Not enough education expertise for full autonomy of schools – curriculum author
Is it true that the national minimum curriculum does not respect teachers’ professionalism and adaptability skills?
Prof. Peter Serracino Inglott's scathing attack on the National Curriculum last Saturday, has set the ball rolling for a wider debate on the new national curriculum: arguing that the present curriculum does not give enough space for creativity and independence among teachers.
But according to the document's co-author, there is not enough expertise among educationalists for fully autonomous schools.
The new framework consultation process, launched in May 2011, officially expires this month. Yet until Serracino Inglott's outburst last weekend, the issue had not really caught the public's imagination. According to the former University rector the current curriculum leaves no space for creativity, freedom, individuality and autonomy.
Serracino Inglott - the brains behind the PN's 1986 'Fehmiet Bażiċi' document - attacked the national curriculum at a debate organised by PN think-tank AZAD which discussed the party's recently updated basic principles document 'Our Roots'. In a passionate speech he described the curriculum as the "largest disaster in education" and expressed his regrets that the word 'minimum' has been dropped from the framework's title. He said this was "illegal".
His outburst raises a few important questions in regards to the new framework. The main debate revolves around whether the curriculum, the implementation process or both need to be reformed.
But Carmel Borg, co-author of the draft framework, said the new national curriculum framework has all the ingredients that "promote democracy and social justice in education," he said.
"In the context of the absence of a real intellectual debate on the curricular vision, the implementation might face serious problems as many teachers still do not identify themselves with the NCF's interpretation of social justice in education."
Borg added that many teachers feel that the pace of the reforms is not allowing for proper assimilation and that continuous professional development is weak. He placed the blame on the teachers doorstep and said "Research conducted locally and internationally indicates that teachers are predominantly sequential in their approach to accessing and organising knowledge. Sequential teachers rarely venture into genuine, creative pastures and have a tendency to stifle unconventional students. I think we are trying to square the circle in the area of creativity."
As regards granting schools more autonomy, Borg is even more cynical. "Autonomy comes with on-site expertise in curriculum design, development and evaluation, all highly specialised areas. We do not have the expertise to go for full autonomy of individual schools. The best we can achieve is enough space and curricular flexibility for schools to address the urgent needs of their students."
Teachers are always at the centre of any controversy on education and in this case teachers and their union are being accused of stalling the whole process. Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) president, Kevin Bonello told MaltaToday "the MUT has been calling for more flexibility for teachers for years. The MUT has always believed that a professional teacher should be allowed to be flexible to adapt the Curriculum according to the exigencies of the class."
Asked to comment about Serracino Inglott's outburst the MUT president said "Serracino Inglott has stated what the MUT has been stating for years. It has to be reminded that the most successful countries in the educational field are those that allow such flexibility to their professional teachers."
With regard to the implementation process Bonello said the DQSE had pledged its commitment to increase flexibility but in reality the Directorate is doing otherwise.
Bonello said: "Imposing syllabi, as is happening now in Form 1, with a set of instructions to teachers on what to do and what not to do in each and every subject is derogatory for the professionalism of our teachers and moreover is detrimental to the students since teachers are not being allowed the flexibility to adapt to the situation of their respective classes."
Bonello said the curriculum does not respect the teacher's professionalism and adaptability skills and cited the imposition of timetables on primary school teachers as an example. He said "Primary school teachers should be allowed to judge and adapt to the class situation and devise a tailor made timetable for their own class which reflects the needs of the grouping under the teacher's care."
Grace Grima, Director General, Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education (DQSE) told Malta Today of a meeting she had with Serracino Inglott on Monday, together with other members of the National curriculum framework working group. Grima said that during the meeting Serracino Inglott clarified his position and what he meant to say was that in his view a national minimum curriculum needs to allow for flexibility on the part of the school and creativity on the part of the teachers.
"It is important to note that in the 2006 Amended Education Act, the term national minimum curriculum has been superseded by the terminology 'national curriculum framework'. Therefore while the 1999 document was a national minimum curriculum, the document that was launched in May 2011 is now a national curriculum framework," Grima said.
Grima added that when the DQSE started working on the framework in March 2008 "we were very aware that the schools wanted more flexibility and we tried to address this issue within the parameters of the current agreement between the government and the MUT. To give one example, we gave some timetable models with a number of lessons that are not allocated to a particular subject, both in Primary and in Secondary.
"In regards to the issue of creativity and innovation Grima said this is addressed in the framework by recommending that it is to become a cross-curricular theme to be present in all learning areas.
"Therefore once again we did try to address this very important aspect of the teaching and learning process, " Grima said.