Institute for Education , Malta

I was born and grew up in Germany, where I obtained my Abitur and undertook my studies in History of Art, Political Science and Philosophy at the Technical University of Dresden and the Free University in Berlin. I obtained my Magister Artium in 2009. My passion for education was inspired by my engagement in student representation – first at faculty, then university, national and finally European level. It eventually led me to pursue a second Masters in Comparative Euro-Mediterranean Education Studies with the University of Malta, where I had moved to in 2009, having met my Maltese husband during our joint work with the European Students’ Union. Apart from my involvement in student representation I have been professional engaged in education research since 2009. First as Manager Research and Policy with the National Commission for Further and Higher Education in Malta leading various research projects, such as annual student headcount data collection, participation in EUROSTUDENT and EUROGRADUATE, employee skills survey and qualitative research projects like a project on student engagement. Since 2019 I am the Senior Manager Research and Development at the Institute for Education with responsibility for the dissertation module of our Bachelor and Master programmes, the organisation of the Institute’s annual symposium and publication of the Malta Journal of Education as well as our engagement in research projects.
Having spent an exchange year in Michigan, USA, during my post-secondary studies, a year living and working in Brussels and now having settled in Malta has given me a unique perspective on multiculturalism and inclusion of migrants in education and society. I’m excited to form part of the KIDS4ALLL project and am looking forward to gain insights on successful practices to further promote migrant inclusion and an inclusive educational experience for all children in Malta.

Multiculturalism in education, demographic changes in education, social inclusion.

christine.fenech.3@ilearn.edu.mt

I was born, raised and educated in Malta, whilst spending my early childhood in the United Kingdom while my family was based there thus being exposed to English from a young age. Upon finishing my studies, I started my career in the Transport and Logistics Sector with one of the biggest freight forwarding companies locally, until I joined the Public Service. Since then I worked in Trade Services, Intellectual Property, EU Funded Projects, until my penultimate posting at the House of Representatives. Joining the Institute for Education around sixteen months ago was a new challenge to broaden my horizons into a new sector which is alive, challenging and constantly evolving.
As far as the Kids4ALLL, I look forward to seeing the project evolving for the benefit of the educational sector starting from the early years and throughout the whole journey.

Trade services, intellectual property, EU funded projects.

dominic.camilleri@ilearn.edu.mt

As the CEO of the Institute of Education since October 2015, Joanne has an extensive experience in education, educational leadership and professional development in the education sector. Before being appointed as CEO, she was the Assistant Director of the Educational Assessment unit of the Directorate for Educational Services of the Ministry of Education, responsible for the development of Annual Examinations of the Primary and Secondary Sector.
She is a lecturer at the University of Malta and MCAST (Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology) on Assessment for Learning, and methods of assessment. She is also one of the founder members of MASE (Maltese Association for Science Educators). In October 2015, together with the Director HR she provided consultancy to the Education Ministry of Cyprus regarding the process towards school autonomy after Malta was chosen by the EU Commission to provide this service. She also collaborated in the Education for All Project, which aimed to develop a synergy between all stakeholders in order to ensure that high quality education for all is truly implemented at classroom level. Besides that, she represented Malta in KeyCoNet, which is an EU institution working towards the dissemination of methodologies/programmes for the teaching and assessment of Key Competences.

Assessment for learning, methods of assessment, teaching and assessment of key competences.

joanne-rita.grima@ilearn.edu.mt

I was born and raised on the island of Malta. From a very young age, bilingualism is part of the Maltese identity so much so that we are brought up to learn Maltese and English languages simultaneously. Having been exposed also to the Italian through media during my childhood, has grown on me the interest in studying a third language up to tertiary educational level. In terms of work experience, I worked at the University of Malta’s international office for almost 4 (four) years. Working in such a dynamic environment, has provided me with a solid international outlook as well as a good working knowledge on EU-funded project administration particularly Erasmus+. It served as an opportunity to interact with international students with different multicultural backgrounds by encouraging them to avail themselves of study mobility opportunities overseas. Since the inception of the Erasmus+ Programme, one can conclude that the Erasmus+ Programme is truly successful given that the students’ mobility experiences do indeed enrich students’ personal and academic regardless of their socio-cultural backgrounds. Lifelong friendships, memories and international job opportunities are the keywords which describe what the Erasmus+ is all about.
 
I have now been working at the Institute for Education for 14 months. Regarding the KISD4ALLL project, I look forward to the sharing of results’ phase between all partner institutions so as to identify how we can all add value to each educational branch from administration to academics/teaching. In this manner, it will hopefully lead to actively discuss the most evidence-based practices which will ultimately be beneficial to the whole society.

EU-funded project administration.

maria.felicia.sghendo@ilearn.edu.mt