Earlier this summer Dolores Cristina, Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport hosted an informal meeting with Heads of English Schools at Casa Leoni, Sta. Venera.
The purpose of this meeting was to achieve an informed opinion on the state-of-play of the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) industry in Malta and to support an agreed roadmap for further action.
Minister Cristina promised to ensure that the teaching of EFL receives the adequate support necessary to help the industry grow and to ensure quality and standards in the whole learning experience. She referred to the Work Programme presented by the EFL Monitoring Board, the body entrusted to regulate and facilitate the teaching of EFL in Malta, and said that she agreed that concrete action needs to be taken to provide the sector with the adequate resources which the Ministry can possibly offer. In this respect it was agreed that the EFL Monitoring Board should have:
· a higher profile
· a revised Legal Notice which establishes flexible but higher standards
· its own budget and operational structure
· its own offices adequately resourced and administered autonomously
· a more professionally-run monitoring process so that the standards and quality of the teaching of English as a Foreign language could aim towards the country’s target of excellence.
This was a tall order indeed but one with a clear vision which should lead the businesses concerned and government to a new relationship based on established standards, procedures and criteria for the assessment of the industry’s operational context.
This is an industry which attracts to our island over 83,000 students a year. Minister Cristina expressed her interest to see the industry growing at a rapid pace and within high quality standards. Her concern was to ensure that all learners leave this Island enriched by its culture and hospitality, empowered by the knowledge, skills and competence of its second official language and resolved to come back on business or on holiday on their own or with their families.