/library/oar/handle/123456789/59168 2025-11-10T14:26:48Z 2025-11-10T14:26:48Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/66523 2021-01-04T06:31:13Z 2020-12-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Editorial [Malta Review of Educational Research, 14(2)] Abstract: These past few months were totally unprecedented for everyone, particularly during the first wave when the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic in March 2020. It disrupted normal life worldwide, shutting down many establishments, among them also schools, placing enormous and unparalleled pressures on educational systems. The pandemic changed the learning landscape drastically across all levels of education: from childcare provision to adult education. It has affected the ways in which we learn interact teach share information communicate and collaborate. As educational and training institutions were forced to close their doors, they tried to find alternative means of providing learning and educational experiences that did not involve face-to-face modes this mainly due to the imposed social distancing measures. Amidst the uncertainty and fear of contagion, and the efforts to ensure the safety and wellbeing of educators, learners and their families, one thing was certain – safe modes of teaching and learning had to be held remotely through digital solutions.

2020-12-01T00:00:00Z Spiteri, Jane /library/oar/handle/123456789/66521 2021-01-04T06:28:38Z 2020-12-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Assessing the usefulness of outdoor learning in the early years during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malta Authors: Spiteri, Jane Abstract: The infectious potential of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (COVID-19) has demanded radical responses from world leaders in attempt to minimise the outbreak. One such measure has been school closure, which impacted children and adults globally. Schools in Malta have closed on March 13th, 2020. Physical distancing has become a key component in determining a safe reopening of schools. This paper focuses on early childhood education and care (ECEC) within the context of COVID-19 and outdoor learning as a potential response for the reopening of schools amidst the pandemic. Any study released prior to mid-October 2020 that reported on literature related to outdoor learning and COVID-19 was systematically reviewed using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systemic review and Meta-Analysis) statement. This paper suggests outdoor learning as a tentative plan to help with the implementation of the curriculum in ECEC while reducing the risk of virus transmission via physical distancing in outdoor spaces. As a result, some suggestions are made. It concludes with offering potential directions for future research.

2020-12-01T00:00:00Z McLennan, Carrie Mercieca, Daniela Mercieca, Duncan P. /library/oar/handle/123456789/66455 2020-12-29T08:05:17Z 2020-12-01T00:00:00Z

Title: What can I do? Caring relationships among teachers, students and families during COVID-19 lockdown in Scotland Authors: McLennan, Carrie; Mercieca, Daniela; Mercieca, Duncan P. Abstract: Engaging with the ethics of care as developed by Nel Noddings, this paper unpacks the perceptions of three primary teachers working in Scotland during COVID-19 lockdown. Noddings constructs her ethics of care as relational. This focus on the ‘relation’ is central to the paper and the three themes that emerged from analysing the in-depth interviews conducted with the teachers show different facets of the relations teachers were engaged in during the lockdown. The first theme looks at the teachers’ work during COVID-19 lockdown as embedded within a larger Scottish discourse that has care as central to its formation. The second theme discussed the idea of reciprocity – care ethics focuses on acknowledgment of the relation between the carer and the cared for. The third theme focuses on parents as being intermediary between the teachers and students. The paper suggests that the experience of lockdown offered primary school teachers new possibilities of caring, thus giving teachers the possibility to go beyond the ‘norm’ of care established within their classrooms and schools.

2020-12-01T00:00:00Z Sciberras, Claire Schembri, Heathcliff /library/oar/handle/123456789/66446 2020-12-29T07:42:23Z 2020-12-01T00:00:00Z

Title: A COACTION model to explore remote teacher and learning support educator collaboration during COVID19 school closure in Malta Authors: Sciberras, Claire; Schembri, Heathcliff Abstract: It has become the norm for primary classrooms in Maltese state schools to host a primary school teacher and one or more Learning Support Educators. Although these two roles are distinct in their nature and description, they are equally important for effective classroom management. The most successful and inspiring scenarios, enabling all students to succeed, occur when both roles within the teaching team collaborate successfully (Mulholland & O’Connor, 2016). Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, schools in Malta were closed until the end of the scholastic year. Teaching and learning processes saw a shift from the four walls of the physical classroom to remote classrooms in the online world. The purpose of this study was to explore remote teacher collaboration during the physical closure of schools in Malta through the lens of a model which was identified for the purposes of this work – the COACTION Model. This model was developed through a systematic literature review grounded in evidence-based exemplar characteristics for teacher collaboration. A qualitative study based on the experience of six teaching teams was conducted through semi-structured interviews. A deductive thematic analysis followed the interviews. This paper discusses the experiences of teachers and Learning Support Educators working remotely, and shows whether and how they implemented the elements outlined in the COACTION Model.

2020-12-01T00:00:00Z