by Pamela Zerafa
[This is the fourth Blog in the blog series from the TWG International Literacy Assessments]
Since literacy is an essential key competence for lifelong learning (EC 2018), it has been the object of assessment in Malta in many local and international studies. The results of these assessments, unfortunately, shed light on the literacy crisis we Maltese seem to be sharing with the rest of the world. For instance, in the most recent Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), the mean reading score of Maltese ten-year-olds (477) was significantly lower than the international average (500) (MEDE 2017). Similarly, a local study conducted by Professor Mark Borg (2018) on differences in Achievement in the End-of-Year Benchmark 2012-2018 concluded that the mean achievement scores in each of the three core subjects for students in Year 6 (11-year-olds) attending State Schools are consistently below the national standardised mean of 500.… Read the rest