Cap. 605 Art. 2Interpretation.    Cap.606.

In this Act unless the contents otherwise requires:

"accreditation" means the formal approval by the competent authority under this Act or any regulations made thereunder, that the suitability for the operation of a school and, or a childcare centre or an educational programme is meeting the criteria to operate in line with quality standards and in accordance with the relevant provisions of this Act and, or any regulations made thereunder;

"Board", expect where otherwise defined, means the Board for Educational Matters established by article 64;

"childcare centre" means an institution providing education and care services to children aged one (1) day to three (3) years;

"College" means a College of State schools as provided for in

*See Legal Notices 30 of 2021 and 31 of 2021. †See Legal Notice 374 of 2021. ‡See Legal Notice 479 of 2021. Part IV;

"compulsory school age" means any age from five (5) years to fifteen (15) years, both inclusive, and accordingly a person shall be deemed to be of compulsory school age if he has attained the age of five (5) years and has not attained the age of sixteen (16) years or has not yet completed the last year of secondary school;

"curriculum" means the National Curriculum Framework for all schools at pre-compulsory and compulsory educational level;

"Department" means any department listed in the Schedule;

"Director General" means a director general of a Department of Education appointed in terms of article 13;

"Division" means the Division responsible for education established by article 11(1);

"educational space" means any location where students attend any educational programme or part thereof, given by an educational practitioner and, or institution;

"educator" means, for the purposes of this Act, heads of departments, heads of schools, assistant heads of schools, education officers, teachers, kindergarten educators and learning support educators;

"employment" includes employment in any labour or work exercised by way of trade or for gain, whether the gain be to the person employed or to any other person, and whether the labour or work is done for wages or other compensation or not, and "to employ" shall be construed accordingly;

"entity" includes a division, a college and any directorate, agency or other organisation as may be established by virtue of this Act or regulations made thereunder, or under any other law, and "entities" shall be construed accordingly;

"financial year" means the period of twelve (12) months ending on the thirty-first (31) of December of any year:

Provided that for the purposes of this Act the first financial year in respect of any entity shall consist of the period which starts running on the date of the coming into force of the relative articles of this Act relating to such entity, and ending on the thirty-first

(31) day of December of the following year;

"function" includes any responsibility, power and duty;

"general estimates" means the estimates, presented to the House in respect of any financial year, of the expenditure for the service of that financial year and includes any supplementary estimates of expenditure for which it may be necessary to provide after those estimates have been presented to the House and in this context "financial year" has the same meaning as it has for the purpose of the Constitution;

"Government" means the Government of Malta;

"Head of College Network" means the natural person to run and administer a College in accordance with article 32(2);

"home educator" means any person, including the parent of a child, in possession of a teachers’ warrant issued under article 11 of the Teaching and Allied Professions Act who is duly authorised to provide home education to a child in accordance with the provisions of Part III;

"home education" means the progressive education of a minor provided or organised by his parent whereby a home educator provides tuition to the minor, at the expense of the parent, in substitution to state or non-state education in accordance with the provisions of Part III and any regulations made under this Act, and "home education programme" shall be construed accordingly;

"individual needs" means needs and any difficulties of a physical, sensory, intellectual or psycho-social nature;

"inclusive education" refers to the valuing and acceptance of diversity and the rights of learners to not only attend mainstream schools, but also to belong thereto as valued members by active participation of all learners in and reducing the barriers that may lead to exclusion from school curricula, cultures and community;

"kindergarten" means an institution providing education to children aged three (3) to five (5) years;

"licence holder" means the person in whose name a licence is issued;

"licensed school" means a school which has been granted a licence to operate in accordance with the relevant provisions of this Act and, or any regulations made thereunder;

"lifelong learning" includes all kind of learning activities that an individual undertakes throughout life, with the aim of acquiring and improving attitudes, values, knowledge, skills and competences, and acquiring qualifications that enhance an individual’s personal and social dimension as well as the prospects of a better career;

"Malta Qualifications Framework" means the national framework for lifelong learning, being the national instrument for the development and classification of qualifications according to a set of criteria, established through descriptors and applicable to a different set of levels, as provided by this Act or any regulation made under this Act or any other law;

"Minister" means the Minister responsible for education, and includes, within the limits of any given authority, any person who is specifically authorised by the Minister for any of the purposes of this Act, and "Ministry" shall be construed accordingly;

"national minimum conditions" means the national minimum conditions for all schools referred to in article 5;

"officer" and "employee" include a public officer who is engaged to perform duties with any entity established under this Act;

"parent" means the father or the mother and includes any person who has the care and custody, whether legal or actual, of a child;

"prescribed" means prescribed by any regulation, statute, rule or bye-law;

"public officer" has the same meaning as is given to it by article 124 of the Constitution;

"quality assurance" refers to one or more processes which safeguard the quality of education at all levels within the economic, social and cultural context, on a national, European and international level, and ensures the use of appropriate measures as a means of improving the quality of students’ well being, leadership, teaching, learning, training and research;

"quality standards" means the details of the expectations, the various guidelines and characteristics to be able to meet structure, process and outcomes quality by the service provision in order to meet the purpose of the process or service;

"remuneration" includes compensation in any form whether in money or in kind;

"scholastic day" means every day during a scholastic year not being a school holiday or a public holiday;

"scholastic year" means that period determined as the scholastic year in the national minimum conditions;

"school" means an institution the resources of which, both of persons and of things, are ordained towards the promotion of the education and training of other persons through the dissemination of knowledge, and shall include a school providing kindergarten education; "student" means a minor of pre-compulsory and compulsory school age enrolled in a childcare centre or a school.