Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1000343
25 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 JULY 2018 OPINION supposed to address are all still there, firmly in place, 10 years later. This forces us to turn our attention to the other half of this remarkable political shape-shifting spectacle. The same question I asked of Mifsud Bonnici can be redirected to Joseph Mus- cat: why would the Labour government be satisfied by something that had so ut- terly disappointed the same Labour party (under the same leadership) when in opposition? Same goes for the im- plicit irony. With hindsight, Muscat's 2008 criticism now seems prophetic, for all the reasons outlined above. Given a choice in the mat- ter, we all know that most European countries will very simply ignore any burden- sharing commitment: no matter how much pomp, ceremony or fanfare went into its announcement. Yet the Muscat administration's reaction to criticism today – Muscat's own criticism, please note, now levelled at his own government instead of Gonzi's – suggests that it has meanwhile forgotten all its own previous arguments. This is from another article, this time about the week's events. "In a reac- tion, the Labour Party (PL) said the PN was choosing to be negative at the end of a week where Muscat 'took a leadership role on a Euro- pean level, which led to the distribution of the burden of migrants that were coming to Malta shared'. It stressed that the achievement was 'something no other Euro- pean Union country man- aged to do'." As you'd expect, it was a carefully (and cleverly) worded response: for it is true that some eight EU countries eventually ac- cepted to 'share out' the 234 Lifeline passengers between them, after days of intense negotiations behind the scenes. But it is also a disingenu- ous reply, because that agreement was not the result of any pact signed by EU leaders on Wednesday. On the contrary: it preceded that pact, and was in any case only a temporary, ad hoc arrangement hammered out to address one, single dilemma – what to do with those 234 people – and as such has no bearing on any future repeat of similar cir- cumstances. Those two agreements, in fact, have nothing to do with each other at all... other than a common ingredient called 'burden-sharing'. It is as though Muscat responded to criticism of one agree- ment, by boasting about another, completely differ- ent one instead. Meanwhile, he may even be right that it was an 'un- precedented' achievement, and as far as I am concerned he can take as much credit for it as he likes. It was, after all, a very welcome conclu- sion to an otherwise very ugly episode. But – again, with an overwhelming dose of irony – it also illustrates just how useless this sec- ond 'agreement' is likely to prove. Ultimately, it was diplo- matic channels between different countries that resulted in a breakthrough in the Lifeline case... and not any concerted action by the EU as a whole. Those chan- nels have always existed, and we have always availed of them in the past... long, long before we ever became members of the EU. Indeed, if the events of the week have illustrated anything at all, it is precisely that we do not need an EU-wide agree- ment or pact to achieve burden-sharing in practice. We managed quite well, without any EU summits, by simply turning the clock back to a time before we even joined the club... in other words, by negotiat- ing with other countries the good old-fashioned way. Oh, and in case I haven't already made this point painstakingly clear enough: it also illustrates the art- ful, elegant and magnifi- cently surreal way those two political parties just keep morphing into each other, after every election, with- out anyone seeming to ever even notice. But then again: it's not as though I haven't made that same point literally hundreds of times before... It also illustrates the artful, elegant and magnificently surreal way those two political parties just keep morphing into each other, after every election, without anyone seeming to ever even notice shape-shifting politicians... LAST March Parliament enacted, with a bi-partisan agreement, a new legislation titled Work-based Learning and Apprenticeship Act. This, after extensive consultation amongst academics, the industry , eco- nomic services providers and students. In essence, the new law provides the legal framework to facilitate vocational educa- tion and training which aims to equip learners with vocational education, skills and competenc- es required for specific occupa- tions. It gives the opportunity to students to learn through work experiences where they can ap- ply academic and technical skills and develop their employability opportunities. Learners can attend a period of instruction and training within an industrial, commercial or service workplace as part of on-the-job training or education programme which will be certified at the end of the course. It sets out that accredited Vo- cational Education and Training providers licensed by the Na- tional Commission for Further and Higher Education, may issue a skills card with the qualifica- tions, or portable evidence, of the level of competence attained in a recognised occupation to a student who completes an ac- credited work-based course. Students following such Work Integrated Learning courses will be eligible to a remunera- tion equivalent to the minimum wage per hour. This will be derived from the sponsor and from the maintenance grant. Employers will also benefit from tax credits when they become VET providers. This legislation gives an op- portunity to school-leaving students with an aptitude to do rather than to listen in 'normal' classroom environment, the possibility to obtain a Degree, Diploma , Certificate or Award after successfully completing an apprenticeship and internship programme at an accredited business entity. Over the past weekend I participated at a Symposium organised by the World Asso- ciation for Cooperative Educa- tion. WACE is an international organisation linking the world's higher education institutions, employers and public authori- ties that share a commitment of preparing new generations for a lifetime of professional success in today's global and diverse workforce. Interesting reports and ensuing discussions showed how members of this group are advancing cooperative and work-integrated education in their respective countries. Education is now being firmly and successfully integrated with professional work experience. It was interesting to learn how countries like the USA and Canada who were pioneers on developing work-integrated learning and co-operative education benefited in human resources development, when they incorporated cooperative and work-integrated education programmes with industry and the various players within the economic sectors. Most inspiring were the recent comments by Pope Francis on the dimension that learning should take when he said that "we must educate minds, hearts and hands". True enough. We have embarked on a reform in the way education is delivered. It is evolving to take consideration of the real demands of today's and future economy needs. We owe this to our future genera- tion to be prepared to face the changes, challenges and oppor- tunities that will be prevalent in the future. Connecting business and education Evarist Bartolo Evarist Bartolo is minister for education and employment