Defining a tourism education curriculum for primary and secondary schools

Abstract

The local population is an important asset in a country's tourism product. It is argued that the local population must be adequately aware of its own tangible and intangible heritage coupled with a positive attitude towards tourism and the understanding of the importance of tourism for a country like Malta. These factors contribute to a more competitive position as a destination and an enhanced tourism product. However such values need to be instilled from the early stages of the formal education system up till secondary schooling. Through this dissertation the author aims at identifying how the current curriculum provides for aspects discussed above and eventually to define a tourism education curriculum for primary and secondary schools. The author looked at textbooks used in primary schools and relevant syllabuses followed by interviews with industry stakeholders and heads of schools so as to obtain the required data. The importance is not placed on aspects of careers but mainly on how can an educated citizen participate positively and have an important role in the local tourism industry. Through this research the author found out that a great deal of relevant information already exists within different subjects in the curriculum and in a number of textbooks which were in use at the time of writing. Various programmes and campaigns are already in place or were planned to be launched which target aspects related to the objectives of this research. There seems to be a barrier from the education side of such a curriculum and schools are against tourism as a subject mainly due to time and resource constraints posed by the school's curriculum and the fact that the majority agree that the education proposed in this research is already being covered by other subjects Similarly stakeholders identified that it would be nice to have something direct in the curriculum, but in their opinion the best way would be through activities or programmes that complement the current curriculum. The author also referred to experiences from other countries which were successful in implementing a tourism education curriculum and recommended that these could serve as role models for Malta.