Forty full-time assistant lecturers, teaching at various MCAST Institutes, have successfully completed an intensive 18-month course in pedagogy at further education level, that was specifically designed for a vocational education and training institution.
The certification, which is a qualification at British National Vocational Qualification Level 5, is offered to MCAST assistant lecturers as part of their continuous professional development. This is another milestone that MCAST had set in 2004 and achieved for the first time in 2006.
The BTEC Certification in Further Education Teaching is specifically geared for the Vocational Education field and includes the following units: Induction, Initial Assessment and Support, Communication and the Teacher, Learning Theories and Teaching Techniques, Further Purpose and Use of Assessment, Teaching Practice and Resources, The Research Project, Further Education in Context and The Professional and Reflective Practitioner.
Each unit consists of 30 or 60 guided learning hours involving the notional measure of teaching, instruction and assessment, together with other structured learning time. such as directed assignments or supported individual study.
The Vocational Teacher Training Unit (VTTU) was responsible for the organisation and running of the course programme and the course was financed by MCAST. The mission statement of the VTTU within the Professional Develop-ment Centre is “to provide quality and state-of-the-art pedagogical training to staff in reflection of a constantly changing society thus enabling them to fully develop their own individual potential and talents within the context of the College and related industry”.
To fulfil this mission, MCAST is collaborating with the UK Edexcel/BTEC Vocational Teacher Frame-work as the vehicle to achieve a Certificate in Further Education (FE) Teaching of international recognition. The qualification has the joint badge of Edexcel and MCAST. This professional qualification in FE teaching is designed to provide focused and specialist vocational programmes with a clear work-related focus underpinning the whole programme.
The innovative factor of this particular qualification is that it has shifted away from the usual dependency on summative assessments towards a more motivating formative approach through the use of assignments and projects. Each assignment and project was subjected to double-marking under the scrutiny of two assessors – a system that was supervised by means of an external verifier, appointed by Edexcel.
In order to achieve such a highly accredited certification, MCAST has assigned four staff members, David Bonello who is the current coordinator/senior lecturer of the PDC-VTTU, Jacqueline Micallef Grimaud and Katya DeGiovanni who are presently full-time lecturers and supported by Ms Grace Barbara.
MCAST has also sought the expertise of Professor R.G. Sultana, who is currently acting as a consultant to the programme.
There was also an intensive input from other experts in the field of further education from different entities such as the University of Malta, the Education Division and also from the state and private sector as well as MCAST itself.
The main aim was to impart to MCAST lecturing staff the necessary pedagogical skills in order for them to sharpen their holistic teaching approach to young people and adults.