Mercy in the Maltese educational system : education practices to foster respect for diversity towards the migrant population

Abstract

The growing diversity of learners in Maltese schools presents new challenges to policy-makers and practitioners. Schools and teachers often find themselves at odds when trying to respond to the increasingly diverse needs of the student population within schools. Over the past decade Malta made the shift from a country of emigration to a country of immigration. This trend is represented in Maltese schools, as the student population becomes increasingly heterogeneous. While this new reality is more pronounced in certain areas, all colleges have a representation of non-Maltese students, with Maria Regina College having the highest representation with a total of 1,134 students (819 at primary level, 95 in middle school and 220 in secondary school) and Saint Nicholas College having the lowest number, with a total population of eighty one migrant students (fifty-nine in the primary, eleven in middle school and eleven in the secondary school).