Exams: is it time to rethink our evaluation of young people?

Beyond Malta’s greylisting by the FATF and the continuing compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech, plus a heavy digest of political news, many families have had to face a reality that hit them hard after 15 months of COVID stress and right through the beginning of summer.

It was their children’s education and the reality of having to sit through exams. From primary to secondary, as well as Sixth Form and university, thousands of children and teenagers have had to face new challenges, with exams that have contributed to stress and anxiety in entire families, some even being unable to cope with the mounting pressure after lockdown.

Much of this crisis was overlooked by our education ministers, themselves also facing a unionised teaching community with its own demands, a rigid education department, and also demands from faculties.

I feel that some children and teenagers have been unable to cope, leading them into depression, negative feelings, loneliness, and perhaps even feeling suicidal about the enormous pressure from this very perfect of storms. Families have been shattered by the calamity that has hit them.

Psychologists whom I have spoken to have said clients of theirs, albeit young, complain of being unable to cope in this climate with exams as well as the high expectations of one’s peer group.

Certainly enough, exams at a certain level are fundamental in gauging achievements. But given the outcomes of people with their various skills and talents at certain stages of life, exams cannot be the only way people are streamed into the education system. So it always seems that such a heavy combination of unreasonable curricula and multiple exam papers, coupled with the absurd scheduling of MATSEC exams, makes this whole experience a veritable nightmare for teens.

And the problems do not stop here. Because a one-size-fits-fall exam also penalises certain groups who hail from different school systems, with different methods and styles, if not knee-caps those with specific learning abilities.

A case in point is Maltese. Teachers of Maltese admit to me that the Maltese syllabus is too vast and demanding. Even for Maltese-speaking parents like me, who write and speak Maltese on a daily basis, consider certain exams for primary and secondary school children, rather difficult. The English-language exam seems to be far easier in contrast; apart from the fact that English literature remains a distinct exam at MATSEC level than the English component. Not so Maltese.

Maltese is not the only subject that is a problem (one might add that some of the evolving rules in the Maltese grammar and language sometimes can be too much for nine- to 15-year-olds). Reading through other subjects orbiting under the umbrella of the MATSEC system one cannot but notice the higher level in the Maltese exam standard, an observation which is supported by the teachers themselves. In other words, too high a level for our students sitting for an O-Level.

And the pressure is not only on younger students but also on University graduates, with a special mention to those studying to be an architect or a doctor. Again, no one is advocating that exams should be some easy ride. But some examiners appear to be living on a distant planet, oblivious to the unnecessary burdens they are placing on some students.

Which is no wonder that today we have such a negative and self-centred attitude from students who experienced and survived the exam onslaught.

Change in Malta always seems to start after some impasse at ministerial level. Justyne Caruana, the current education minister, needs to find the time and energy to address this ingrained problem. It will be difficult considering that most politicians will spend the next months worrying about their political future. Because it would be a change to our understanding of exams, and that hits hard at the centre of the constitution of our education system and the way of our educators (and employers) view achievement.

I have little faith that this will change or that minister Caruana will act to reform. And that means that young boys and girls will continue to battle with exams that have lost their rationale, while being exacted by undue pressure that can also do damage on our children.

In the meantime some children will fall by the wayside. And that is no laughing matter.