Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/981272
NEWS | SUNDAY • 13 MAY 2018 maltatoday 12 PAUL COCKS A new syllabus for the Maltese language to be introduced as of the upcoming scholastic year has raised ire among teachers, as more details emerge as to what they are expected to do under the new system. Last week, MaltaToday re- ported on teachers' concerns with the new continuous as- sessment system, set to replace periodic testing throughout the scholastic year. More teachers have since come forward to highlight more faults with the new syl- labus and to lament the lack of goodwill by the authorities, who – they claim – are firmly set on promoting the interests of the students "to the detri- ment of teachers". Robert*, a teacher of Maltese in Form 1 and 2 in a promi- nent boys' church school, said that if, as claimed by educa- tion minister Evarist Bartolo, the aim of the new Learning Outcome Framework was to reduce pressure on students and teachers alike, it was go- ing to be a big disappoint- ment. "This week we learned that under the new syllabus, I and teachers of Form 1 Maltese like me, will be expected to go through a composition assign- ment every two weeks, as well as eight poems, five short sto- ries and a novel in one year," he said. He said that he had sat down with a number of other teach- ers to work out a feasible les- son plan to cover the full syl- labus and they had concluded they would need a minimum of 120 lessons in a year to cov- er everything well. "The problem is, we have on- ly between 80 and 90 lessons each year per class, so already it is evident that the syllabus as proposed is totally not do- able," Robert said. "And we have yet to talk about the time we will need to take care of the assessments, which is surreal." Susan*, who teaches at a gov- ernment school in Zabbar, and who was one of the teach- ers to work on the plan with Robert, agreed. "Those calculations do not even take into consideration any sick days we might need during the year, or any days taken up by the school for other activities and events," she said. Susan said many teachers had already complained to the ministry but said that their concerns had been arbitrarily dismissed. "One official told us we did not have to go through the whole novel, if that helped to bring the number of les- sons needed down," she said. "Can you imagine the temerity of that? Should we guide the children only through half a novel and leave them to floun- der with the rest?" Robert said that being ex- pected to give and grade an es- say every two weeks per class was in itself a near-impossible undertaking. "I have six classes of 23 stu- dents each," he said. "Grad- ing a 250-word essay by each student is the equivalent of me having to read, correct and grade 34,500 words every fortnight." But he insists that is not even the worst issue. Under the new assessment system, grading an assignment is an extremely time-consuming exercise and teachers believe they will not have enough time to do it ad- equately, let alone to the best of their abilities. "Let us not forget that this is time outside school hours we are talking about," Robert said. "And although all teachers understand and accept that their profession necessitates hours taken up after school, we should not be expected to give every single minute we have every day because offi- cials insist on implementing an unrealistic syllabus and system." Silvio*, who teaches Maltese in a church school in Sliema, said that he too had been re- buffed when he raised his concerns with the ministry. "They told me that I should be happy that under the new agreement, I got a €50 raise and that I should therefore stop complaining," he said. He said that he – and many other teachers – were dis- appointed that parents and people outside the profession were failing to try and under- stand teachers' concerns. "It hurts when people tell me to shut up because I have a long summer break, or be- cause I only work till 2pm," he said. "They do not see or appreciate the extra hours we spend each day and dur- ing the holidays preparing for lessons, researching subjects, drawing up lecturing aids and preparing and grading assess- ments and tests." *Not their real names pcocks@mediatoday.com.mt TIA RELJIC THE Water Services Corpo- ration has dismissed claims of not having a national water plan, in a reaction to media reports criticising the state of Malta's aquifer sys- tems. The WSC was referring to the second Water Catch- ment Management Plan presented by energy min- ister Joe Mizzi earlier on Wednesday. The management plan out- lines the roadmap to fulfil the 2016 EU Water Frame- work Directive's objectives, which requires that abstrac- tion of groundwater from the water table falls below the mean annual recharge level of the aquifers. On Wednesday, Mizzi told the launch of the LIFE IP conference that the national water plan will include the upgrade of the WSC's op- erational capacity to develop a new water resource that can address the demands of agricultural and commercial sectors, as well as a national water conservation cam- paign addressing consumers in these sectors and optimis- ing the national hydrological and environmental monitor- ing capacity. The Water Catchment Management Plan is backed by an integrated project from the LIFE programme worth €17 million – €10.2 million of which are EU funds. The plan will lead to considerable improvement in management of Malta's aquifers: as groundwater ab- straction is being monitored, important data is also being gathered, while an alterna- tive to farmers is being pro- vided and WSC boreholes will be managed through an advanced automated system. The initiatives will receive investment exceeding €150 million in the national water sector, with the primary aim of improving the resilience of the water sector. The management plan, which has been submitted to the European Commission, confirms the existence of over-abstraction in the two main aquifer systems in the Maltese islands. The WSC said that it also includes an outline of meas- ures to be taken for the pe- riod 2016-2021 to address over-abstraction and ensure a sustainable use of water re- sources in the future. These include incentive schemes for farmers to better manage water use, the rehabilitation of water catchment areas in valleys, as well as the introduction of new practices such as managed aquifer recharge schemes. The WSC said that flow meters have been installed on all groundwater bore- holes, and that data on groundwater abstraction by the agricultural sector is be- ing collected and monitored. "Cases of illegal groundwa- ter abstraction sources re- ported to the authorities are followed through the provi- sions of the relative legisla- tion," the WSC said. Water Services dismisses claims on absence of national water plan Teachers complain about new Maltese Form 1 syllabus