Making vocational education a worthy career choice

Just before Christmas, the Education Ministry published the National Education Strategy 2024-2030 and kick-started a consultation process that is open until 13 February. 

Among the proposals contained in the 76-page document there is a suggestion for the creation of a Trade Institute for post-secondary students. 

The document does not give much detail about this proposal but says it should be based on a micro-credentials system and should promote careers in the traditional and modern trades. 

A micro-credentials system normally offers a series of short targeted courses that certify the skills and competences acquired by the learner. This approach is ideal to enable people to adapt to a fast-changing society and the needs of the labour market. 

The European approach to micro-credentials does not posit them as a replacement of traditional qualifications but rather complements them. 

The idea behind the creation of such an institute probably germinated as a response to the long-standing criticism of employer organisations on the lack of trade skills fostered within the education system after trade schools were shut down. 

The closure of trade schools almost 20 years ago created a gap in the system that left students predisposed to manual skills and inclined towards trades without a plausible alternative. 

Really and truly, it is unclear how such an institute would work differently from what the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology already offers in terms of targeted fulltime and part-time courses in various trades. Maybe, having a dedicated institute would provide more focus and respond faster to the economy’s changing demands. 

However, the proposal does not fill the gap created at secondary school level when trade schools were shut down. 

The belated introduction of vocational subjects as part of the My Journey experience in secondary schools, unfortunately, has not been rolled out fast and wide enough to fill that gap. Additionally, the vocational subjects taught still do not cover certain skills that were otherwise learnt in trade schools. 

This leader believes that the Trade Institute proposal should be extended further to encompass the needs of secondary school students as well. 

What is needed is a re-think at secondary school level with the creation of a specialised trade school on the same lines as the School of Sport and the Malta Visual and Performing Arts School. 

In this way, students with a propensity for tradecraft, even if they find academic learning attractive, could progress directly into a secondary school that can hone their skills, while still ensuring they benefit from the regular educational curriculum. 

The standards of entry, learning and discipline in this specialised trade school should be high to avoid the negative perception that hounded trade schools in the past when they were associated almost exclusively with low achievers. 
Additionally, the VET subjects that are part of the secondary school system should remain as options for students who are more academically inclined but still want to learn a trade. 

This leader believes that widening the concept of a post-secondary trade institute to include a specialised secondary school will provide a more holistic response to the problems flagged by industry ever since trade schools were closed down. 

Such an ecosystem can nurture traditional and modern-day trade skills from a young age and thus ensure young men and women are better prepared to face the challenges of the work environment. 

There is no reason why Malta should not adopt the path taken by countries like Germany and Switzerland where vocational education is valued as a worthy career choice. 

At the same time, parents need to look at vocational education as a perfectly acceptable career path for all students and not just those who find academic learning unattractive. 

Within this context, we believe the National Education Strategy should be more ambitious and propose a secondary level trade school that would complement the post-secondary institute suggested thus far by policy makers. 

This would be one way of transitioning to a new economic model by ensuring that Maltese students exit their mandatory education years with a skill set that allows them to continue to access specialised learning at post-secondary level or enter the labour market with skills that industry requires. 

The document released in December was drafted after a series of consultation meetings with students, families, teachers, and other stakeholders. It contains many more proposals that touch on various educational aspects. 

But the underlying rationale was to have a bottom-up approach when drawing up a strategy that will determine how the educational system will function in the coming years. Very often, changes in the education system were brought about in a top-down fashion with educators complaining that the bureaucrats and academics driving the change were cut off from the classroom reality. 

We hope that any change, even that prospected by this leader, will keep educators at the centre of the reforms. After all, it is educators in the classroom that are expected to implement change.