Malta's curriculum is outdated, and the government acknowledges this by having begun discussions to update it.
Confirmed directly by government primary sources. The Ministry for Education launched the National Education Strategy 2024-2030 in December 2023 — a 7-year framework explicitly aimed at modernising Maltese curriculum, pedagogy, assessment and educator development. Twettiq tal-Baġit 2024 Misura 78 records the strategy launch as Implimentata, covering ~13,000 educators. Twettiq tal-Baġit 2025 Misura 89 records continued implementation as Implimentata, affecting 12,640 educators across 4 schools and 3 colleges. The very existence of a 7-year modernisation strategy is the government's own acknowledgement that the existing system needs transformation. Schembri's claim is True at both levels: outdated, and government acknowledged.
Confirmed directly by government primary sources. The Ministry for Education launched the National Education Strategy 2024-2030 in December 2023 — a 7-year framework explicitly aimed at modernising Maltese curriculum, pedagogy, assessment and educator development. Twettiq tal-Baġit 2024 Misura 78 records the strategy launch as Implimentata, covering ~13,000 educators. Twettiq tal-Baġit 2025 Misura 89 records continued implementation as Implimentata, affecting 12,640 educators across 4 schools and 3 colleges. The very existence of a 7-year modernisation strategy is the government's own acknowledgement that the existing system needs transformation. Schembri's claim is True at both levels: outdated, and government acknowledged.
We tested Schembri's claim against the Ministry for Education and Sport's National Education Strategy 2024-2030 (launched December 2023) and against the Office of the Prime Minister's annual Twettiq tal-Baġit implementation reports — Malta's primary-source government delivery tracker. The methodological question is whether the government's own published documentation acknowledges the need to update the curriculum and whether modernisation work is recorded as actually underway.
Verdict lands at True because both halves are documented: the existence of a 7-year modernisation strategy is itself the government's acknowledgement that the existing system needs transformation, and Twettiq tal-Baġit 2024 Misura 78 + Twettiq 2025 Misura 89 record the strategy as Implimentata covering ~13,000 educators. The deep-dive lays out what the strategy modernises (digital skills, vocational pathways, assessment reform, multilingualism) and the educator-union engagement; this editorial note is methodology only.
Is Malta's curriculum really outdated, and does the government acknowledge it
Schembri's claim has the unusual property that it can be tested directly against the government's own primary-source budget-implementation reports. The Ministry for Education's National Education Strategy 2024-2030 and the Office of the Prime Minister's annual Twettiq tal-Baġit reports document both halves of the claim: that the existing system needs modernisation, and that work is actively underway. The deep-dive walks through the strategy lifecycle, the implementation evidence, and what is specifically being modernised.
Strategy lifecycle — December 2023 launch to 2030 endpoint
The National Education Strategy 2024-2030 is a 7-year framework. The timeline below shows the strategy lifecycle from the December 2023 launch through the documented Twettiq implementation milestones to the 2030 endpoint.
The strategy is past discussions and well into multi-year implementation. The December 2023 launch precedes Schembri's May 2026 statement by ~17 months, and two consecutive Twettiq reports record the strategy as Implimentata. So 'have begun discussions to update' is, if anything, an understatement of what is happening.
Implementation evidence — what the Twettiq reports record
The Office of the Prime Minister's annual Twettiq tal-Baġit reports are Malta's primary-source government implementation tracker. The relevant measures are summarised in the scorecard below.
| Source | Measure | What it records | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twettiq tal-Baġit 2024 | Misura 78 | 'Tnedija tal-Istrateġija Nazzjonali għall-Edukazzjoni 2024-2030' — strategy launch, ~13,000 educators | Implimentata |
| Twettiq tal-Baġit 2025 | Misura 89 | 'Inkomplu nimplimentaw l-Istrateġija Nazzjonali tal-Edukazzjoni 2024-2030' — continued strategy implementation, 12,640 educators across 4 schools and 3 colleges | Implimentata |
| Twettiq tal-Baġit 2025 | Misura 90 | Educator support mechanism — adjacent budget-line | Fil-Proċess |
Two consecutive Twettiq Implimentata records on the strategy itself, plus an adjacent in-progress educator-support measure, is exactly the documentation profile Schembri's claim implies. The government's own published reports confirm that the curriculum-modernisation work is underway.
What's specifically being modernised
From the strategy and Twettiq implementation records, the curriculum-modernisation work covers six main strands:
| Strand | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Digital skills | Integration across subjects, not IT-as-a-subject only |
| Vocational integration | ALP (Alternative Learning Programme) extended into core secondary years rather than just post-Year 11 |
| Problem-solving and creativity | Pedagogy modernisation rather than content-only reform |
| Assessment reform | Continuous assessment, project-based work, reduced reliance on terminal exams |
| Inclusion | Better provision for students with special educational needs |
| Multilingualism | Reflecting Malta's increasingly multilingual classrooms |
The teacher-union perspective
MUT (Malta Union of Teachers) and UPE (Union of Professional Educators) have publicly characterised the existing curriculum framework as needing modernisation:
- MUT has called for modernised content reflecting digital-economy needs.
- UPE has flagged the gap between curriculum requirements and what's actually deliverable in current classroom conditions.
- Both unions have engaged with the National Education Strategy 2024-2030 consultation process.
The unions' independent assessment that the curriculum needs updating reinforces Schembri's claim from outside the government's own framework.
What PN proposes
Schembri at the press conference outlined PN's proposed approach:
- Curriculum overview to ensure alignment with the modern world.
- Re-analysis of all syllabi from primary to secondary (without changing all of them — selective updating).
- Reform of School-Based Assessments (SBAs) and continuous assessment.
- Vocational ALP integration starting from Year 9 (rather than Year 11 as currently).
This is broadly aligned with the direction of the existing National Education Strategy 2024-2030 — both PL and PN are moving in similar directions, with disagreements primarily on pace and specific implementation choices.
Cross-EU comparison
Curriculum modernisation is a recurring topic across EU member states — Sweden, Finland, Estonia, the Netherlands all have ongoing programs. The EU Education and Training Monitor 2025 places Malta broadly mid-pack in pace of curriculum modernisation; not a laggard, but not a leader either. The 2024-2030 strategy aims to bring Malta into the leading group on digital and vocational integration specifically.
So is the claim accurate?
Yes — straightforwardly. The Ministry for Education's own National Education Strategy 2024-2030 launches a curriculum-modernisation programme, two consecutive Twettiq tal-Baġit reports record the strategy as Implimentata, and the educator unions independently characterise the existing framework as needing updating. The existence and implementation of the strategy is the government's own acknowledgement that the existing system needs transformation — exactly Schembri's framing. Verdict: True.