In recent months, with collective work, the Ministry for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation has launched and implemented several strategies. Strategies that during a conference, an account was given about them particularly their monitoring and evaluation.
“I emphasize that our policies are not just theory and plans on paper, but are living policies that are being actively implemented, and through them we are seeing measurable progress,” said the Minister for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation Clifton Grima during the opening of the conference, explaining that, “the conference reflects our common commitment to continue improving the educational landscape through effective policy implementation and rigorous evaluation.” The minister noted with pleasure that these strategies are already having a positive impact and said that the students are benefiting from the implementation of the policies that are in place.
The discussion during the conference was about the importance of cultivating a culture of evaluation on the five vertical strategies in the education sector, and the National Strategy for Education 2024-2030.
Monitoring and evaluation play a critical role in the cycle of any policy or strategy, because they ensure that educational policies are not only well designed but also effectively implemented. Apart from this, monitoring and evaluation allow to analyze the effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of policies, providing a framework for accountability and transparency. An effective monitoring exercise involves the systematic collection of data on specific indicators, which helps to track progress and identify areas for improvement. Evaluation is a deeper analysis that analyzes whether the intended results and impacts have been achieved.
This exercise is also done to create a cycle that helps in the design of future decisions related to policies and improves the capacity of the ministry to meet the needs of students, educators and the goals of the European Union in the sector.
The minister announced that next October a pilot project of the Family Community School Link will be launched, which aims to help families, involve communities and support schools through an integrated approach.
For his part, the Permanent Secretary within the Ministry Matthew Vella said that it is important to have tangible strategies through which we can obtain quality education that puts the person at the center.
“It is good to say that when one sees the results obtained through the strong implementation together with a culture of monitoring and evaluation, one sees the results of a transformation that is taking place in education. Today we talk about quality education that can be measured and therefore can be improved together with all stakeholders,” concluded Matthew Vella.
