Education Minister Louis Galea last week officially opened the International conference entitled “Teacher Education for Responding to Student Diversity” organised under the Socrates Comenius programme by the University of Malta together with partners from the Czech Republic, Germany, Holland, Lituania, Malta, Sweden and the UK.
The Comenius 2.1 Project from which this conference arose had started off with a focus on Differentiated Teaching. Its title was “Differentiated Teaching Module – Primary – DTMp” however the project soon adopted “Responding to Student Diversity as an active title which reflects more accurately the themes covered including those addressed in this conference namely: openness to diversity, empathic understanding of students, openness to different ways of learning, orchestration of flexible, student-centred teaching; enabling participation and success for all students; the creation of supportive and inclusive environments.
In his opening speech, Dr Galea said that the conference was important and timely particularly for Malta which had recently gone through a revision of the inclusive and special education sectors after just over a decade of inclusive education locally. Minister Galea said that this year there were over 1500 students with individual educational needs who receive support whilst another 250 students are attending special schools and receiving specialised educational provision. He said that the Ministry had set up a network headed by a national co-ordinator which included the special schools and co-ordinates inclusive education in all schools, another development as a result of the Spiteri report is that special schools are being turned into resource centres for all mainstream schools with regard to support services for children with individual educational needs.
Dr Galea said that although inclusive education had started out particularly aimed at children with individual educational needs, with the passing of time we came to realize much more clearly that each and every child has specific needs and unique charachteristics that necessitate a fertile learning environment whereby they can develop holistically and not a rigid framework which entraps them.
He said that the Ministry is working on the Educational Reform document For All Children To Succeed and is currently in advanced negotiations with the union following last year’s amendments to the Education Act. He said that the work carried out so far has brought about an unstoppable evolution and change in educational policies and planning.
Dr Galea said that without any doubt, after parents, teachers are the crucial cornerstone in each child’s educational experience and this enormous responsibility necessitates a strengthening in teacher education and further improvements and preparation both at the pre and in-service levels.
Minister Galea mentioned various initiatives that have been taken following the Spiteri report namely the networking of various entities, the hiring of a psychologist, the training of facilitators and Learning support assistants, research, the provision of sign language interpreters, in-service training for teachers, curriculum development, and much more.
Dr Galea also mentioned the sterling work of the Foundation for Educational Services which is enabling schools and colleges to respond effectively to student diversity. The foundation has trained hundreds of teachers to further develop competencies that enable them to be more effective and reflective teachers. The foundation had also helped thousands of students and their families through various educational programmes.