrally to provide national benchmarks. WhilsttheseexaminationsarecompulsoryforchildrenattendingStateschools,schoolsintheChurchandIndependentsectorsmayalsoparticipate.Theexaminationisusedtorecordtheachievementofpupilsattheendoftheprimaryyearsandprovideimportantinformationtoreceivingsecondaryschoolsaboutthelearningofindividualpupils”(MinistryofEducationandEmployment2011c;p.44).Table3below,givesabreakdownofresults inMaltesefor the 2011 session. It is apt to point out that since someofthecandidateswereabsentforoneormorecomponentsofthisexamination,thetotalnumberofcandidateswhosatforallthe


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examinationsinthefourlanguageskills(3775)islowerthanthenumberof candidateswhosat forat leastoneexamination inonecomponent(e.g.speaking:3847).

Skill Number of pupils

Min Mark

Max Mark

Median Mark

Mean Mark

Speaking (20%) 3847 0 20 16 15.73

Listening (20%) 3828 0 20 19 17.37

Reading (30%) 3810 0 30 24 22.23

Writing (30%) 3812 0 29 20 18.71

Total (100%) 3775 0 97 78 74.39

Table 3: National Results at the end of primary benchmark 2011 - Maltese (Source: Adapted from Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education, 2012).

legislation Ashasbeenmentionedintheprevioussection,primaryeduca-tion is compulsory as laid down in Article 43 (1) and (2) ofthe Education Act “(1) It shall be the duty of the State toprovide for the primary education of the children of Maltesecitizens being children of compulsory school age. (2) Forthe purpose mentioned in sub-article (1), the Minister shallwherever possiblemaintain a school in every town or villageandshallprovidetransportforpupilswhoresideinareaswhicharedistantfromtheschool.”

TheMinistryofEducationandEmploymentisprimarilyrespon-sibleforeducationinMaltawhilelocalCouncilsareexpectedtoensurethatallschoolchildrenaresafeinthevicinityofschools.

language use UndertheheadingofPrimaryEducation,theNationalMinimumCurriculumalso includes a section on ‘Implementing aPolicyof Bilingualism’ in which it establishes a language policy forparticularsubjects:

“The National Minimum Curriculum encourages teachers atthis level touseEnglishwhenteachingEnglish,Mathematics,ScienceandTechnology.InclassroomsituationswhenteachingthesesubjectsinEnglishposesdifficulties,codeswitchingcanbeusedasameansofcommunication.Thesesituationsapart,


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theNationalMinimumCurriculumadvocatesconsistencyintheuseoflanguageduringtheteaching-learningprocess”(MinistryofEducation,1999;p.79).

In other subjects namely, religion, history, social studies andMaltese,all lessonsshouldbeconducted inMaltesesincealltextbooks are in Maltese. The National Minimum Curriculumadvocatesconsistencyintheuseofthetwoofficial languagesintheclassroom.

Noteworthyisthefactthatatprimarylevel,overall,Malteseasa subject occupies more teaching-time in non-state schools(Table4)8wherethelanguageofinstructionisgenerallyEnglish.Conversely, since the instructive language in state schools ispredominantly Maltese for most subjects of the curriculum,Maltese as a subject occupies less teaching-time whencompared tonon-stateschools.Furthermore, it is important topointout that since the twoofficial languagesare taught fromgradeone,instancesofbothinter-sententialandintra-sententialcode-switching are common and are actually allowed by theNationalMinimumCurriculum(MinistryofEducation,1999).

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6

State Schools 225 225 240 240 240 240

Church 260 282 276 273 268 244

Independent 250 253 240 242 253 237

Table 4: Lessons in Maltese as a subject: Average Number of Minutes every week – Primary education (Source: Research and Development Department, Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education, 2013).

teaching Textbooks are provided to schoolchildren free of charge inall state schools. Subjects which are taught in Maltese haveMaltese-based textbooks.Ofnote is the fact that “there isnoUnitorDepartmentthathasasitssoleobjectivetheproductionof textbooks. However, the Curriculum Management andeLearning Department has over the years been responsiblefor producing textbooks either through the Subject EducationOfficers or Heads of Department.”9 Most textbooks are inEnglish and are bought from foreign publishing houses.

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Afewtextbookshavebeenproducedfortheprimarysectorinsubjects such as Maltese, social studies, history, geographyandmusic.10

statistics


Southern Harbour 3,590 1,879 600 6,069

South Eastern 2,946 305 - 3,251

Northern Harbour 3,666 3,628 1,747 9,041

Western 2,305 701 267 3,273

Northern 2,254 103 820 3,177

Malta 14,761 6,616 3,434 24,811

Gozo and Comino 1,328 633 - 1,961

Table 5: Number of students in primary education, by sector and district: 2007/2008 (Source: Education Statistics 2007/2008 NSO Malta).

Primary education

Males 310

Females 2,353

Total 2,663

Table 6: Teaching staff in primary education by gender: 2007/2008 (Source: Education Statistics 2007/2008 NSO, Malta).


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4 Secondary education

target group In Malta, secondary education is five years long. Whencompulsoryeducationwasintroducedin1946,Maltesechildrenwere required to go to school until they turned 14 years ofage. However, secondary education for all did not becomeavailable until 1970 when area secondary schools were setup,thusensuringthatevenchildrenwhohadnotgainedentryinto the lyceumsor thegrammar schools bypassing the11+examinations, would not remain in primary schools until theyturned 14, but would attend secondary schools.Moreover, in1971,compulsoryeducationwasextendedto16years.

structure State, church and independent schools all operate schools atthe secondary level. In accordance with the NCF, secondaryschooling, like its primary counterpart, is structured aroundlearning areas and not specific subjects as was the case inthe previousNMC.These learning areas comprise languages(mothertongue,secondlanguage,foreignlanguagesdependingonstudents’choice),mathematics,science,technologyeduca-tion(includingdesignandtechnologyanddigitalliteracy),healtheducation(physicaleducationandsports;personal,socialandhealtheducation;homeeconomics),religiouseducation,history,geography, social studies, environmental education, citizeneducationandartseducation(art,music,danceanddrama).

AttheendofForm5(Year11),studentsareexpectedtositfortheSecondaryEducationCertificate(Ċertifikattal-EdukazzjoniSekondarja; hereafter: SEC) which is administered by theUniversity of Malta’s Matriculation and Secondary EducationCertificate Examinations Board (MATSEC). Successful candi-dates who obtain the SEC certificate are entitled to pursuefurtherpost-secondaryeducation.

“Therearethreemaininstitutionsprovidinggeneraleducationat the upper secondary level, namely the Higher SecondarySchool, the Junior College (attached to the Universityof Malta) and Sir M. Refalo Centre for further studies at


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Gozo. These institutions offer a two-year general/academicprogramme leading to the Matriculation Certificate awardedby theUniversityofMaltaand/or theGCEA-level,whicharean entry requirement to tertiary education” (UNESCO-IBE,2012;p.22).“TheMatriculationcertificateisawardedtopost-secondary students and the admission requirement of theUniversity ofMalta. It is based on the premise that studentsseekingadmissiontoUniversityaremorelikelytodevelopintomaturepersons if their education spansboth theHumanitiesand the Science areas. Students are required to sit for sixsubjectsfromvariousareasinonesessionoftheexamination.Thechoiceofsubjectsincludesalanguage,ahumanitiesorabusinesssubject,mathematicsorasciencesubject,andanyothertwosubjects.ThesixthsubjectisSystemsofKnowledge.StudentsmustbeawardedthiscertificatetobeacceptedintotheUniversityofMalta.”11Moreinformationonpost-secondaryeducationistobefoundinchapter5and6.

legislation TheMalteseEducationActprovidestheframeworkforsecondaryeducation. In fact,Article44states that: “Itshallbe thedutyoftheStatetoprovideforthesecondaryeducationofthechildrenof Maltese citizens being children who have completed theirprimaryeducation.”

language use As regards the national language, the National MinimumCurriculum recommends that “teachers of Maltese, socialstudies,history,religionandpersonalandsocialdevelopment(PSD)teachthesesubjectsinMaltese”while“teachersoftheremaining subjects teach in English” (Ministry of Education,1999;p.82).Nevertheless,researchbyCamilleri(1995)andSciriha(1998)hasevidencedahighdegreeofcode-switchingduringthelessonsinstateandchurchschools;thesituationisdifferentinIndependentschoolswhosemediumofinstructionisoverwhelminglyEnglish;MalteseisusuallyonlyusedduringtheMalteselesson.

The number of lessons in theMaltese language as a subjectvariesaccording to the typeof school. In fact, as isevident in


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Table7,whencomparedtostateandchurchschools,theweeklyaverage number ofMaltese lessons is highest in independentschools,inparticular,inForm5asshowninTable7.

Form 1 Form 2 Form 3 Form 4 Form 5

State Secondary (Colleges) 4 4 3 3 3

State Area Secondary12 N/A N/A 4 4 4

Church 3.7 3.6 3.6 3.7 3.8

Independent 4.3 4.6 4.3 4.5 4.8

Table 7: Lessons in Maltese as a subject: Average Number of Lessons per week – Secondary education (Source: Research and Development Department, Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education, 2013).

Thisisunderstandablesinceindependentschoolstudentsneedmorepractice inMaltesespeakingandwriting,becauseunliketheir counterparts in state and most church schools, they areimmersed in English during all the lessons, except Maltese.Furthermore,mostindependentschoolstudentsusuallyhailfromEnglish-speaking backgrounds and thus have little opportunityto interact in Maltese at home. Concomitantly, it is imperativefor them to pass the SEC (Secondary Education Certificate)examinationinMalteseiftheywishtopursuetertiaryeducation.Infact,inthestatutes,bye-lawsandregulationsoftheUniversityofMalta, Statute 1.2 (Chapter 327, Laws ofMalta) states that“MalteseandEnglishshallbecompulsorysubjectsforadmissionfor degree or diploma courses of theUniversity: Provided thatthe Senate may by regulations allow candidates in specialcircumstancestoofferothersubjectsinstead.”

Table8givesabreakdownofstudentswhosatfortheMalteseexaminationandthegradeobtained. It isapt topointout thatstudentshavethechoiceofsittingforeitherPaperAorPaperB. In view of a less demanding syllabus, weaker studentsusuallyoptforPaperB.The2012resultsrevealthataboutonefourthofthestudentssittingfortheMalteseexaminationdidnotpassandobtainedaU(Unclassified).


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Paper A

Grade 1

Grade 2

Grade 3

Grade 4

Grade 5

Grade 6

Grade 7 U Absent Registered

122 446 502 809 478 - - 255 15 2627

Paper B

- - - 163 406 308 261 1038 147 2323

Table 8: SEC Final results – Maltese – (Source: MATSEC Examinations Board SEC Examinations 2012 Statistical Report 2013).

EachsubjectsyllabusforbothPapersAandBisidentical.TheonlydifferenceisthatPaperBiseasierthanPaperA.Forthisreason the highest grade that a candidate sitting forPaperAcanobtain isGrade1whileGrade4 isthehighestgradethatmaybeobtained,forthoseoptingforPaperB.AlthoughGrades6and7arealsoconsideredtobepasses in thesubject,onlycandidateswhoobtainGrades1-5areallowedtocontinuetheirstudiesinthesubjectatahigherlevel(intermediate/advanced).CandidatesobtainingGradeUareunclassifiedandthushavenotobtainedapassinthesubject.

teaching Textbooksmainly focus on aspects of Maltese grammar andorthography and are usually developed and produced by theEducationOfficersinthesubject.SincethesyllabusinMaltesealso includes literature, teachers are required to teach setliterary texts. These texts would include works by Maltesepoets,novelists,andplaywrights.

material


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statistics


Southern Harbour 3,442 1,490 266 5,198

South Eastern 1,565 - - 1,565

Northern Harbour 7,383 5,199 1,231 13,813

Western 876 966 - 1,842

Northern 871 - 419 1,290

Malta 14,137 7,655 1,916 23,708

Gozo and Comino 1,663 420 - 2,083

Table 9: Number of students in secondary education, by sector and district: 2007/2008 (Source: Education Statistics 2007/2008 NSO Malta).

Secondary education

Males 1,409

Females 2,646

Total 4,055

Table 10: Teaching staff in secondary schools by gender: 2007/2008 (Source: Education Statistics 2007/2008 NSO Malta).


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5 Vocational education

target group Vocationaleducationisaimedatpost-secondarystudentswhohavealreadycompletedelevenyearsofmandatoryschoolingandwhoseektraininginparticularjobs.

structure A number of courses and qualifications that lead to a tradeare offered by the ITS (Institute of Tourism Studies), by theInstituteforConservationandManagementofCulturalHeritageand by the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology(Il-Kulleġġ Malti tal-Arti, ix-Xjenza u t-Teknoloġija; hereafter:MCAST). These are state-run institutions of learning whichprovideawiderangeofprogrammesthatvaryinduration.Therearetwo-yearprogrammesleadingtoatechnician’scertificateordiploma,whileothersthatarerunbyMCASTareBusinessandTechnologyEducationCouncil(BTEC)courses.Thesecoursesmay vary in duration with some courses being only one yearlong and lead to the ‘MCAST BTEC first diploma’ while twoyearprogrammesleadtothe‘MCASTBTECnationaldiploma’.“Programmes leading to theMCAST-BTEC higher nationaldiploma take two years to complete and are for MatriculationCertificate holders or graduates from two-year technicalcertificate/diplomaholdersorgraduatesfromtwo-yeartechnicalcertificate/diploma programmes. MCAST institutes also offera variety of one-year foundation and intermediate certificateprogramme”(UNESCO-IBE,2012;p.22).

language use In theseeducational institutions, althoughmost textbooksarein English, the medium of instruction is generally Maltesethough code-switching occurs very frequently. In view of thefactthatMalteseisthedominantlanguageoftheseinstitutions,informal interaction among students and the teaching staff ispredominantlyinMaltese.

legislation Even though post-secondary education is not compulsory inMaltaitisregulated.Article64(1)oftheEducationActstatesthat:“ThereshallbeestablishedtheNationalCommissionforFurtherand Higher Education, which through a structured dialogue:


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(a) ascertains the needs and the aspirations of providers offurtherand,orhighereducation,(b)informsthepublicofissuesconnected with sustainable development of further and highereducation inMalta in order tomeet the needs of society, and(c) gives advice to the Government on any matter which isconnectedwiththefurtherandhighereducation.”

teaching Most textbooks are in English even though for most subjectstaught the medium of instruction tends to be Maltese. At thislevel,textbooksarenotprovidedbytheStateasisthecaseforstateprimaryandsecondaryschools.However,itisimportanttopoint out that all post-secondary students are given amonthlystipendwhichenablesthemtopurchasetheirtextbooksandothermaterialrelatedtotheirchosencourse.Themajorityofthebooksusedtoteacharethesameasthoseusedinforeigninstitutionsoflearning,withtheexceptionofMaltesebasedtextbookswhicharewrittenbyMaltesespecialistsinthediscipline.

statistics


Southern Harbour 6,002 - - 6,002

South Eastern - - - -

Northern Harbour 768 - - 768

Western - - - -

Northern - - - -

Malta 6,770 - - 6,770

Gozo and Comino - - - -

Table 11: Number of students in post-secondary vocational education, by sector and district: 2007/2008 (Source: Education Statistics 2007/2008 NSO Malta).

Vocational education

Males 236

Females 128

Total 364

Table 12: Teaching staff at post-secondary vocational by gender 2007/2008 (Source: Education Statistics 2007/2008 NSO Malta).

material


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6 Higher education

structure Higher education in Malta includes both general/academicpost-secondaryeducationandtertiaryeducation.State,churchand independent institutionsareall serviceproviders at post-secondary level and run two-year courses leading to theMATSECcertificate,whichistheuniversityentryqualification.

However, with regard to degree programmes these aremostlyrun by the state funded University of Malta, though there arealso some private institutions which offer degree programmesbyforeignuniversities.ThehighestnumberofstudentsfollowingdegreecoursesattendstheUniversityofMaltaalthoughMCASTwhich,asnotedearlierisprimarilyavocationalcollege,alsoofferssome courseswhich eventually lead to first degrees (Bachelordegrees). Since programmes run by MCAST have alreadybeen discussed, this section focusses only on those coursesspecialisinginMaltesewhicharerunbytheUniversityofMalta.

It isalsoapttopointoutthatwithintheUniversityofMalta,theInstituteofMalteseStudiespromotesMaltesecultureandidentitythrough its researchandalso runsaMastercourse inMalteseStudies, “The degree provides a cross-disciplinary perspectiveon various aspects of Maltese affairs, develops research andotherskills,andallowsforspecialiststudyinoneparticularareathroughathesisinthethirdyear,thefirstfoursemestersbeingtaughtcourses”(www.um.edu.mt/maltesestudies).

legislation As mentioned in the previous section (cf p. 31) a NationalCommission for Further and Higher Education with specificobjectives,aimsandfunctionswassetup(Articles64and65oftheEducationAct,Chapter327,LawsofMalta).

language use Though Maltese as a discipline is also studied as an optionalsubject inbothpost-secondaryandtertiary institutions, theentryrequirementstosuchinstitutionsrequiretheSECqualificationinMaltese.Atpost-secondarylevelthecoursecontentisstructuredin a way so as to include both the study of Maltese literatureand language/linguistics. Studentsmay opt to studyMaltese atIntermediate or the higher level (Advanced) depending on the


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careerpaththeywishtochoose.SomeuniversitycoursesenforceatleastanIntermediatelevelinMalteseasisthecaseforstudentswishingtofollowthecourseleadingtotheDoctorofLaws(LLD).Moreover,studentswishingtostudyMalteseatdegreelevelarerequiredtoobtaintheirAdvancedlevelinthesubject.

ThoughattertiarylevelMalteseisoneoftheentryrequirements,it is important to point out that themedium of instruction forsubjectsother thanMaltese isEnglish, thoughcode-switchingpractices are quite frequent. Outside lectures,Maltese is thedominantlanguageofcommunicationwithintheseinstitutions.

teacher training Prior to the setting up of the Faculty of Education in the late1970s, the trainingof teachers forbothprimaryandsecondarylevelswas,until1972,providedbytwotrainingcolleges–oneformen(StMichael’s)andtheotherforwomen(MaterAdmirabilis).From1972until1974,teachersweretrainedattheMaltaCollegeofEducationandlater,attheDepartmentofEducationalStudiesatMCAST(1974-1978).Sincethen,teachingqualificationshavebeenobtainedthroughcoursesrunbytheUniversityofMalta’sFaculty of Education (Bachelor of Education Honours/ B.Ed.(Hons.)/PostGraduateCertificateofEducation/P.G.C.E.).

primary training In order to be employed as a teacher at the primary level, one

needstoobtainafirstdegreeinEducation(BachelorofEducation). Within the Faculty of Education, the Department of Primary

Educationtrainsstudentswhosemaininterestistheteachingofchildrenuntiltheageof11,anditalsoprovidespost-graduateprogrammesandin-servicecourses.

Atprimarylevel, it isthegeneralistteacherwhoteachesmostof the subjects in the curriculum, includingMaltese.Studentstrainingtobecomeprimaryschoolteachersaregivenanumberofcoursesineachofthesesubjects.

secondary training Allteachersemployedatsecondarylevelarespecialistteachersin

oneortwosubjects.Therearetwotracksthroughwhichstudentsmaybecomesecondaryschoolteachers:(i)Theymayobtaintheir


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B.Ed.(Hons.)degreeor(ii)theymayspecialiseintwosubjectsoronesubjectbyfollowingtheB.A.orB.A.(Hons.)degreecoursesrespectivelyandafterwardsqualifyasateacheroncetheyhavesuccessfully completed a one yearPostGraduateCertificate inEducation (P.G.C.E.) course run by the Faculty of Education.

Students reading for aB.Ed. (Hons.) degree inMaltese do notonlyfollowcoursesinthepedagogyandtheteachingofMalteserunbytheFacultyofEducation,butarealsorequiredtofollowaspecificnumberof‘contentcourses’todelvedeeperintothestudyof Maltese literature and linguistics, offered by the Departmentof Maltese within the Faculty of Arts. Graduates who are inpossessionofaB.A.(Hons.)orB.A.orM.A.inMaltesemayalsobecome qualified teachers of the language by following a oneyearcertificatecourse(P.G.C.E.)runbytheFacultyofEducation,withthemainfocusbeingpedagogyandtheteachingofMaltese.

in-service training In-servicetrainingcoursesforallteachersarecompulsoryand

are organised annually by the Ministry of Education. Duringthesecourseswhichusuallyrunfor threedaysandwhicharegenerallyheldeithertowardstheendofthescholasticyear inJuly,orjustbeforethebeginningofthenewscholasticyearinSeptember,talksaregiveninMaltesetoteachersofMaltese.

statistics

Female Male Total

Faculty of Arts/ BA 24 5 29

Faculty of Arts/ BA Hons 16 8 24

Faculty of Arts/ MA 6 2 8

Faculty of Arts/PhD - 1 1

Faculty of Education/ B.Ed (Hons.) 8 4 12

Faculty of Education /PGCE 10 3 13

Faculty of Media Studies 1 - 1

Faculty of Law 11 6 17

Institute of Maltese Studies 1 1

Table 13: Breakdown of Graduates in different Faculties/Institutes with Maltese as an area of study, 2011-2012 – by gender and faculty (Source: Adapted from: University of Malta (2011-2012) Graduate Statistics).


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Males 4582

Females 6307

Total 10,889

Table 14: Student Enrolment at the University of Malta by gender: 2011/2012 (Source: Adapted from: University of Malta, Student Statistics 2011/2012).

Tertiary education

Males 607

Females 361

Total 968

Table 15: Teaching staff in Tertiary education by gender 2007/2008. Source: Education Statistics 2007/2008 NSO, Malta


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7 Adult education

structure and State Adult Education falls under the Directorate for LifelongEducation. All courses are held in schools or local councilpremises in the evenings, and although a small fee is usuallycharged,thisisalsowaivedforallpensionersand/orthosewhoareconsideredtobesocialcases.

Thesecoursesareaimedatadultswhoeitherwish to improvetheir academic qualifications and, concomitantly, their jobprospectsorthosewhowouldliketolearnnewsubjectsfortheirownpersonalsatisfaction.

TheDirectorateforLifelongEducationoffersseveralcoursesintheMalteselanguage.TherearethosethatarespecificallytargetedatMaltesenationalswhowould like toobtainqualificationsatSECand/orAdvanced level inMaltese,while other courses are alsorunfornon-MaltesenationalslivinginMaltaandwhowouldliketoimprovetheirconversationalskillsinMaltese.

Although the majority of privately-owned language schoolsin Malta overwhelmingly cater for foreign students, most ofwhomwishtolearnEnglish,nevertheless,therearealsosomelanguageschoolswhich runMaltese languagecourses.Feesforsuchcoursesvaryfromoneschooltoanother.

Furthermore, in view of the increasing number of Erasmusforeign students attending theUniversity ofMalta in 2012, theInternational and EU Office organised a course on Malteselanguageandculture.

Moreover, the Kunsill in collaboration with the Department ofMaltese,UniversityofMaltahasalsoruntwopart-timecourseson the Maltese language for foreigners living in Malta. OfparticularnoteregardingthiscourseisthefactthattheseweretheonlycoursesforforeignerswhichwerebasedontheCouncilof Europe’s Common European Framework of Languages.Unfortunately,forreasonsbeyondthecontroloftheorganisersof this course, thecourse isno longeronoffer.However, theKunsill isdoingitsbesttoensurethattheteachingofMaltesetoforeignersisstandardised.

languagecourses


38

Inaddition,forthepastsevenyears,theKunsill andtheDepart-mentofMaltese(UniversityofMalta) haveorganisedaone-yearcertificatecourseinproofreadinginMaltese(Ċertifikatgħall-Qarital-Provibil-Malti)–acoursethatisaimedatthoseMaltesewhowouldliketoimprovetheirwrittenskillsintheirnativelanguage.Thosewho successfully complete this course andpossess thecertificate are also issued with a proof-reader’s warrant. Thesuccess of this course is evident in the growing number ofMaltesepeoplewhohave followed sucha courseand the factthat in 2013 the course will be held in both Malta and Gozo.Furthermore, the Department of Maltese also runs a courseleadingtoa‘CertificateofMalteseasaForeignLanguage’.ItalsooffersbasicMaltesecoursestostudentswithnopriorknowledgeofMaltese. In fact,everyyear itoffers twocoursesnamely ‘AnIntroduction to the Maltese Language I: Survival Level’ and afollow-upcourse ‘AnIntroduction toMalteseLanguageII:BasicLevel’(A1:CommonEuropeanFrameworkofReference).

language use In general, courses in Maltese are run by the state (eveningclasses)aswellasbytheKunsill,andtheDepartmentofMaltese(UniversityofMalta)andaregiveninMaltese.Moreover,someprivatelanguageschoolsalsoofferafewcoursesinMaltese.

statistics

Table 16: Number of students attending state-run evening classes by age and gender (Source: adapted from Education Statistics 2006 NSO Malta).


39

8 Educational research

research Theoverwhelmingmajorityoftheresearchondifferentaspectsof the Maltese language has been conducted since the 20thCenturymostlybyMaltesescholars,thoughafewnon-Maltesescholarshavealsowrittenbooksandpapersonthelanguage.Moreover, a large chunk of scientifically-based research onMaltese has been conducted by academics at the Universityof Malta and by undergraduate and post-graduate universitystudents; a few foreign students mostly from Europe, havealsowrittenonaspectsoftheMalteselanguage.Thesestudiesanddissertationsareall availableat theUniversity ofMalta’sMelitensialibrarywhichhousesallpublicationsrelatedtoMaltaand the Maltese language. In addition, the National LibraryofMaltaand theGozoPublicLibraryarealsodepositoriesofbooksandmanuscriptspublishedinMalta,inaccordancewiththe Legal DepositAct, which stipulates that two copies of alltheworkspublishedinMaltashouldbedepositedinthesetwolibraries.

Malteseisalsobeingstudiedinternationally.Quitenoteworthyisthefactthatin2012,theRectorsoftheUniversityofMaltaandtheUniversityofBremensignedacontractbywhich theMaltaCentre wasestablishedattheUniversityofBremeninGermany.Over the past decade, both universities have collaborated onprojects,organisedjointconferencesaswellasestablishedtheInternationalAssociationofMalteseLinguistics.ThisAssociationhas its own journal ILSIENNA (Our Language) and its com-panionseries IL-LINGWATAGĦNA (OurLanguage).13Like thejournal, IL-LINGWA TAGĦNA – Our Language is publishedunder the auspices of Għaqda Internazzjonali tal-LingwistikaMaltija(GĦILM/InternationalAssociationofMalteseLinguistics).Thecompanionseriespublishesmonographsandcollectionsofarticles including festschrifts andmemorial volumesaswell asoutstandingMAandPhDthesesdedicatedtoallkindsoftopicswhich are highly relevant to our understanding of theMalteselanguage and the linguistic landscape of Malta and its sisterislands.The philosophy ofGĦILM is to impose no restrictionsas to theory and methodology of the contributions provided


40

thesubmittedmanuscriptsmeet thestandardsof thedisciplineinvolved.”14

Furthermore, the Kunsill Nazzjonali tal-Ilsien Malti has alsopublished a number of books on Maltese orthography,bilingualismandtheuseofMaltesecomputerfonts.OfparticularnoteisthefactthattheInstituteofLinguisticsattheUniversityof Malta has also a research-funded project on Maltese andGozitandialects(CARD:CollectingandArchivingResearchontheDialectsofMaltaandGozo).Moreover,residentacademicsespecially those in the Department of Maltese, have writtenseveralbooksandpapersonMaltese languageand literatureandalsoregularlyorganizetalks,seminarsandconferencesontheMalteselanguage.


41

9 Prospects

Over the past few years, important changes have occurredin the school system inMalta. In particular, state primary andsecondaryschoolswhichwereseparate fromoneanotherarenowundertheumbrellaofcolleges.Moreover,anewNationalCurriculumFrameworkwhichpromotes lifelong learningpolicyandstrategyhasbeenlaunchedandthedifferentstakeholdershavebeengiven theopportunity to review it and tooffer theirfeedback. As regards the teaching of Maltese, the proposedNational Curriculum Framework reconsiders teaching timein Maltese. In fact, “The proposed lesson distribution allowsschoolsameasureofflexibilityinallocatingfiveEnglishandfourMaltese lessonsorvice versa according to theneedsof theirstudents”(MinistryofEducationandEmployment,2011c;p.60).

Furthermore,theGovernmentofMaltaiscommittedtopromotingandsafeguardingMalteseasoutlinedbytheMalteseLanguageAct (2005).Thesettingupof theKunsillhasactedascatalysttofurtherthestudyofMalteseandtohelpinensuringitsproperusenotonlyineducationalandgovernmentinstitutions,butalsointhepublicdomainwithregardtopublicsignage.

SincemosttextbooksandexaminationsinthedifferentsubjectsaremostlyinEnglishandnotinMaltese,overthepastfewyearstherehasbeenanon-goingdebateineducationalcircles,astowhetherEnglishtextbooksshouldbereplacedbyMalteseones.Reasonscitedforsuchachange includethefact thatMaltesestudents fare badly in some subjects such as mathematics,because theydonot understand themathematical problem inEnglish, since “the use of English is required for the learnerstobridgethegapbetweenthespokenmediuminMalteseandthe written text in English.” (Camilleri, 1995; p. 221). Suchan issue is however, not raised in independent schools sinceparentssendtheirchildrentosuchschoolsbecauseEnglish,asamediumof instruction, isan important featurewhichattractsparentstosendtheirchildrentotheseschools(Sciriha,1997).


42

Over the years, in the eyes of the Maltese, their indigenouslanguagehasriseninstatusespeciallysinceMaltesebecameoneoftheofficiallanguagesoftheEU.Itisnolongerconsidered‘thelanguageofthekitchen’ashasbeenclearlyshownbytwolarge-scalescientifically-representativesurveyswhichwereconductedby Sciriha in 1999 (Sciriha, 2001) and Sciriha and Vassallo in2005 (Sciriha andVassallo, 2006). In the second surveywhichreplicatedthefirstone,participantswerefirstaskedtoranksevenlanguages15 in order of importance as ‘Maltese living in Malta’and, subsequently, to rank the same languages as ‘citizens ofthe world’. The results revealed that in 1999, the respondentsrankedMalteseastheNumberOnelanguageforaMalteselivingin Malta, whereas Maltese was ranked last when respondentswereaskedtoplaceitamongtheothersixlanguagesas‘citizensof theworld’.Quitenotable isthefact thatuptoafewdecadesago, Maltese would probably have ranked at the bottom andnotat the topof the listevenas ‘citizensofMalta’.Since then,political and cultural developments have given Maltese addedvalue,andespeciallyafter Independence,Maltesehascome tobeperceivedasanessentialcomponentofnationalidentity.ThisisclearlyandespeciallyattestedtointheflourishingliteratureinMaltese,inthediffusionofthelanguagethroughprintedandlivemedia,andthepervasiveuseofitbyallstratainsocietyastheirstandard medium of communication. The 1999 survey showshowthestatusof this indigenous languagehasmovedup fromits previous very low position, to the top position it now holds.ParticipantsinthisstudyclearlyperceivedMaltesetobethemostimportantlanguageforaMalteselivinginMaltatoday.However,in 1999, the Maltese respondents were aware that, althoughMaltese, their mother tongue, is important in a microcosmicsocietyasMalta,when it is incompetitionwithother languagesonagloballevel,MaltesedoesnothavethesamemarketvalueandpowerthatEnglishhas.Infact,alltherespondentsgavethetoprankingtoEnglish,whileMalteserankedatthebottomfromthelistofsevenlanguageswhenthephysicalsettingchanged.

Interestingly, in the second survey conducted by Sciriha andVassalloin2005,thestatusofMaltesegrewonceitbecameone


43

of the twenty-three official languages of the European Union.As such, its meteoric rise to become an official language ofthissupra-statepoliticalentityalso translated itself tochangingattitudes towards its role as a world language among theMaltese. In thissurveyMaltese retained its toppositionas themost important language inMalta, butmore remarkable is thefact that, even as citizens of the world, respondents did notrelegateMaltese to the last position, but itwas thenplaced inthe5thposition,aposition that, in1999hadbeenoccupiedbyGerman. These findings from the two studies conducted overa period of six years reveal that the positions that languageshold are not steadfast and immutable, but quite volatile andhighly dependent on the geo-political reality of a country.NowthatMaltahasbecomeoneofthememberstatesoftheEU,theconcomitantmeteoricriseofMaltesetooneofthetwenty-threeofficiallanguagesoftheEUhasaffectedtheperceptionsoftheMalteseregardingtheothersixlanguagesvis-à-visMaltese.

MikielAntonVassalli ‒ ‘the father of theMaltese language’ ‒would never have foretold the advances that his indigenouslanguagehashadoverthelastcentury,andwhichculminatedin2002whenitobtainedofficialstatusoutsideMalta.ThisfacthasleftanimpactonhowtheMaltesenowviewtheirnationaland official language, the importance of which is no longerconfinedtotheMaltesearchipelago.

For centuries Maltese, together with religion, had served theislandwell as a surrogate for national identity, and protectedthe islanders from the whims of the occupying powers thatsuccessivelyviedforthestrategicimportanceofthearchipelago.AttemptsbyoutsiderstochangethisdidnotsucceedbecauseMaltesepersistedtobethelanguageofthecommonfolk,evenif it survived along Italian, the language of culture andwhichwas extensively used especially in the courts and in officialdocumentation.Butevenso, Italianwasnotconsidered tobecompletelyalien,asithaddevelopedparalleltoMalteseasthewrittenlanguage,whilstMalteseoccupiedthe‘spokendomain’.


44

WithIndependence,Maltesewastogothroughalithmustest:either to survive as a banner that distinguished the Maltesefromtherestoftheworld,ortobereplacedbyEnglish,aworldlanguage, as theMaltese increasingly realised that now theyhad toearn their livingby themselves, rather thanrelyon themoneypumpedintoMaltabyforeignersinterestedmerelyinthestrategicpositionofthe‘unsinkablebattleship’.

Without devastating nationalistic battles, Maltese survived.Indeed, it metamorphosised itself substantially through thenow pervasive media. But parrallel to this, a new Malteseliteraturewas born, and new scientific studies on thisminutelanguage continued to project the relevance of diversity anduniquenesseven inaglobalisedeconomy.Malteseworksarenow translated into other world languages and the languageitself started to be exported rather than be always on thereceiving end. Some foreign universities endorsed studies ofthe languageat tertiary levels,andcentresofspecial interestin Malta, and in some instances specifically in the Malteselanguage, arose in some of them. One hopes that the NCF,which, as it has been already indicated above, has only justbeen launched, will contribute further to make Maltese morevisibleandmoreextensivelyappreciated.

The usefulness of being ‘distinct’ was eventually reinforcedwhenMaltajoinedtheEU,withitsverystrongpolicytonurtureminority languages on the one hand, and, on the other, thestrength of support given to the national languages of itsmemberstatesirrespectiveofsize.

SoMaltese thrives and its future appears to be brighter thaneverbefore. Itcertainlycontinues tobeaffectedbyboth localandgeo-politicaleventsinitsdevelopment.Itcontinuestoactasanimportantsurrogatecarrierofadistinctnational identity,butwithaveryimportantdifferencefromthepast.Malteseisnolongerabarrier,afence,acrosswhichforeignersfinditdifficulttocrossandwhichtheMaltesekeepuptoensurethatnobodydares thread on their traditions, on their religion and on their


45

togetherness.ItisnolongerbeingusedbytheMaltesetofendoff interference as during Malta’s colonial past. Maltese hasrathercometobeperceivedaswhatconstitutesdistinctivenesstothepeopleoftheMaltainaglobalisedsociety‒alanguagewhichgivespridetothosewhospeakit.


46

10 Summary statistics

Statistics related to student and teacher populations are takenfrom Malta Education Statistics published by the NationalStatisticsOffice(NSO),whilepopulationdatahavebeenobtainedfrom thePreliminaryReport onCensus2011publishedby theNSO. Moreover, through the Census 2005 report, data wereobtainedregarding languageuse in thehomedomain.Census2011dataontheproficiencyinlanguagesareprovisionalsincethedatahavenotyetbeenverifiedbutallCensus2011datawillbeavailableinthesecondquarterof2013.

DataregardingthestudentpopulationandgraduatesinMaltesein2011/2012havebeenobtainedthroughtheUniversityofMaltawebsite. The structure of theMaltese educational system hasbeentakenfromEurydice(2009).InformationonthenumberoflessonsinMalteseinstate,churchandindependentschoolshasbeenprovidedbytheDepartmentofResearchandDevelopment,DirectorateofStandardsandQualityinEducation.

Pre-school Primary Secondary Vocational Total

Stat

e

Chu

rch

Inde

p.

Stat

e

Chu

rch

Inde

p.

Stat

e

Chu

rch

Inde

p.

Stat

e

Chu

rch

Inde

p.

Southern Harbour 1,318 226 325 3,590 1,879 600 3,442 1,490 266 6,002 - - 19,138

South Eastern 1,067 77 12 2,946 305 - 1,565 - - - - - 5,972

Northern Harbour 1,214 380 820 3,666 3,6281,747 7,383 5,199 1,231 780 - - 26,048

Western 815 250 191 2,305 701 267 876 966 - - - - 6,371

Northern 833 119 203 2,254 103 820 871 - 419 - - - 5,622

Malta 5,2471,0521,551 14,7616,6163,434 14,137 7,655 1,916 6,782 63,151

Gozo and Comino 320 221 - 1,328 633 - 1,663 420 - - - - 4,585

Table 17: Number of students by level of education and district, 2007/2008 (Source: Education Statistics 2007/2008 NSO, Malta).


47

Pre-school Primary Secondary Vocational Tertiary

Males 17 310 1,409 236 607

Females 742 2,353 2,646 128 361

Total 759 2,663 4,055 364 968

Table 18: Number of teachers by level of education and gender. 2007/2008 (Source: Education Statistics 2007/2008 NSO, Malta)

.

Component Number of Pupils

Min Mark

Max Mark

Median Mark

Mean Mark

Speaking (20%) 3847 0 20 16 15.73

Listening (20%) 3828 0 20 19 17.37

Reading (30%) 3810 0 30 24 22.23

Writing (30%) 3812 0 29 20 18.71

Total (100%) 3775 0 97 78 74.39

Table 19: National Results at the end of primary benchmark 2011 - Maltese (Source: Adapted from: Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education, 2012).

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6

State Schools 225 225 240 240 240 240

Church 260 282 276 273 268 244

Independent 250 253 240 242 253 237

Table 20: Lessons in Maltese as a subject in primary education: Average Number of Minutes every week (Source: Research and Development Department, Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education, 2013).

Form 1 Form 2 Form 3 Form 4 Form 5

State Secondary (Colleges) 4 4 3 3 3

State Area Secondary N/A N/A 4 4 4

Church 3.7 3.6 3.6 3.7 3.8

Independent 4.3 4.6 4.3 4.5 4.8

Table 21: Lessons in Maltese: Average Number of Lessons per week – Secondary Education (Source: Research and Development Department, Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education, 2013).


48

Paper AGrade

1Grade

2Grade

3Grade

4Grade

5Grade

6Grade

7 U Ab-sent Registered

122 446 502 809 478 - - 255 15 2627

Paper B

- - - 163 406 308 261 1038 147 2323

Table 22: SEC Maltese Final results (Source: MATSEC Examinations Board SEC examinations 2012 Statistical Report 2013).

Female Male Total

Faculty of Arts/ BA 24 5 29

Faculty of Arts/ BA Hons 16 8 24

Faculty of Arts/ MA 6 2 8

Faculty of Arts/PhD - 1 1

Faculty of Education/ B.Ed (Hons.) 8 4 12

Faculty of Education /PGCE 10 3 13

Faculty of Media Studies 1 - 1

Faculty of Law 11 6 17

Institute of Maltese Studies 1 1

Table 23: Breakdown of Graduates in different Faculties/Institute with Maltese as an area of study, 2011-2012 – by gender and faculty (Source: Adapted from: University of Malta (2011-2012) Graduate Statistics).

Males 4582

Females 6307

Total 10,889

Table 24: Student Enrolment at the University of Malta by gender: 2011/2012 (Source: Adapted from University of Malta, Student Statistics 2011/2012).


49

Table 25: Number of students in adult education attending state-run evening classes by age and gender (Source: Adapted from: National Statistics Office, 2010a).


50

Endnotes

1 I am grateful to Mr Michael Pace Ross, Director General,NationalStatisticsOffice, forprovidingmewith thesedataonlanguageproficiency.Thesedataareprovisional,astheyhavenotyetbeenfullyverified.

2 DunKarmPsaila,thenationalPoetofMalta,dedicatedapoemtoMikielAntonVassallianddubbedhim ‘Missier l-IlsienMalti’(thefatheroftheMalteselanguage).

3 TheyaregovernmentdependentinsofarasthegovernmentpaysanannualsumofmoneytosupporttherecurrentexpenditureoftheschoolsrunbytheChurch,afteritappropriatedvastamountsofChurchpropertyasexplainedbelow.

4 MrIanMifsudkindlyprovidedtheunpublisheddatabytheQualityandAssuranceDepartment(2013)onLearnerDistributionasatFebruary2013bySector.

5 Informationwas obtained through thewebpage of theKunsillNazzjonalital-IlsienMalti:

http://www.kunsilltalmalti.gov.mt/dhul?l=26 ThisunpublisheddatawasprovidedbyMrIanMifsud,Director,

Quality Assurance Department, Directorate for Quality andStandardsinEducation.

7 IwouldliketothankDrTaniaMuscat,lecturerintheDepartmentofPrimaryEducationattheFacultyofEducation,UniversityofMalta for the fruitfuldiscussions Ihadwithherregardingboththepre-primaryandprimarysector.

8 IamgratefultoMrRaymondJ.Camilleri,forprovidingmethisdata.

9 MrRaymondJ.Camilleri,ResearchandDevelopmentDepart-ment, Directorate of Education kindly provided me with thisinformation

10 Thanksaredue toMsBernadetteGeradaAloisio for sendingmethelistoftextbooksintheprimarysector.

11 ThisinformationwasobtainedfromWikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matriculation_Certificate.


51

12 PriortotheintroductionofthestateCollegesystem,atsecond-ary level, students could attend either the Junior Lyceums iftheypassed theentranceexaminationsor thearea secondaryschools.

13Both titlesof the journaland thecompanionseriesmean ‘ourlanguage’ but while the word ‘ilsienna’ is Semitic, ‘lingwa’ isRomance-based.

14 InformationwasobtainedfromthewebpageoftheInternationalAssociationofMalteseLinguistics:

http://www.fb10.uni-bremen.de/ghilm/links.aspx15 The languages that participants were asked to rank were

Maltese,English,Italian,French,German,SpanishandArabic.


52

Education system in Malta

Structure of the education system in M

alta, 2012/2013

Source:E

urydice(2013)

■ ■ The Structure of the European Education Systems 2012/13 ■ ■

7

Lithu

ania

Age of students Programme duration (years)

Luxem

bou

rg


Hu

ng

ary Age of students

Programme duration (years)

Note: Under the Public Education Act of 2011, education will be compulsory only until the age of 16. The change is being phased in: the new lower age (16) will be

applied to students starting in grade 9 from the 2012/13 school year; the higher school leaving age (18) will continue to apply to students in the grades above.

Malta


Early childhood education and care (for which the Ministry of Education is not responsible)

Secondary vocational education

Early childhood education and care (for which the Ministry of Education is responsible)

Post-secondary non-tertiary education

Primary education

Single structure

Secondary general education

Tertiary education (full-time)

Allocation to the ISCED levels:

ISCED 0

ISCED 1

ISCED 2

ISCED 3

ISCED 4

ISCED 5A

ISCED 5B

Compulsory full-time education

Additional year

Combined school and workplace courses

Compulsory part-time education

Study abroad

Compulsory work experience + its duration


53

References and further reading

regulations Att Dwar L-Edukazzjon [EducationAct](1988).Malta:LawsofMalta,Chapter327.Availableat:

www.justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=8801[Accessedon21stJanuary2013]

Att Dwar L-Ilsien Malti[MalteseLanguageAct](2005).Malta:LawsofMalta,Chapter470.Availableat:www.justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=8936&l=1[Accessedon15thJanuary2013]

Att Dwar Propjetà Ta’ Entijiet Ekklesjastiċi[EcclesiasticalEntitiesPropertiesAct](1992).Malta:LawsofMalta,Chapter358.Availableat:www.justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=8828&l=1[Accessedon15thMarch2013]

Kostituzzjoni ta’ Malta [ConstitutionofMalta](1964).Malta:LawsofMalta,Chapter1.Availableat:www.justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=8566&l=2[Accessedon5thJanuary2013]

publications Aquilina,J.(1987-1990).Maltese-English Dictionary. Malta:MidseaBooks.

Brincat,J.(1996).MalteseWords.AnEtymologicalAnalysisoftheMalteseLexicon.In:Ludke,J.(ed.).(1996).Romania Arabica.Feitshrift fur Reinhold Kontzi. Tubingen:GunterNarrVerlag.

Brincat,J.(2000).Il-Malti Elf Sena Ta’ Storja.Pieta,Malta:PubblikazzjonijietIndipendenza.

Brincat,J.(2011).Maltese and other languages. A Linguistic History of Malta.Malta:Midsea.

Camilleri,A.(1995).Bilingualism in Education. The Maltese Experience. JuliusGroosVerlag:Heidelberg.

Calleja,C.(2013).Greatersayforschoolsundernewcurriculum.Times of Malta, 15thFebruary2013.

Cilia,D.andBorg,S.(1997).Stateschools?Whateverfor?!Whysomeparentspreferprivateschools.In:R.Sultanaetal.(eds.),Inside/outside schools: towards a critical sociology of education in Malta (pp.223-249).Malta:PEG.

Cutajar,M.andC.Bezzina(2012).TheEducationalReformsinMalta:TheChallengeofSharedGovernance.Availableat:http://www.cceam2012.com/presentation_pdf/28.pdf[Accessedon10thApril2013]

www.justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=8801

www.justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=8801

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http://www.cceam2012.com/presentation_pdf/28.pdf


54

DirectorateforQualityandStandardsinEducation,CurriculumManagementandeLearningDepartment.EducationalAssessmentUnit(2012).End of Primary Benchmark June 2011 Report.Floriana–Malta:MinistryofEducationandEmployment.Availableat:www.curriculum.gov.mt/docs/benchmark_report_2011.pdf[Accessedon22ndJanuary2013]

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DirectorateforQualityandStandardsinEducation,QualityandAssuranceDepartment(2013).Learner Distribution as at February 2013 by Sector. [unpublished].Floriana,Malta:MinistryofEducationandEmployment.

Eurydice(2009).Key Data on Education in Europe 2009.Education,AudiovisualandCultureExecutiveAgency.Brussels:EuropeanCommission.Availableat:http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/key_data_series/105EN.pdf[Accessedon12thJanuary2013]

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Mifsud,M.(2001). Strateġija għal-Lingwa Nazzjonali.Rapporttal-Bordgħall-IlsienMaltimħejjiminnManwelMifsud.2001.Availableatwww.education.gov.mt/MediaCenter/Docs/2_Strategija_Lingwa_Nazzjonali.pdf[Accessedon20thJanuary2013]

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/key_data_series/105EN.pdf

http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/key_data_series/105EN.pdf

http://www.fb10.uni-bremen.de/ghilm/links.aspx

http://www.fb10.uni-bremen.de/ghilm/links.aspx

www.education.gov.mt/MediaCenter/Docs/2_Strategija_Lingwa_Nazzjonali.pdf

www.education.gov.mt/MediaCenter/Docs/2_Strategija_Lingwa_Nazzjonali.pdf


55

MinistryofEducation(1999).Creating the Future Together National Minimum Curriculum.Malta:MinistryofEducation.

MinistryofEducation,Culture,Youth&Sport(2009).National policy and strategy for the attainment of core competences in primary education.Malta:DirectorateforQualityandStandardsinEducation.

MinistryofEducationandEmployment(2011a).Towards a Quality Education for All – The National Curriculum Framework 2011. Consultation Document 1, The Executive Summary.Malta:MinistryofEducation,EmploymentandtheFamily.Availableat:www.education.gov.mt/MediaCenter/Docs/1_BOOK%201%20ENG.pdf[Accessedon14thJanuary2013]

MinistryofEducationandEmployment(2011b).Towards a Quality Education for All – The National Curriculum Framework 2011. Consultation Document 2, Rationale and Components. Malta: MinistryofEducation,EmploymentandtheFamily.Availableat:www.education.gov.mt/MediaCenter/Docs/1_BOOK%202%20ENG.pdf[Accessedon14thJanuary2013]

MinistryofEducationandEmployment(2011c).Towards a Quality Education for All – The National Curriculum Framework 2011. Consultation Document 3, The Three Cycles: The Early Years, The Primary Years, The Secondary Years.Malta:MinistryofEducation,EmploymentandtheFamily.Availableat:www.education.gov.mt/MediaCenter/Docs/1_BOOK%203%20ENG.pdf[Accessedon17thJanuary2013]

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http://www.nso.gov.mt/docs/preliminary_report2005.pdf

http://www.nso.gov.mt/docs/preliminary_report2005.pdf

http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_file.aspx?id=2048

http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_file.aspx?id=2048


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NationalStatisticsOffice(2010a).Education Statistics 2006. Valletta:NSO. Availableat: www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_file.aspx?id=2801[Accessedon17thMarch2013]

NationalStatisticsOffice(2010b).Education Statistics 2006/2007; 2007/2008. Valletta:NSO.Availableat:www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_file.aspx?id=3127[Accessedon10thJanuary2013]

NationalStatisticsOffice(2012). Census of the Population and Housing 2011. A Preliminary Report.Valletta:NSO.Availableat:www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_file.aspx?id=3424[Accessedon6thJanuary2013]

Sciriha,L.(1997).OneCountry,TwoLanguages.In:R.PascoeandJ.Ronayne(eds.).Malta: A Siege and a Journey. Melbourne,Australia:VictoriaUniversity.

Sciriha,L.(1998).Is-Soċjolingwistika.In:K.Borg(ed.).Lingwa u Lingwistka.Malta:KlabbKotbaMaltin.

Sciriha,L.(2001).TrilingualisminMalta:SocialandEducationalPerspectives. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Vol4,No.1.

Sciriha,L.(2002).TheRiseofMalteseinMalta:SocialandEducationalPerspectives.New Perspectives of Languages and Teaching. Vol XI: 3.

Sciriha,L.andM.Vassallo(2006).Living Languages in Malta. Malta.

Sciriha,L.(2013).Whichlanguagesforwhichschools?IssuesinlanguagepolicyinbilingualMalta.In:M.KaryolemouandP.Pavlou(eds.).Language Policy and Language Planning in the Mediterranean.Cambridge:CambridgeScholarsPublishing.SultanaR.etal.(eds).Inside/outside schools: towards a critical sociology of education in Malta. Malta:PEGpublishers.

UniversityofMalta.StudentStatisticsbyFaculty/CourseandRoute2011-2012.Availableat:www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/142554/studentstatistics2011.pdf[Accessedon7thFebruary2013]

UniversityofMalta.GraduateStatisticsbyFaculty/Institute,CourseandRoute2011-2012.:InstituteAvailableat:www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/175357/graduatestatistics11-12.pdf[Accessedon7thFebruary2013]

Vallejo,C.andM.Dooly(2008). Educational Policies that Address

www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/142554/studentstatistics2011.pdf

www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/142554/studentstatistics2011.pdf

www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/175357/graduatestatistics11-12.pdf

www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/175357/graduatestatistics11-12.pdf


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Social Inequality (EPASI) Country Report: Malta.Availableat:http://epasi.eu/CountryReportMT.pdf[Accessedon20thJanuary2013]

UNESCOInternationalBureauofEducationWorldDataonEducationVIIEd.2010/2011.IBE/2012/WDE/MM.Availableat:www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/WDE/2010/pdf-versions/Malta.pdf[Accessedon14thMarch2013]

ZammitCiantar,J.(1996).Education in Malta – a handbook. Malta:SalesianPress.

www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/WDE/2010/pdf-versions/Malta.pdf

www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/WDE/2010/pdf-versions/Malta.pdf


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Addresses

L-Akkademja tal-Malti (AcademyofMaltese)12,App.1,DarDoreenMicallef,TriqSant’AndrijaIl-BeltVallettaVLT1341Einfo@akkademjatalmalti.comWwww.akkademjatalmalti.com

Direttorat Għal Kwalità u Standards fl-Edukazzjoni(DirectorateforQualityandStandardsinEducation)Triql-Assedjul-KbirIl-FurjanaVLT2000T+35625982404F+35625982120Edg.dqse.educ@gov.mtDirettorat Għal Servizzi Edukattivi(DirectorateforEducationalServices)Triql-Assedjul-KbirIl-FurjanaVLT2000T+35625982404F+35625982120Edg.des.educ@gov.mt

Institute of Linguistics Room24BlockA,CarPark6UniversityofMaltaMsida,MSD2080T+35623402151

Institute of Maltese StudiesĠużéCassarPullicinoBuildingUniversityofMaltaMsidaMSD2080MaltaT+35623403305/2566

International Association of Maltese LinguisticsFachbereich10:Sprach-undLiteraturwissenschaftenInstitutfürAllgemeineundAngewandteSprachwissenschaftBibliothekstraßeP.O.Box330440D-28344BremenGermanyT+49-421-218-3044F+49-421-218-7801Eghaqda@uni-bremen.de

mailto:[email protected]


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Kummissjoni Nazzjonali Għall-Edukazzjoni Ogħla(NationalCommissionforHigherEducation)16/18TowerPromenadeSantaLucijaSLC1019T(+356)21226862F(+356)[email protected]

Kunsill Malti Għall-Kultura u l-Arti(MaltaCouncilforCultureandtheArts)230,Triqir-Repubblika,Il-BeltVallettaVLT1116,[email protected]

Kunsill Nazzjonali tal-Ilsien Malti(NationalCouncilfortheMalteselanguage)Il-Ministerutal-EdukazzjoniTriql-Assedjul-KbirIl-FurjanaVLT2000Ekunsilltalmalti@gov.mt

Malta Drama Centre“MikelangBorg”c/oMariaReginaJuniorLyceumMountbattenStreetBlatal-BajdaHamrunHMR1575

Ministeru tal-Edukazzjoni(MinistryofEducation)Triql-Assedjul-KbirIl-FurjanaVLT2000T+35625982463/25Whttps://www.education.gov.mt

MATSEC Support UnitMATSECUniversityofMaltaMsidaMSD2080T+35623402815/6F+35621314324

MCAST Gozo Campus132,Triqit-Tiġrija,XagħraXRA2013,[email protected]


60

MCAST Gozo CampusTriqtal-Ħamrija,Xewkija,XWK9034Gozo.T+35621564146F+35621551529

MCAST Main Campus,TriqKordin,PaolaPLA9032.T+35623987450F+35623987490

University of Malta Gozo CentreMġarrRoad,Xewkija,Gozo,XWK9016T+35621564559,+35623407900F+35621564550

University of Malta UniversityofMaltaMsidaMSD2080T+35623402340F+35623402342Wwww.um.edu.mt

Department of Arts and Languages in EducationFacultyofEducationRoom320OldHumanitiesBuildingUniversityofMaltaMsidaMSD2080T+35623402038Wwww.um.edu.mt/educ/artslangs

Department of Primary EducationRoom234FacultyofEducationOldHumanitiesBuildingUniversityofMaltaMsidaMSD2080T+35623402895Wwww.um.edu.mt/educ/primary

Dipartiment Tal-Malti (DepartmentofMaltese)Il-Fakultàtal-ArtiIl-Blokktal-IstudjiUmanistiċi(OH)L-Universitàta’MaltaTal-Qroqq,L-ImsidaMSD2080T(+356)23403387Wwww.um.edu.mt/arts/malti


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Department of Translation and Interpreting StudiesFacultyofArtsOldHumanitiesBuildingUniversityofMaltaMsidaMSD2080T+35623402295F+35623402185Wwww.um.edu.mt/arts/translation

publishers

Agenda MillerDistributorsLtd.,AirportWay,TarxienRoad,[email protected]

Book Distributors Limited Publishers3,TriqGiorgioPreca,SanGwannSGN3511T+35621380351Wwww.bdlbooks.com

Pubblikazzjonijiet Ćak (Ćak Publications)TriqS.SommierBirkirkara,BKR4611T+35621498343F+35621443458Ehabbar@cakmalta.orgWwww.cakmalta.org

Discern Malta Publications5,LionStreetFloriana.FRN1514T+35621241924F+35621241925Einfo@discern-malta.org

Klabb Kotba Maltin.63,Triqil-KarmelitaniStaVeneraSVR1724T+35621497046F21496904

Tel:+356




62

Malta University Publishing R.MifsudBonniciStreet,LijaT/F:+35621234121/[email protected]

Merlin Publishers42,MountbattenStreet,[email protected]

Midsea Books Ltd.68,CarmelitesStreetStaVeneraSVR1724T+35621497046F+35621496904

Miranda [email protected]+35621343772/3F+35621342752

Mireva PublishersMons.CarmelZammitStreet,[email protected]+35621319311

PIN PublicationsTriqHerbertGanadoPietà.PTA1450T+35625965309

Progress Press Company Ltd.ZonaIndustrijaliTriql-IntornjaturMriehelBKR3000MaltaT+35622764400F+35625594115Einfo@progresspress.com.mt

S.K.S. PublishersĆentruNazzjonaliLaburista,TriqMilend,Il-Hamrun,HMR1717T+35621249900F+35621244204


http://maltauniversitybooks.com






65

Other websites on minority languages

Mercator www.mercator-network.euGeneral site of theMercator EuropeanNetwork of LanguageDiversity Centres. It gives information about the network andleadsyoutothehomepagesofthenetworkpartners.

Mercator www.mercator-research.euHomepage of the Mercator European Research Centre onMultilingualism and Language Learning.Thewebsite containstheseriesofRegionaldossiers,adatabasewithorganisations,abibliography,informationoncurrentactivities,andmanylinkstorelevantwebsites.

European http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/languages -of-europe/doc139_en.htm

The website of the European Commission gives informationabouttheEU’ssupportforregionalorminoritylanguages.

Council of http://conventions.coe.intEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (1992)andFramework Convention for the Protection of National Minor-ities(1995).EuropeanTreatySeries148and157,Strasbourg.

Eurydice http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/index_en.phpEurydiceistheinformationnetworkoneducationinEurope.Thesitesprovides informationonallEuropeaneducationsystemsandeducationpolicies.

Research Centre

Europe

Network

Commission


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What can the Mercator Research Centre offer you?

mission & goals The Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualismand Language Learning addresses the growing interest inmultilingualismandtheincreasingneedoflanguagecommunitiesto exchange experiences and to cooperate in a Europeancontext.ThecentreisbasedinLjouwert/Leeuwarden,thecapitalof Fryslân – the bilingual province of the Netherlands – andhostedattheFryskeAkademy(FrisianAcademy).TheMercatorResearchCentrefocusesonresearch,policy,andpracticeinthefieldofmultilingualismandlanguagelearning.Thecentreaimstobeanindependentandrecognisedorganisationforresearchers,policymakers, and professionals in education. The centreendeavours to promote linguistic diversity within Europe. Thestartingpointliesinthefieldofregionalandminoritylanguages.Yet,immigrantlanguagesandsmallerstatelanguagesarealsoatopicofstudy.Thecentre’smainfocusisthecreation,circulation,andapplicationofknowledgeinthefieldoflanguagelearningatschool,athome,andthroughculturalparticipation.

partners In1987MercatorEducationstartedcooperationwithtwopartnersinanetworkstructure:MercatorMediahostedattheUniversityofWalesinAberystwythandMercatorLegislationhostedattheCiemenFoundation inBarcelona.Thisnetworkhasdevelopedinto the Mercator European Network of Language DiversityCentres, which consists of the three aforementioned partnersaswell asStockholmUniversity inSwedenand theResearchInstituteforLinguisticsoftheHungarianAcademyofSciencesinHungary.Besides,theMercatorResearchCentre,thesuccessorofMercatorEducation,expandsitsnetworkinclosecooperationwith a number of other partner organisations working in thesamefield.ThiscooperationincludespartnersinFryslân,aswellas partners in the Netherlands and in Europe. The provincialgovernmentofFryslânisthemainfundingbodyoftheMercatorResearchCentre.ProjectsandactivitiesarefundedbytheEUaswellasbytheauthoritiesofotherregionsinEuropewithanactivepolicytosupport theirregionalorminority languageanditsculture.


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research TheMercatorResearchCentredevelopsaresearchprogrammeonthebasisofthedatacollectionsavailable.Researchactivitiesfocuson variousaspects of bilingual and trilingual education,such as interaction in multilingual classrooms, languageproficiency in different languages, and teachers’ qualificationsfor the multilingual classroom. Whenever possible, researchwill be carried out in a comparative European perspective.Research results are disseminated through publications andconferencesincollaborationwithEuropeanpartners.

conferences The Mercator Research Centre organises conferences andseminars on a regular basis. Themes for the conferencesinclude: measurement & good practice, educational models,developmentofminimumstandards, teacher training,and theapplicationoftheCommonEuropeanFrameworkofReference.ThemaintargetgroupsfortheMercatorResearchCentreareprofessionals,researchers,andpolicymakersfromallmemberstatesoftheCouncilofEuropeandbeyond.

q&a Through the Question and Answer service available on ourwebsite (www.mercator-research.eu)wecan informyouaboutanysubjectrelatedtoeducationinminorityorregionallanguagesinEurope.Theexpertsinourextensivedatabaseofexpertscanalsoproviderelevantinformation.

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This document was published by the Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning with financial support from the Fryske Akademy, the Province of Fryslân, and the municipality of Leeuwarden.

© Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning, 2013

ISSN: 1570 – 12391st edition

The contents of this dossier may be reproduced in print, except for commercial purposes, provided that the extract is proceeded by a complete reference to the Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning.

This Regional dossier has been compiled by Professor Lydia Sciriha (University of Malta). Unless otherwise stated, academic data refer to the 2012/2013 school year. A draft of this Regional dossier has been reviewed by Professor Mario Vassallo (University of Malta).

AcknowledgementsThe author wishes to express her gratitude to Mr Raymond J. Camilleri, Mr Michael Pace Ross, Dr Tania Muscat, Mr Ian Mifsud, and Ms Bernadette Gerada Aloisio.

Contact information of the authors of Regional dossiers can be found in the Mercator Database of Experts (www.mercator-research.eu).

From August 2012 onwards Ineke Rienks and Saskia Benedictus-van den Berg havebeen responsible for the publication of the Mercator Regional dossiers series.

Albanian; the Albanian language in education in ItalyAsturian; the Asturian language in education in SpainBasque; the Basque language in education in France (2nd ed.)Basque; the Basque language in education in Spain (2nd ed.)Breton; the Breton language in education in France (2nd ed.)Catalan; the Catalan language in education in France Catalan; the Catalan language in education in Spain (2nd ed.)Cornish; the Cornish language in education in the UKCorsican; the Corsican language in education in France (2nd ed.)Croatian; the Croatian language in education in AustriaFrisian; the Frisian language in education in the Netherlands (4th ed.)Friulian; the Friulian language in education in ItalyGaelic; the Gaelic language in education in the UKGalician; the Galician language in education in SpainGerman; the German language in education in Alsace, France (2nd ed.)German; the German language in education in BelgiumGerman; the German language in education in South Tyrol, ItalyHungarian; the Hungarian language in education in SlovakiaHungarian; the Hungarian language in education in SloveniaIrish; the Irish language in education in Northern Ireland (2nd ed.)Irish; the Irish language in education in the Republic of IrelandItalian; the Italian language in education in SloveniaKashubian; the Kashubian language in education in PolandLadin; the Ladin language in education in ItalyLatgalian; the Latgalian language in education in LatviaLithuanian; the Lithuanian language in education in PolandMaltese; the Maltese language in education in MaltaMeänkieli and Sweden Finnish; the Finnic languages in education in SwedenNorth-Frisian; the North Frisian language in education in Germany (2nd ed.)Occitan; the Occitan language in education in FrancePolish; the Polish language in education in LithuaniaRomani and Beash; the Romani and Beash languages in education in HungarySami; the Sami language in education in SwedenScots; the Scots language in education in ScotlandSlovak; the Slovak language in education in HungarySlovene; the Slovene language in education in Austria (2nd ed.)Slovene; the Slovene language in education in Italy (2nd ed.)Sorbian; the Sorbian language in education in GermanySwedish; the Swedish language in education in Finland (2nd ed.)Turkish; the Turkish language in education in GreeceUkrainian and Ruthenian; the Ukrainian and Ruthenian language in education in PolandVõro; the Võro language in education in EstoniaWelsh; the Welsh language in education in the UK

European Research Centre onMultilingualism and Language Learning

| Regional dossiers series |

c/o Fryske Akademy

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P.O. Box 54

NL-8900 AB Ljouwert/Leeuwarden

The Netherlands

T 0031 (0) 58 - 234 3027

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Maltese - Mercator Research Centre€¦ · 10 Summary statistics .....46 Endnotes ... language Maltese or il-Malti is a Semitic language, closely related to Arabic in structure and