Talk:Education in Malta/GA1

GA Review

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Reviewer: Lemurbaby (talk) 22:26, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

1. Is it reasonably well written?

   A. Prose quality:

   B. MoS compliance for lead, layout, words to watch, fiction, and lists:

   I would like to see the lead expanded a bit more to reflect the history and a general sense of the current status of educational performance in Malta.

   I've expanded both lead paragraphs, encompassing more information in summary form from the article. Arctic Night 16:15, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

2. Is it factually accurate and verifiable?

   A. References to sources:

   I would like to see the URLS archived using something like WebCite and the archiveurl and archivedate fields in your citation templates.

   Most GAs (and indeed, most FAs) do not have archived references, and indeed Wikipedia guidelines do not explicitly direct editors to archive their links. Archiving links is generally not a requirement for articles to reach GA, so while I will probably consider this at FA level, I would have thought that such an action would be a little much at this point in time, since the vast majority of GAs do not have archived refs. I hope that's OK! Arctic Night 16:35, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

   Agreed, it's not a requirement and this won't hold up the GA. But you do cite some excellent online sources here, and given the risk of these links going dead, it would strengthen this article as a resource if you could set aside 15 minutes or so to make these changes (at your earliest convenience) so visitors can access the original sources with certainty if they're interested in learning more. Lemurbaby (talk) 19:21, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

   B. Citation of reliable sources where necessary:

   C. No original research:

3. Is it broad in its coverage?

   A. Major aspects:

   There could be more about the objectives of education in Malta, ideally quoting from government education policy documents. How long is a typical school day - what are the hours? Are buses and school cafeterias available? What about extracurricular activities - school sports etc?

   I've added information to suit most of these issues to the article. Arctic Night 19:02, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

   Great work! Upon reflection, it occurs that there should be more discussion about the administration of schools (what is the branch of government that handles education and how is it administered centrally/locally?) and something about the teacher workforce - preservice/in-service training, numbers of teachers. These areas really are needed for coverage to be adequately broad. I'll keep the article on hold for several weeks to leave you the time to write these sections. Lemurbaby (talk) 19:21, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

   Thank you. I have added text to the article to answer all of these questions. Arctic Night 02:38, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

   B. Focused:

   I would like to see the history of education in Malta developed further. What kind of education was offered during the period of Arab occupation? Did they build kuttabs or teach informally from mosques? Did the various monks differ in the educational services they offered? Did they offer any kind of education to the public besides private tutoring? Who was admitted to the University of Malta, what group/who established it, what population did it draw in terms of students (i.e. who would come to an island to study when there were so many mainland European alternatives)? etc. Why did the ejection of the knights have educational consequences? Who ejected them and what were their political motives that led to the banning of private education? We need more context in these explanations.

   I would also like to see the statistics section expanded, and more of the quantitative information included in greater detail. What was the compulsory education age before it was lowered to five years? Was it always compulsory for both boys and girls, and for the same number of years for each gender? Was it always compulsory until age 16 for both genders? (Reiterate this in the structure section). Is school free of charge at all levels (including tertiary)? How do Maltese students perform relative to others in exams? Completion rates for tertiary education? Does it vary according to gender? What about differences along socioeconomic class, minority status etc?

   I've added information to suit most of these issues to the article. Arctic Night 19:02, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

   What you've added helps a lot - you've done great work in such a short time. Is there anything more you can find on the education introduced under Arab rule? -- Lemurbaby (talk) 19:21, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

   Unfortunately not - although I would love to add something more on this period in history, I can't find anything on Google Books or through a straight Google search. Arctic Night 02:41, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

   Thanks for researching this. I may try to find something at the Library of Congress over the next few months after I move to DC, in case you'd like to take this to FA. Great work on all the extra research in such a short amount of time. -- Lemurbaby (talk) 14:51, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

4. Is it neutral?

   Fair representation without bias:

5. Is it stable?

   No edit wars, etc:

6. Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?

   A. Images are copyright tagged, and non-free images have fair use rationales:

   B. Images are provided where possible and appropriate, with suitable captions:

   It would enrich the article if you could find an image to illustrate it - preferably one of a school in Malta. If there isn't anything available on the commons, perhaps there will be something we can bring over from Flickr. If you aren't sure how to do this, let me know and I will work with you on it.

   Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything - there's nothing on Commons, and there's nothing CC on Flickr!! Arctic Night 19:02, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

   I'll come at it with a second pair of eyes and if I don't turn up anything either then we won't worry about it. -- Lemurbaby (talk) 19:21, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

7. Overall:

   Pass or Fail:

Comments

1. The areas I suggest above for expansion are ideas but not necessarily requirements. Some of them you may have addressed but not in terms that I was able to immediately identify as a reader, so bringing them out more clearly may improve the clarity of the piece. That being said, this is an exceptionally well-written article of high quality and it is well researched. Thank you for contributing to the coverage of this important Malta topic on Wikipedia. -- Lemurbaby (talk) 23:25, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

   Hello, and thanks for your review. Much of what you've brought up in this review may be a little much for GA standard - FA standard maybe, but at GA level 'broad coverage' of the topic is required, not 'comprehensive coverage'. However, I will continue to work on the article - could you perhaps extend the 'hold' period for a while while I work on it? Although I am more than willing to conform to your suggestions, the suggestions made in this review are more than what a normal GA review would contain, so it might take a little more time for me to get it just right. Arctic Night 16:38, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

   I've undertaken an extensive edit of this article, taking into account all of your concerns highlighted above. I should mention though that I couldn't address all of your questions (keeping in mind that the Good Article criteria only requires a broad coverage of the article, as opposed to featured articles, which require comprehensiveness - a significantly higher standard), as the sources simply aren't available, at least not with the resources I have! Anyway, what reassures me is that in your general comment above you said that they're just suggestions, and not requirements, meaning that I shouldn't be tearing my hair out because I can't find sources! Unfortunately, I couldn't find an image on Commons or Flickr. Arctic Night 18:58, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

   I've responded to your concerns. Arctic Night 02:41, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

   Congratulations on a beautiful education article - there are too few of these and it's a joy to award it GA status. -- Lemurbaby (talk) 14:51, 6 February 2011 (UTC)