J CUMBERLAND’S letter ‘A class act’ (HAS, July 14) struck a very positive note on the question of teaching at our schools.

Having just returned from a holiday in Malta, and while enjoying the sunshine at a coffee shop, my wife and I noticed a large number of school children all with the same bright yellow rucksacks with the emblem EF printed on the sides.

Every day we noticed further groups of children walking past with the same badge on different coloured rucksacks. That evening we sat with a group of people who had EF staff printed on t-shirts so, not being a shy person I decided to ask what EF meant.

We were told it stood for Education First.

The children came from France, Germany, Denmark and Sweden and were in Malta for three weeks to learn English.

Asking why not go to England for English lessons we were told that it was far too expensive and the education system in England was far below Malta for English lessons.

We were told that the English education system was bottom of the European tables in a range of education subjects, including teaching English.

We were also informed that some 300 children were attending the classes in Malta this year. All aged 14 to 18 years old.

Asked if they were all well behaved we were told “yes, or it’s a flight home at the parents expense”.

I leave it to others to comment, but we were left shell-shocked at what we saw.

Do we have something to learn about our education system?

John Merry, Darlington.