Education and Training Monitor 2023

1. The teaching profession

Maltese early childhood education and care (ECEC) and school teachers are among the youngest in the EU. In 2021, about 20% of teachers were 30 or younger compared to an average of 7.5% at EU level. The share of new entrants¹ in teacher education at Master’s level² had a positive trend between 2018 and 2020, interrupted only in 2021, which signals an interest in the teaching profession. Although teachers’ motivation is high at the beginning of their careers, this tends to decrease over time (European Commission, 2019; OECD, 2019³; Attard Tonna and Calleja, 2021). Factors that may contribute to this include the lack of autonomy and support; the rapid pace of reforms; low salary progression, and a lack of support in dealing with significant changes in the composition of the student population, with an increasing number of foreign pupils⁴ (Attard Tonna and Calleja, 2023; Galea, 2020; Sultana et al, 2019). To increase teachers’ motivation and ensure their support to policy changes, the Ministry has planned to pre-consult education staff during the preparation of policy measures.

ECEC staff and teacher shortages have been addressed by employing supply teachers and creating alternative pathways to gain the relevant qualifications. Retired teachers, teachers on reduced hours and supply teachers are employed to fill existing gaps. Between 2015 and 2022 the share of supply teachers out of the total teaching staff in the school system at primary and secondary level slightly increased from 11.0% to 12.5%. More significant increases are visible in church schools (+3.2 pps) and independent schools (+7.6pps)⁵. Supply teachers represented almost half (45.5%) of the teaching staff in independent schools in 2022. Typically unemployed graduates or university students, they have a level of qualification different or lower than required for fully qualified teachers. If their contract exceeds four years, they can become formally qualified teachers only if they improve their qualification. For instance, supply teachers are either in possession of a Bachelor’s degree without the pedagogical course required for obtaining a teacher’s permanent warrant or a vocational qualification or an MQF level 4 qualification in the subject or area applied for. However, to be eligible for recruitment and obtain the teacher’s permanent warrant to work as a fully qualified school teacher, applicants are required to have a recognised teaching qualification by the Council for the teaching profession or any other qualification deemed comparable, including for instance a Bachelor of Education provided by the University of Malta and Master in Education by the Institute for Education and two years of teaching experience. Significantly different routes are currently being offered in initial teacher education for recruiting school teachers into the system⁶.

To make the profession more attractive and increase retention rates, salaries and additional allowances have been gradually increased since 2017, but salary progression remains limited. The government has started discussing a new sectoral agreement for 2023-2027 with the officially recognised unions, expected to be agreed by the end of 2023, to further improve teachers’ working conditions. The statutory starting salary for teachers at lower general secondary level is currently relatively high compared to other EU countries (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2022). However, salary progression is limited after 10 years of service and by the end of a career (Figure 1) (European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice, 2022). Teachers with more than ten years of teaching experience can progress in their careers by taking on positions as assistant head of school or head of department. After that they can apply to become head of school or education officer. They can also make lateral moves to another school, state or not-state school. However, the opportunities to increase their salaries significantly are limited, as the private schools are also bound by similar agreements in terms of working conditions and pay packages (Attard Tonna and Calleja, 2023).

Figure 1: Percentage difference between the statutory starting salaries of lower secondary teachers and their salaries after 10 and 15 years’ service, and at the top of the pay range, 2020/2021

2. Early childhood education and care

Participation in early childhood education (ECE) by children above the age of 3 is continuing to fall. The ECE rate stood at 86.2%⁷ in 2021, compared with an EU average of 92.5%. The rate has further decreased by 2.9 pps since 2020⁸. Conversely⁹, participation in formal childcare returned to its pre-pandemic levels: the proportion of children under 3 in formal childcare has increased significantly, by 19.1¹⁰ pps since 2021 and in 2022 it was above the EU average (43.1% vs 35.9%) and close to the national target set for 2030 (45%). The free childcare scheme that allowed Malta to almost double the participation rate in 2016 continues to effectively support participation by children with working (or studying) parents. Efforts are also underway to continue investing the capacity building and upskilling of professionals working in the ECEC sector.

3. School education

A new policy to enhance bilingualism at primary level was published in 2023. Since Malta is a bilingual country, all students are taught Maltese and English at school, with both languages carrying equal status. The Language Policy for the Junior Years (7-11) acknowledges that classrooms have become increasingly multilingual due to increased migration¹¹, creating the need to provide better support for all children to acquire fluency both in Maltese and English. The policy provides national guidelines for bilingual education for children and encourages parents and teachers to promote bilingualism at home and school from their children’s early years. It also commits to the need to prepare novice teachers and provide in-service teachers with training to use effective approaches in multilingual contexts and to address issues related to bilingual education. In the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 20.4% of teachers reported a high level of need for professional development in this topic, above the EU22 average (14.9%)¹².

Reading performance is below the EU average and a relatively high percentage of pupils fail to achieve minimum proficiency levels. The 2021 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) shows that, on average, Maltese fourth-graders perform below the EU19 average (519 points vs 527). The proportion of low achieving pupils (Figure 2) in reading literacy is among the highest of the participating EU education systems (30% v 23% at EU19 level) (European Commission, 2023b). While the pandemic is likely to have negatively affected reading performance and may partially explain the Maltese performance, PIRLS 2021 results are consistent with the main outcomes of PISA 2018 (European Commission, 2020). This suggests that other factors are influencing the Maltese performance and that its school system does not adequately support competences’ development at primary and secondary level. This seems to be especially the case for students with lower socio-economic background. The performance gap between pupils with lower and higher socio-economic status is higher than the EU27 average (85 vs 80 points). The Reading Recovery Programme – a literacy intervention programme in English, in place since the 2018/2019 school year – is successful but according to the national recovery resilience plan it only targets a small number (on average 250) of pupils aged 6 and 7 each year between 2021 and 2024 (European Commission, 2021b).

A review of the National Curriculum Framework has been launched. In the last months of 2022, the Ministry established a National Curriculum Framework Review Board, which was tasked with reviewing the existing the National Curriculum Framework and creating better synergies with the Learning Outcomes Framework. The revision is taking place before the full implementation of the two existing frameworks planned in the 2023/2024 school year. The Ministry also set up four working groups to review the two frameworks, focusing on years 1-2, years 3-6, years 7-8 and years 9-11. A position paper reflecting the findings of the four Learning Outcomes Framework working groups has been shared with the Ministry. To ensure higher quality of education, a new quality assurance framework was published in July. The framework, which covers ages 0-16, aims to establish quality assurance mechanisms from ISCED 0 to 3. To guide internal and external quality process, national quality standards for 3-16 years were also published in July. In addition, a two-year plan has been prepared to ensure that each school is visited to receive further information on the standards. These complement the quality standard for childcare that has been in place since in 2021.

Figure 2: Low achievement and top performance rates in reading, PIRLS 2021

As of 2025 the Secondary Education Certificate (SEC)¹³ qualification will include school-based assessments in all subjects reflecting performance in the final three years of secondary school. As of 2022/2023, ninth graders are experiencing the new Learning Outcomes Framework. The school-based assessment features flexibility in terms of content, format and timing, but it must be relevant to the SEC exam. The weighting of the assessment in the final mark varies by subject, from 30% for academic subjects to 60% for vocational subjects. The objective of this change is to provide stronger incentives for pupils to invest earlier and more consistently in learning instead of focusing disproportionately on the exam. At the same time, formative assessment may help teachers identify difficulties that pupils are encountering while learning. In addition, the admission requirements for the Junior College¹⁴, which falls under the remit of the University of Malta, were amended in 2022. The College prepares pupils for the matriculation certificate, awarded to pupils intending to study at the University. The old rules required admitted pupils to be in possession of a SEC examination pass (grade 5 or better) in six subjects, including three core subjects: Maltese, English and mathematics. The new entry requirements demand at least one SEC pass in a core subject (Maltese, English or mathematics). Admitted pupils who do not have a SEC pass in one or two of these core subjects are offered preparatory classes, which might enable them to satisfy the general admission requirement later in the year.

Malta continues to invest in digital learning resources, to improve learning outcomes. As of September 2023, seventh-graders in all secondary schools receive a free laptop to use as well as access to digital content. Teachers will be receiving training on how to maximise the use of laptops. This measure complements the ongoing investment “one tablet per child”, started in 2016. Funded by the European Social Fund, it provides pupils at grade 4, 5 and 6 with a tablet. As in most EU education systems, in Malta the PIRLS 2021 showed that using digital devices is not linearly correlated with reading performance: using them for 30 minutes or less is correlated with higher reading performance than not using digital devices at all or using them for more than 30 minutes on a regular school day. This may indicate that moderate use of digital devices can have advantages over excessive use or non-use (European Commission, 2023b).

4. Vocational education and training

In 2022, Malta prepared its National Implementation Plan in response to the 2020 Council Recommendation on vocational education and training (VET). It aims to improve the inclusiveness, attractiveness and quality of VET.

The main measures for Malta include:

1. setting up a national advisory committee for VET;
2. reconstituting the national skills council;
3. setting up a national guidance service network;
4. creating a national fund to support digital education and artificial intelligence;
5. promoting the mobility of VET and adult learners, teachers and trainers.

In addition, to provide high quality VET, a new directorate for VET and STEM programmes was set up in May within the Ministry. For now, despite a high level of investment in infrastructure and in promoting VET as alternative to a more academic path, to retain more students in education and training, the share of learners enrolled in upper secondary VET is stagnant (27.0%¹⁸ in 2021 and 27.6% in 2020) and below the EU average (48.7%) in 2021¹⁹. However, the employment rate of VET graduates is relatively high (83.5 ²⁰% vs 79.7% at EU level in 2022). The share of VET graduates (ISCED 3 and 4) benefiting from exposure to work-based learning during their vocational education and training increased by 4.4 pps over the previous year, to reach 52.7% in 2022. But this is still below the EU average (60.1%).

5. Higher education

Tertiary educational attainment remained stable in 2022; the rate for native-born individuals continues to increase. The tertiary educational attainment rate of people aged 25-34 stood at 42.4% in 2022, slightly above the EU average (42.0%). The rate has increased by 14.1 pps since 2012, mainly driven by the increasing proportion (+15.8pps)²¹ of native-born people attaining a tertiary qualification in the past decade. This may help reduce the undersupply of tertiary qualified workers. The gap with EU nationals (51.5%) stood at 8.5 pps in 2022, while the rate for native-born individuals (43.0%) was higher than that of non-EU born individuals. For the latter, the rate dramatically decreased – by 9.3 pps – between 2021 and 2022 (from 45.5% to 36.2%), confirming its floating trend. It is expected that more native-born people will achieve tertiary education in the years to come. The number of enrolments in tertiary education²²has continued to increase, even during the pandemic (+7.5pps between 2020 and 2021). In addition, results from a study carried out by the Malta Further and Higher Education Authority suggest that the increase could have been even higher, as during the pandemic there was a lower uptake of tertiary studies due to students’ financial position and a limited offer in terms of courses by institutions, who did not have online content ready for use at the beginning of the pandemic. The study also highlighted that the groups of tertiary students which were most affected by the pandemic included those with low income/low socio-economic background, people from other ethnic backgrounds, the over 25s and females (MFHEA, 2022a).

A National Strategic Action Plan for Further and Higher Education (2022-2030) was published for consultation in December 2022. The plan revisits the 2020 strategy, aiming to prepare the further and higher education sector better for the challenges brought by the pandemic and the international context.

It has seven pillars:

1. promoting joined-up policy design and governance;
2. exploiting emerging opportunities in the labour market;
3. improving educational attainment, retention and completion rates;
4. ensuring robust quality assurance and transparency, by developing an action plan for quality assurance;
5. improving the relevance of teaching, learning and research;
6. widening participation;
7. increasing strategic internationalisation and opportunities to mobility, for students and teachers/trainers.

While the plan is not yet finalised, the draft version highlights as a key priority across all seven pillars the need for an evidence-based approach to policy design, the setting of commonly agreed targets and effective mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation. It reiterates the ambition of improving the quality of education and training while ensuring the effectiveness and efficiency of spending (see Box 1).

The Malta Further and Higher Education Authority has applied to become a full member of the European association for quality assurance in higher education.The authority, established in 2021, will by the end of 2023 undergo an external review against the standards and guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area. Malta is working to develop procedures and guidelines for internal and external quality assurance mechanisms (EQAVET framework), accreditation, programme audits, blended learning, jointly awarded and transnational programmes, a code of conduct on academic integrity and peer review. The draft strategic action plan (MFHEA, 2022b) recommends that quality assurance mechanisms be strengthened, to increase stakeholder trust and confidence in quality of the programmes provided by higher education institutions.

6. Adult learning

Malta is committed to strengthening skills development. In 2022, it registered a decrease²³ in participation in adult learning. The rate fell by 1.1 percentage point since 2021 and remained slightly above the EU average (12.8% vs 11.9%). Nearly 10% of the European Social Fund+ (ESF+) budget (EUR 12 million) in Malta is allocated to up-skilling and re-skilling. Investment in this area is also being made through measures to support employment, activation and social inclusion. ESF+ includes a strong focus on adult learning, addressing skills gaps through development and increasing access to lifelong learning for the labour force. The aim is to upgrade skills and qualifications, thereby enhancing employability and adaptability. In addition, to further expand upskilling and reskilling opportunities, the national recovery and resilience plan includes the setting up of an e-College offering online courses.

To better identify skills gaps and anticipate future skills in the labour market, Malta reconstituted its National Skills Council (NSC) in 2023 as an executive body. Between 2014 and 2020 Malta experienced a significant increase in horizontal²⁴skills mismatch, which indicates that, over time, it was increasingly difficult to find people with a level of education appropriate to their job, (Borg, 2023). At the same time, skills shortages are a major concern (European Commission, 2023c). The revamp of the Council – recommended in the 2021-2030 National Employment Policy – aims to strengthen a culture of lifelong learning and spearhead an evidence-based skills agenda focused on employability, social inclusion and well-being. The Council will seek to stimulate a more analytical approach to skills analysis and may also help Malta address its challenges in anticipating skills needs. According to CEDEFOP (2023), a coherent system for producing and interpreting skills intelligence has not yet been developed. There are a range of skills anticipation exercises but as a whole the skills anticipation process is fragmented, with limited overall coordination. The National Statistics Office carried out the first Malta skill survey at the end of 2022. This was a national stock-taking exercise of Malta’s skills and qualifications among the working-age population. Its results will shed light on existing skills gaps in the country’s labour force and inform employment and education policy. Preliminary results were published in June.