Malta has discontinued its alternative examination papers for primary school students, aligning assessments with mainstream peers. This change aims to provide a level playing field, ensuring consistent and fair assessments for all students.

In 2014 and 2015, Malta introduced alternative examination papers for primary school students in the subjects Mathematics, English and Maltese. The primary goal was to offer an assessment option for students who were learning at different levels from their peers. Specifically, students in the fourth and fifth year of primary education (aged 9-10), who were working towards meeting the learning outcomes covered in the first three years of primary education were presented with alternative papers aligned with their level. This ensured that both teaching and assessments, whether continuous or summative, were in line with the students’ abilities. Like mainstream papers, alternative papers were designed centrally by subject education officers and issued by the Educational Assessment Unit.

It was initially hoped that students working at alternative educational levels would achieve mainstream learning outcomes by the end of primary education. However, for many students, the support provided at these levels was not enough to bridge the gap. As a result, they remained in these alternative learning levels throughout their primary schooling, lagging behind mainstream levels during their compulsory schooling years. 

In order to address this issue, a significant change was implemented: starting in the 2022/23 academic year, students who had been taking alternative exams in English and/or Maltese must now take the main exam instead. The structure of the mainstream papers changed to incorporate more graded questions, assessing learning outcomes at various levels in order to cater for a broader range of abilities. This adjustment allowed students who had been sitting for alternative exam papers to align their assessment with that of their peers. Students are encouraged to sit for one or more of the components of the main exam paper, with adapted work and assessments implemented for the other skills, where necessary. 

Source: Eurydice Unit Malta