Context
The Malta Education Foresight Forum (MEFF) was launched on 14th October 2024 within the Directorate for Planning and Strategic Foresight, Ministry for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation, officially established in mid-2024 to coordinate forward-looking planning across the Ministry. MEFF emerged from the Directorate’s mandate to strengthen anticipatory governance and evidence-informed policymaking in education, ensuring Malta’s system remains resilient, inclusive, and future-ready.
MEFF is embedded in the National Education Strategy 2024–2030 and aligned with Malta Vision 2050, a Government of Malta initiative that sets long-term national development objectives.
Malta’s education system is being shaped by major global and national megatrends, including digital transformation, evolving labour market, demographic change, and increasing societal diversity. These trends align with the European Commission’s 2025 Strategic Foresight Report, which emphasises reimagining education by coupling education reform with future oriented labour market and social policies, thereby underscoring the need for anticipatory, adaptive, and evidence-informed governance.
MEFF leverages these trends as opportunities by integrating foresight methods, evidence-informed decision-making, and structured stakeholder engagement, ensuring education policies address present needs while proactively preparing learners and educators for future skills, competencies, and societal realities.
Objectives
The primary objective of the MEFF is to transform education policymaking through a structured, evidence-informed, and forward-looking governance model in line with the National Education Strategy 2024–2030.
MEFF aims to:
- strengthen evidence-informed policymaking by embedding strategic foresight, trend analysis, and scenario planning into the education policy cycle;
- promote innovation and experimentation through the Transformation Hub, allowing educators, students, parents, policymakers, and stakeholders to safely test new pedagogies, technologies, and policy measures;
- institutionalise inclusive stakeholder participation, ensuring educators, students, parents, social partners, and experts actively contribute to policy design and evaluation;
- anticipate future skills and workforce needs and supporting education transformation, including curriculum and teaching practices aligned with economic, technological, and societal developments;
- enhance policy coherence and long-term planning, ensuring transformative reforms in education support national development priorities for 2030–2050.
Through these objectives, MEFF contributes to a more adaptive, transparent, and evidence-informed public administration, strengthening Malta’s human capital and ensuring the education system remains responsive to emerging priorities, equitable, and sustainable through a proactive mindset.
Implementation
MEFF is implemented through three integrated components ensuring a continuous feedback and learning loop.
A steering committee provides strategic direction and oversight. Composed of researchers, educators, policymakers, industry representatives, and social partners, it conducts trend analysis, scenario planning, and monitoring to guide education reforms.
The Network of Experts (local and international researchers according to area of expertise), including the OECD Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, provides specialised research, international benchmarking, and foresight expertise. A joint project on the future of teaching in Malta is currently underway, with a report to be published by the first quarter of 2025 to inform medium and long-term policy decisions.
At the core of MEFF is the Transformation Hub, operating under a ‘sandbox’ concept. It enables experimentation with educational policies and pedagogies in a controlled environment. It encourages hands-on learning, collaboration, creative problem-solving, adaptability, and critical thinking. Stakeholder feedback is collected, analysed, and translated into policy improvements, as demonstrated in the revision of the National Homework Policy.
This integrated structure ensures efficient use of resources, stakeholder ownership, and alignment with Malta Vision 2050 and national education priorities, while embedding research, feedback, and innovation to keep Malta’s education system progressive, inclusive, and equipped to address future challenges.