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OPINION 26 A recent report by the global education marketing intelli- gence entity HolonIQ highlight- ed some interesting points about education. The reports provides a general outlook of the sector from a global perspective – what are the common challenges and what is the way forward. 503 global education professionals were interviewed from 50 differ- ent countries across the world. The biggest global challenge in education, as highlighted by the report, is a political one. The report states that the evolution steps needed in education are most often than not inhibited by the political process. While enterprise has a self- evolutionary mechanism within the market, at least in modern economies, in education you don't find this because it's a different ecosystem. Change has to come in different manners – sometimes it is bottom up and sometimes it is top down. The most natural, and probably enjoying the highest probabil- ity of success, is change that comes from the grassroots – the teachers and students in the classroom. The second highest risk in education, which incidentally ranks as number one in Europe, is teacher shortages and skills gap. Europe is the only conti- nent which ranks this as the number one issue in education, and understandably so. This is also valid for Malta, where young people who traditionally opt for a career in education now have a much wider array of choice and, needless to say, go for other subjects. Many times I hear about teach- er shortages because of this and that, however I am convinced that one of the main reasons for such shortages is the shift in opportunities, and the volume of those opportunities, to young people today. In the past, you had a handful of pathways where to go in terms of career. Today, that has changed considerably and this new dynamic has naturally taken numbers away from educa- tional jobs. To make matters even worse, over the years we have increased the demand for teaching jobs due to more student-oriented educational structures. In Malta, had we not done this we wouldn't have teacher shortages in the two to three subjects where there are indeed shortages. Another point raised by the report is a more economi- cal one: the failure to adopt a sustainable model in education. Interestingly this is also present in Europe, where traditionally the concept of free education for all is widespread. I suspect this relates more to post-secondary and tertiary education, where today it might be available for all but it may not necessarily be ac- cessible for all, for a wide variety of reasons. The fourth highest risk in edu- cation in Europe is the failure of the educational system to evolve. This is something which links with the first point. Educa- tion systems have to understand the future needs of different sectors – from a personal hu- man level, from an economical level and from a societal level. We have to work harder on this because most often than not ed- ucation takes longer than other areas to understand the present realities, let alone prepare for future needs. This is something where I think the Maltese educational system can be better. I am not necessarily talking about this from a technical and pedagogi- cal (the method and practice of teaching) but also from what is being taught. What can we take away, as a country, from this report? First of all I believe it is important not to over-inflate some of the challenges that we face, because they are present everywhere. At the same time, we have to be pro-active and be solutions- oriented. We also have to be realistic – and understanding – of the world around us, what is happening from an economical point of view and make sure our goals and targets are in line with all these realities. We have much work to do but so do other countries, that have far larger challenges than us. At the end of the day I am very proud of the work that has been done in the local educational system, and I think that as a country we have made a lot of progress over the past twenty years. It is up to us to find the right solutions that fit our needs – they might be international and global problems, but it is also true that they require local solutions. maltatoday | SUNDAY • 4 AUGUST 2019 Lack of innovation is education's biggest risk Evarist Bartolo Evarist Bartolo is Minister for Education and Employment maltatoday Get the critical perspective on politics, culture and society Newspaper subscription on PDF every Sunday and Wednesday at 80% off: a one-time offer Understanding each other from a different perspective: our journalists and columnists will provide you with expert reporting, analysis and commentary. Order now at maltatoday.uberflip.com