Family man Professor Peter Mayo currently teaches and researches in the areas of sociology of education and adult education at the University of Malta as part of the Faculty of Education. At 52, he is a frequent speaker and resource person at community events whilst carrying out research in various educational fields, including sociology and cultural studies. He finds himself interested in sociological issues in general and mainly tries to read social theory work.
“I am struggling at the moment with the writings of Slavoj Zizek, the maverick Slovenian writer, and having to catch up with the complimentary copies of books which I occasionally receive from friends who author them, notably the prolific Henry Giroux, a quite popular American social critic who is currently based in Canada.”
Of Giroux, Prof. Mayo recommends those who are engaged in higher education to read his most recent publication ‘The University in Chains’ or ‘Take Back Higher Education’ which was co-authored by his wife, Susan Searls-Giroux. “Apart from that, I enjoy visiting museums, especially art galleries when I am away from Malta on mainly academic work. I also enjoy watching football, especially Champions League football, and listening to music.”
Torn between journalism and teaching, Prof. Mayo became a fully-fledged teacher of English in the 1980s after having taught in various schools as a part-time teacher. He has now been published in international academic journals and books. He is discovering a great and consuming passion for researching and also a taste for travelling.
“I travel a lot to speak at conferences, often having to turn down some really appealing invitations because of too many commitments at the same time. Last year, for instance, I was on the second half of my sabbatical and I was a visiting professor at the University of Alberta in Canada apart from delivering seminars at the universities of Verona, Seville, the Algarve, Mainz (a Block seminar), Frankfurt, Milan (Bicocca), Rome (Roma 3) and Bogazici University in Istanbul.”
Although the excitement of travelling does seem to be dwindling due to the upheaval and hassle involved, he still enjoys giving seminars to students and academics of different backgrounds and nationalities. Working with individuals from different backgrounds and of various ethnicities is crucial in the educational sector and Prof. Mayo thinks Malta has a long way before education truly inclusive. Thinking about upcoming elections, Prof. Mayo hopes to see some changes in the education sector.
“I would like to see greater importance being given to the issue of multi-ethnicity in education and a well thought-out programme of anti-racist education carried out at all levels of the educational system and also targeting people in such sectors as journalism, the armed forces, the police force, the judiciary, the health sector, immigration, etcetera. We require a massive effort in this regard.”
More effort is also required in creating a less bureaucratic system within the University of Malta itself, which is a huge problem according to this professor. “It is getting worse. The other problem as I see it is that, for all the rhetoric, research is not given the respect it deserves at our university. As for my work in the communities, I would like to see local councils having the wherewithal to do more in this field.
“There is much to be done with regard to generating meaningful community education programmes and developing such potentially exciting projects as the creation of community ethnographic museums. Local councils, however, need a bigger budget for these types of activities and some imagination.”
Returning to the elections, Mayo wants to see some of the ideas expressed in the National Minimum Curriculum document being put into action. This document is a policy document and has not materialised into anything more. “Very little seems to have been done in this regard. For instance I was a member of a focus group concerned with developing schools as community learning centres. We prepared an action plan for this purpose, with appropriate budget breakdown. Nothing seems to have come of it, except for the efforts of the Foundation for Education Services in setting up lifelong learning centres, through European Social Fund funding that places the emphasis on ‘employability’. The whole process stalled, presumably because of lack of funding.”
Funding is also the problem hindering successful systems in Malta for adults continuing their education. This has been an area Prof. Mayo has been researching for the last 20 years. “There is much to be done here. I provided some proposals in a monograph I wrote – ‘Adult Education in Malta’. One thing I would like to see is a national strategy for lifelong learning developed for Malta and Gozo. Lifelong learning is an all embracing concept that incorporates adult learning. I know some people, like my colleague Professor Kenneth Wain, have worked hard, on a draft document, with this purpose in mind.”
This document was never placed in the public domain by the Minister concerned and Prof. Mayo continues to wonder why asking questions such as, “Did financial considerations have anything to do with this? Did the contents stray significantly from the ‘economism’ of the Lisbon objectives?”
He also argues that the issue of selectivity in education must be tackled seriously because these systems of selectivity exacerbate the process of social selection. Faith in politicians is diminishing and he has yet to come across one courageous enough to tackle this issued. “In fact I would like to see serious research carried out with respect to the ‘college networks’ to examine the extent to which they are mitigating the problems of selectivity generated by the Junior Lyceum and Common Entrance exams that, in many instances, are denying children a holistic primary level education.
“I honestly think we have crammed, and often irrelevant, syllabuses. Furthermore we have a system which is too much exam-oriented, as a result of which the emphasis is placed more on coaching to pass exams than on educating.”
In response to a proposal made by Labour of a reception year for kindergarten children before continuing on to formal education at primary level, he feels that the proposal should be seriously debated and not thrown into the mixing pot of promises conjured up on the eve of elections.
“I would like to think that this ‘extra’ year would be complemented by an overhaul of the curriculum which would allow more space and time for consolidation and assimilation.  The longer period of compulsory schooling would, if availed of well, allow for a holistic curriculum that forges greater links between learning and life.
“Once again, our children’s education suffers from crammed and often irrelevant syllabuses that deny this possibility. When compared to certain industrially advanced European countries, Malta has a shorter period of compulsory schooling.”
Prof. Mayo feels this proposal might well reflect a concern for the well known sociological fact that the early childhood experience is crucial when it comes to redressing the social advantages and disadvantages that allow some students to benefit from the educational experience and others to fall by the wayside.
“Social class factors and factors related to other forms of social difference, also come into play here. So it is important to tackle the early childhood sector seriously, adopting equity measures in this regard. My problem however is that Labour’s proposal has not been fleshed out.”
A problem also remains when taking it account the number of early school leavers in Malta which is the largest in the EU. Prof. Mayo says this is due to a highly selective system which caters for a restricted ‘academic stream’. “We seem to bother little about the rest. We need a genuinely inclusive curriculum – inclusive in the broadest sense of the term.”
Illiteracy is an ever-present structural issue and although there are several definitions of literacy, this professor believes that unless social selection is removed from education, people will continue to emerge without the skills required of a school leaver. Underachievement amongst student is becoming commonplace. Could underachievement be a result of the segregation caused by lyceum exams sat by 10 to 11-year-olds to go to a junior lyceum or normal area secondary school?
“Let me repeat what has been stated recently by two accomplished and internationally acclaimed Maltese educational researchers: the countries that occupied the top positions in the PISA rankings are those which operate a sound comprehensive system which is a far cry from the system we had in Malta and Gozo in the 70s. This system requires great preparation of all those involved, expert handling, a great degree of imagination and innovation, and a good student-teacher ratio.
“The policy in this regard must be motivated by a strong sense of social justice. Finland is instructive in this regard. How do we reinvent this experience in our context? As a famous educator of the last century once said, experiments cannot be transplanted but must be reinvented!”
When questioned about politics and its part in education Prof. Mayo believes there is no such thing as neutral education, and that education can never be something separate from politics. His teaching and writing is built upon this view of education. However he makes it clear that he is referring to a broader concept of politics, “not the parish pump type with which we are assailed daily, especially during these times.”