Higher Education

Higher Education institutions in the Western world need to prepare for a future in which cultural diversity is not a transient phase but a constant reality. They should, therefore, consider introducing Multicultural Education (ME) into their institution, and further develop it. As ME is a widely used yet hazy concept that covers a vast variety of approaches, strategies and programmes, the paper attempts to unveil the complexity of ME's broad conceptual basis. It addresses the ambiguity of the term “multiculturalism”, differentiates between five diversity- managing strategies, analyses a variety of definitions and goals attributed to ME and presents an integrated typology of ME programs. On this basis, it offers colleges a three-tier tool for benchmarking, introducing and designing ME. The tool consists of a diagnostic questionnaire, a table of design choices and an organisational guide for introducing and developing ME as first and second order changes in the college. With the multilayer conceptual framework constructed in it, the paper aims to achieve two purposes. The first is to supply a backbone for informed decisions that colleges have to make while designing their educational policy and practice in culturally diverse contexts. The second purpose is to offer a new research platform for future evaluations of ME as a complex system.

The focus of assessment in higher education has been moving from assessment ‘of’ to assessment ‘for’ learning and teaching. This shift suggests that formative assessment with feedback can be more beneficial to learning and teaching than traditional summative assessment. In view of the tension that arises between the move towards formative assessment and the role of summative assessment, this study examines how the University under study seeks to balance these two aspects of assessment. The study made use of interviews, questionnaires and documents to collect data. The participants are lecturers and students at the Faculty of Education. Five lecturers and 5 students were interviewed individually, while 15 lecturers and 29 students completed online questionnaires. The documents were obtained from the University’s website. The findings reveal that the university in question recognises the importance of formative assessment, and has established policies and guidelines on the implementation of assessment of learning and teaching. Findings indicate that there is an imbalance between formative and summative assessment of learning and teaching, favouring the latter against the former. Although policy-makers, lecturers and students are aware of the importance of formative assessment, the traditional summative assessment is still the dominant assessment mode. Such a situation has caused challenges to the assessment policies, created struggles for lecturers and resulted in students’ dissatisfaction with the learning process.

The Maltese National Vocational Education and Training policy assumes that post-compulsory VET should be geared towards skill acquisition, to build a country’s human capital and to impart useful knowledge to students. The assumption is also that VET should target disadvantaged groups and students with different educational needs; those less academically inclined, and those at risk of dropping out of school. The constant reference to employer involvement, and of economic considerations mirror the goals set out in EU documents. Social inclusion is assumed to be achieved through investing in Human Capital. However, one aspect of the policy that could be construed as actively promoting social justice is the transformation of the main state post-compulsory vocational college, the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST), into a comprehensive institution, offering a seamless path from FE to HE. Hurdles to this vision are discussed, including the negative public perceptions of non-traditional paths to HE and the risk of MCAST focusing on higher-status courses, at the expense of supporting students from lower levels to ‘make the crossing’ to higher levels. The jury is also still out on whether the comprehensivisation of MCAST will spread equity and social cohesion, and strengthen society through cooperation, participation in the democratic life of a country and empower people to participate effectively in society, including, but not exclusively in the economy

This article focuses on the factors that enable or limit smooth transitions across educational and employment sectors. Smooth transitions have an impact on the element of continuity on the lived experiences of disabled students and other stakeholders. The mixed-methods study explored the experience of inclusive education of disabled students with physical and sensorial disabilities in further and higher education in Malta. In this paper I reflect on the data obtained from one-time semi-structured interviews with disabled young people that have attended or were attending further and higher education at the time of data collection. The participants’ reflections provided examples of how the quality of the lived experiences of inclusive education influences identity and academic development throughout their educational journey. The dynamics within and across educational institutions influence the extent disabled students develop agency, empowerment and self-advocacy. A collaborative approach among stakeholders or the lack of it has an impact on disabled students to develop one’s full learning potential and find employment. The reflections signify that inclusive education is not just a matter of having one’s right met, but its short-term and long-term effectiveness is highly dependent on the quality of the students’ experiential continuum within the educational institutions.