This article which quotes a European Union study is rather alarming. https://lovinmalta.com/opinion/analysis/maltas-educational-system-is-failing-while-we-play-dumb/

The general idea is that even though education is heavily funded locally, a good percentage of children are underachieving in several areas. Even more alarmingly, children in private schools are better equipped for further studies after compulsory education, by around two years worth of education.

I never wanted to send my children to private school, primarily because I don’t subscribe to the idea of elitist attitudes around private education, and I’m a firm believer that children learn best when being around diverse people from different walks of life.

Having said that, I obviously want my children to succeed and gain a good level of education.

So what I’m asking is; what are your opinions/ experiences of private/ state schools in Malta. Is there anyone here who has older children and can share their experience?

6 comments

  1. If you have the ability to send your child to a private school, do them a favour and do so. Being around children of other ethnicities isn’t going to qualify them for their dreamed job roles.

  2. went to a private school at primary and secondary level and a church school for sixth form. The difference between the two was really staggering, with regard to the attidude of students and the way that things are taught.

    The private school was incredibly inclusive (we had children from different backgrounds, some different nationalities and most of us weren’t exactly rich), had really well thought out programs and a very strong activities program which really created a community around the school. The church school was slightly better for extra-curriculars (but that might just be because we were at sixth form) but for everything else, it really wasn’t that great. Attitude-wise the school was stuck at some point in the mid-fifties

    I can’t speak for state schools, but anecdotally, at my uni course I could count the people from state schools on one hand, the rest were all private or church. That spoke volumes to me.

  3. I went to Chiswick and St. Martin’s and the quality of education was amazing. The teachers were great. The way they disciplined was sometimes questionable and it’s a catholic school with very little diversity when I was there. I cannot comment on public school because I never went in Malta. I came back to Canada after 5th form and went to a public catholic school and I was way ahead of everyone else in most subjects, but I cannot say if that was due to my private education or the education system in general in Malta compared to Canada. I will say the big difference was in Canada you can get away with a good grade just by doing homework and not really studying too much. In Malta I had no excuses I needed to study because 90% of my grades depended on exams.

  5. A lot also depends on the cachement area of the goverment schools. Some government schools are better than others. I would have had no issue sending my kid to a primary gov school, as primary schools are good for the most parts. My biggest fear was secondary school, as the school in my cachement area is known for some atrocious behaviour issues from students as well as their parents (parents going to beat up teacher or head for trying to disciplin their kids) as well as a general defeated attitude by the teachers. I couldn’t really afford to send him to private school as well as keep up with the lifestyle (private schools tend to have a lot of money as well as parent career related bullying from what I heard from personal accounts). I was lucky enough to get my son into a church school. I myself went to a church school both primary and secondary. Im not saying they are perfect, there is still bullying and being a random ballot thing nowadays, so it’s a matter of luck if you get in or not, the fact that church schools tend to be smaller, there is a better element of control and discipline, and the kids are known by name. The education is a little bit better. As with all schools, some church schools are better than others.

    Bottom line. If you can afford a private school, go for it. Be aware you need to book your kid in at birth. If not, do some research about the school in your cachement area. And try to get your kid in a church school if possible (they would need to be baptised for almost all of them though)

  6. I went to one of the more ghetto public schools at the secondary level, i can safely say that the vast majority of the students there had little to no respect for anything or anyone. I’ve seen noses getting broken because someone passed a sly comment. Also hardly anyone spoke English past curse words.

    That being said the education was very different from what i heard of private schools, there’s this gap between the two Institutes.

    A private school i feel is a safer bet to send your kids for a better education, the public schools need an overhaul here.

    We had some really cool teachers tho ngl.

    Edit: there was a ridiculous amount of physical bullying, private schools bully more with words which stick to you

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