Europe 2020 and early school leavers in Malta

Abstract

The European Commission defines Early School Leaving (ESL) broadly as the proportion of the population aged 18-24 who hold a lower secondary education or less and who are no longer undergoing training or education. Education provides youths with basic life skills necessary for their personal development and has been identified as a solution to all forms of social inequality, for it holds the potential to bring social cohesion through civic and social engagement. The quality of a child's school experience influences not only their development, but also affects their place in society, level of educational attainment, employment opportunities and life chances. The Lisbon Council in 2000 sought to redefine education's role in European progress and committed Member States to making the European Union (EU) "the o.ost competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion". In the context of a developing 'knowledge economy', generating growth and jobs for a highly-skilled and flexible workforce became a priority, targeting youths at school, as well as adults. Fifteen years on, and some Member States are still struggling to reach the target of reducing Early School Leaving (ESL) to 10%, an underpinning headline target in the Europe 2020 Strategy. With the second-highest rate of ESL in the EU, Malta has committed itself to addressing this challenge through holistic and urgent efforts which are clearly outlined in MEDE's Early School Leaving Strategy (2014) and the National Reform Programme (NRP). This dissertation explores the extent to which these strategies can work within the context of government policies which have evolved over the years 2010-15. Using the Budget and Budget Speech as key political documents in the content analysis, this dissertation focuses on the extent to which Government is treating ESL as a priority in Malta and addressing it appropriately. The analysis reveals that the policy contributing to reducing ESL has gradually become more pronounced in recent years and involves a broader range of stakeholders. Thus, the approach to achieve the objectives within the Strategic Framework for Education and Training 2020 (ET2020) is more complete. In spite of this, the solutions and best practices were scarcely referred to in any of the documents and, without a direct mention of ESL, the policies were not explicitly linked to achieving the objective of reducing ESL in Malta. Whilst acknowledging that the analysis is very narrow, the Budget is the most important document which outlines the priorities and policy proposals in a tangible manner. Thus, the failure to direct policy explicitly towards reducing the number of ESLrs will continue to delay Malta's progress in reaching the ET2020 targets.