Teaching Tomorrow: Improving the overall educational quality of schools

The ‘My Journey’ Educational Reform has been applauded once more by EU school leaders and educators.

The Mikiel Anton Vassalli College, on the occasion of the European Week dedicated to the professional training of teachers, organised for the 3rd consecutive year, a one week residential training programme for teachers in Gozo.

The main focus of the training for education leaders from Belgium, Latvia and the Netherlands was the important issue of improving the overall educational quality of schools and educational organisations.

Four Gozitan teachers joined in. The course included a school study visit thanks to the Bishop Conservatory Schools in Victoria.

“Schools are facing many changes that have an impact on all levels and for all stakeholders. Inspirational and strategic leadership provides a vision and direction towards effectiveness and success,” said course director Peter Van de Moortel from Eekhout Academy, Belgium.These residential training initiatives under the Erasmusplus EU Programme are the result of the strong established partnership between the Mikiel Anton Vassalli College and the Belgian partners.

Victor Galea, College Principal, said “participants practised teaching and learning methods that face the educational challenges of the future. The course focused on didactical skills for teachers and school administrators and participants demonstrated how they want to enable dynamic learning in tomorrow’s learning environment.”He added that “the ideas shared and the discussions which evolved among the participants fitted very well with the current reforms taking place in Malta, namely the ‘My Journey,’ where achieving through different paths will replace the current secondary school model with personalised, relevant and quality education for all students.”

Dr Frank Fabri, Permanent Secretary within the Ministry for Education and Employment Programmes, explained to the participants that the ‘My Journey’ is all about achieving through different paths and will give equal value to academic, applied and vocational learning programmes.

He went on to say that “our students will be able to sit for different forms of learning and assessments, will have the opportunity to reach the same level of qualifications and will be equally employable regardless of the blends of options they will choose to study.”

Mr Victor Galea said “if we want to teach for the future, then education must be structured for students’ needs and not the other way round. As technology is rapidly changing the world around us, many people worry that technology will replace human intelligence.”

“Some educators around Europe also worry that there will be no students to teach anymore in the near future as technology might take over a lot of tasks and abilities that we have been teaching our students for decades. The thing is: Education will never disappear. It will just take up different forms,” concluded Mr Galea.