State school parents say small class size gives quality education

State school association says NAO report calling for school merges is not looking at success of small classroom sizes

Pupils from Żabbar Primary School A during an EkoSkola and Catch the Drop activity held as part of the HSBC Water Programme.
Pupils from Żabbar Primary School A during an EkoSkola and Catch the Drop activity held as part of the HSBC Water Programme.

Parents of state school pupils want classes of less than 20 students that allow for more individual attention, more pedagogical care and less possibility of bullying, the state school parents’ association MAPSSS has stated.

“A more positive school experience that is conducive to a more effective learning process… surely a long term investment for the Maltese islands… changes in the educational settings cannot solely take place from a financial perspective at the expense of quality education and efficient learning,” president Glorianne Borg Axisa said in reaction to an NAO report.

MAPSSS said state primaries were beyond their carrying capacity because of demographic pressures but also because of ‘out-of locality’ pupils being allowed to attend a different school from their village’s for valid reasons.

The association was reaction to a report by the National Audit Office into the size of state school primaries, in which it recommended rationalizing the number of schools across the island catering for each village’s school-age cohort.

But the association said that changes in educational setting could not solely take place on financial considerations at the expense of quality education and efficient learning.

“The number of these students is substantially on the increase,” MAPSSS said, citing as an example students from non-Maltese families residing here on a temporary or permanent basis and who sometimes arrive in the middle of the scholastic year.

“In some cases, such schools are also being burdened beyond their logistic, planimetric and infrastructural capability. Hence one cannot ignore that whereas some state schools in the primary sector have a decline in population, other schools are overpopulated with the risk of compromising the health and safety of students and staff within the premises.

“This is further accentuated in older schools which have been subjected to haphazard additions throughout the past decades due to pressure to create more learning space.”

MAPSSS’s president Glorianne Borg Axisa insisted that health and safety regulations had to be respected.

“The schools’ infrastructure should enhance the expectations of the education process in this day and age in view of the changes in technology and the provision of other facilities such as sports facilities and adequate open spaces that may be utilised in co-curricular activities.”

She said that the educational experience in the primary cycle could not be deemed successful or not solely on the scores of the core subjects, as understood by the NAPO.

“The correlation between the scores and class population is only indicative: one cannot ignore the fact that various social and cultural factors determine the students’ performance in exams. This highlights the need of more research in this area. 30 students in each class does not allow for a child-centred approach as established in the National Curriculum Framework and the Education Strategy Framework. Whereas the economies of scales have to be reviewed, one cannot push the classes to such numbers at the detriment of quality education and effective learning.”

Borg Axisa said that classes with over 20 students might hinder teachers from providing individual attention and necessary guidance to the students and limit communication with parents.

“On the other hand one cannot ignore that very small classes with just a few students, will limit the development of life skills which are essential to the overall growth and advancement of all children.”