Education and social justice in Maltese state schools : reflections from the school of Barbiana

Abstract

This dissertation explores issues relating to education and social justice in Don Lorenzo Milani's Letter to a Teacher which he co-authored together with six students from his school at Barbiana. I will ask: what makes a school educative but also just? Does the Maltese state school system promote social justice or does it reproduce the social inequalities found in Maltese society at large? Does the School of Barbiana have anything to say to us today in order to analyse but also to make a constructive critique of Maltese state schools? In order to answer the research questions I focus on two secondary state schools, one boys and one girls and critically analyse the schools' ethos, culture and environment. I will delve into issues of power and authority, the curriculum, language and discourse, of the students, the teachers and the institutions.