Last week. Minister for Education Dolores Cristina launched the much-awaited 11+ reform proposal. This reform is based on a report on the transition from primary to secondary schools in Malta in both the State and non-State sectors commissioned by Dr Louis Galea, then Minister of Education in 2006. Dr Grace Grima, now Director General of the Directorate for Standards and Quality in Education, who since her appointment was charged with transforming the report recommendations into a national policy and strategy document, chaired the Working Group that produced this report.

As was to be expected, wide media and public interest followed the launch of this reform proposal, After all, this is the most important change directly affecting compulsory teaching and learning for 35 years. Above all it is a social justice measure, acknowledged as such even by the Catholic Church in Malta. This is because this proposal makes it possible for all children to fulfil their entitlement to a holistic education that effectively prepares them for lifelong learning.

The highlights of the proposed reform are:

• The transformation of the Junior Lyceum exam in two years' time into a set of three national benchmark assessments in Maths, Maltese and English that will still be centrally set and corrected, complemented by school-based assessments. These exams will take place at the end of the school year, gaining two months over the present Year 6 that in practice ends after the Common Entrance exams in mid-May.

• Crucially, these national benchmark assessments will have a diagnostic function not a selective one - all those who sit for these exams will go to the same high-quality State secondary school, which will provide a different curriculum from the present Junior Lyceums and area secondary schools. This means that these exams will not be used to label about 50 per cent of State school students as 'failures' because they did not pass the exams, as is currently the case.

• The elimination of streaming in primary and secondary schools to be replaced by types of setting and mixed-ability formats. This will start as from Year 5 of September 2009.

• The eventual shift from marks and grades in assessment to levels of achievement, giving a much clearer idea of what has been mastered in a particular area of study and what the next step in learning is.

• The elimination of the Common Entrance Exams for Church schools in two years' time, to be replaced by non-selective methods of student selection.

Indeed, perhaps one of the most striking features is that this Reform proposal is the first nuts-and-bolts proposal after the universally acclaimed National Minimum Curriculum to include the possible participation of both Church schools and those in the independent sector. Non-State schools are being invited to adopt the benchmark exams themselves so that these become a national benchmark of ability in the core competences at this transfer point from primary to secondary. Non-State schools will also be able to participate in the teacher training envisaged for State primary schools.

The participation of all three educational sectors is crucial to ensure that all schools and Colleges have a level playing field in addressing the diverse needs of students, and in erasing the perception that state schools are second-category schools.

An analysis of the proposal shows that the lessons gained from the disastrous introduction of comprehensivisation in the 1970s have been well and truly learnt. In 1972 the change from exam-based educational provision to a mixed-ability comprehensive system was well grounded theoretically, but the pedagogical and organisational implications were not thought through sufficiently. The change itself was announced baldly over the radio to the great surprise of education planners, teachers and parents across the country. Schools and systems had to be prepared during the months of one short summer - but of course this was not possible. Teachers were given no proper information, no training, no appropriate resources.

They found themselves having to make the best of a bad job, sometimes in chaotic situations. As teachers' morale crumbled, so did State schools' ethos and attainment.

The result was the mass transfer to non-State schools, as parents voted with their feet. The proportion of students in non-State education has risen from one fifth to more than one third today. Perhaps the greatest irony of this botched reform was that an attempt at creating a more egalitarian school system in the end had the opposite result. The 1980s saw a proliferation of different forms of State schooling, from Junior Lyceums for 'bright' students to Opportunity Centres for those with basic skills, along with a burgeoning non-State sector. From all this confusion arose the Chaos Myth, the great fear of parents and teachers of educational change. It still hovers today as a cloud of apprehensive doubt on the present 11+ proposal.

The present 11+ proposal has avoided all these pitfalls. The proposal has a gradual six-year implementation time line that respects the reality and autonomy of different schools and is coupled with staff training and resource development. It is grounded not only in 25 years of research but in an extensive national consultation process that preceded the formal launch of the proposal and will continue through a number of public meetings and other public input until January 2009. Special staff meetings for State schools are being organised so that teachers can discuss these proposals at length. The consultation process will continue until 15 January 2009.

Finally, it is worth noting that a whole range of parallel reforms and initiatives that are currently being finalised or worked upon supports the 11+ Reform proposal. These include:

• A National Core Competences Policy and Strategy;

• The setting up of Learning Support Zones and ancillary structures to respond to disruptive behaviour issues;

• A National eLearning Strategy;

• A National Science Strategy;

• A review of the National Curriculum, followed by a review of the syllabi;

• A review of assessment and certification systems.

Together, these form a strong interlocking network of reforms that will propel Maltese educational attainment into the 21st century, ensuring an excellent education for all.

Mr Spiteri is the Principal of St Margaret College.

Source: independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=79170