Watch: Teacher Confronts Minister Over Malta’s New O Level System
A teacher challenged Education Minister Clifton Grima over the new O Level system, warning it is increasing stress levels for students who don’t have proper home support.
Starting this year, O Level students will be graded under a new system, where 70% of their final mark is based on the exam, while the remaining 30% comes from ongoing assessments conducted over the last three years of secondary school.
However, speaking on Jon Mallia’s Il-Każin show, teacher Joanna Mallia warned that the new system is proving to be problematic.
“We were told that it was introduced to place students at the centre of education, but us teachers know how much stress it is causing,” she warned.
“Some of my students don’t come to school due to stress caused by constant assessments. They are being assessed practically every week or every two weeks.”
Mallia said that while the system was introduced for the sake of students who tend to struggle academically, this isn’t proving to be the case.
“How can you tell a struggling student to present a PowerPoint presentation in class? If their parents are good, they will help them with their presentations, but the parents of struggling students often struggle academically themselves. Who will help these students?”
Grima defended the new system, arguing that a student’s education journey shouldn’t be graded by a single exam.
He also argued that the system shouldn’t be judged as a failure before its first results are released following the O Levels.
“I understand that the new system creates certain issues but are we ready to go back to the old system?” he questioned.
“Education is alive and we should never remain static, but many educators have told me that they have reform-fatigue and are tired of seeing change for the sake of change.”
The full debate will be released tonight on GO Tokis.
Do you agree with this new system?
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