Unimpressed by results Education Ministry ditches charity’s ‘expensive’ English language programme
Education authorities say English-Speaking Union requested almost fourfold increase in budget for English language programme offered in some government schools
9 November 2022, 6:30am by Kurt Sansone
The Education Department will not renew an English language programme offered by the English-Speaking Union after the entity’s financial request ballooned to €411,000.
ESU has provided spoken English sessions at the Zabbar and Valletta primary schools for more than a decade, operating on a contract worth €40,000 annually.
But it appears the educational authorities were not too impressed with the results achieved and decided to discontinue the contract when the sum requested ballooned.
The education authorities’ decision was criticised in a Facebook post by ESU, which described its programme as a “game-changer” that has helped “hundreds of students to excel”.
Contacted by MaltaToday a spokesperson for the Education Ministry defended the decision, saying ESU’s latest request was for €411,000 over a three-year period, which was “way above the contracts awarded until the last scholastic year”.
ESU’s request was to extend the programme to at least 11 schools but the ministry has questioned the educational outcome from the programme over the years.
“The programme ‘Arm of Support’ has been running at the Żabbar Primary School A since 2009 and the statistics available to the department over time, including literacy assessment, end-of-year exam results and benchmark exams, do not show any particular improvement in English language use by students who participated in this programme,” the spokesperson said.
He said an evaluation showed that the students who participated in this programme remained at the same level as peers who did not take part in it.
“The ministry strongly believes in the skills of its educators and entrusts them with the teaching of English at all levels, even spoken English,” the spokesperson said.
He likened the programme to the “privatisation of spoken English teaching”, adding that if the ministry had the intention to outsource such a service it would issue a public call in line with procurement regulations. “The sum requested would necessitate a public call,” the spokesperson said.
The English-Speaking Union of Malta is an education charity affiliated with a UK-based organisation that aims to broaden and deepen the use of English through debate and spoken sessions.
On its Facebook wall, ESU (Malta) says its aim is to “ensure that the Maltese are able to maintain both Maltese and English as strong languages and thus maintain and improve this economic advantage”.
The NGO provided educational activities for children aged between three and six in two state primary schools and organised debates and workshops in all sixth forms to encourage the better use of the English language.