/library/oar/handle/123456789/49928 Sun, 28 Dec 2025 19:52:54 GMT 2025-12-28T19:52:54Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/20768 Title: Parental identity, lifelong learning and school Authors: Mendel, Maria Abstract: This text presents the thoughts derived from empirical, qualitative research carried out in a small group of parents of school-age children. Although the research terrain was Poland, the problems here considered revolve around the broad issue of parental identity, especially in a context of the concept of Lifelong Learning. Conclusions are built upon an exploratory description of parental identity, which gives support to the assumption that it is the identity of a lifelong learner, shaped more or less independently of the LLL's political context, largely dominated by economic interests. In the light of this, the following intriguing question needs to be answered: what is the significance of this context for the parents—school relationship? By becoming part of a new educational order under the banner of LLL, this relationship may be molded into a better shape. Final reflections refer to the research results, including the multi-dimensional structure – a hologram parental identity, which, together with a set of more detailed categories, made it possible to formulate prospective proposals focusing on the concept of the school as a chora (khôra, Derrida, 1993), a place craving for new meanings. Located in the perspective of spatialised thought, they direct our attention to the methods of critical analysis regarding the space of school – parents relationships, a space of formative importance in parental self-creation. Solutions built on such methods fall outside the traditional binarism that favours the ossification of order based on teacher's authority, and allow for the creation of new ways of representations, new school policies, etc. Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/20768 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/20767 Title: Parental engagement during the ‘Caqlaq!’ 2 campaign : a summative analytic report of a non-formal adult educational initiative Authors: Brown, Maria Abstract: This paper synthesises parents’ and guardians’ engagement with a non-formal educational initiative sponsored by Fundación Mapfre that took place between October 2014 and February 2015. Parents, guardians and carers of students’ recruited from a sample of state and Catholic Church primary schools in Malta engaged with graphical representations related to select health and fitness issues prioritised at the time by the World Health Organisation (WHO) (2014) to trigger collaborative and interactive activities and discussions. These activities fed into a critical engagement with the codifications, i.e. decodification (Kirkwood and Kirkwood, 2011; Freire, 2005). Participants presented main themes / issues emerging from the workshop activities. In this manner, workshops yielded to participants’ grassroots, in-depth, critical and inquisitive ownership of and engagement with health and fitness concerns. The main findings of the study show that, during the workshop, participants manifested a successful thematic, self-critical and reflective engagement with the select health and fitness concerns; they also linked the workshop discussion to their family and community contexts, as well as to broader socio-economic, cultural and global dynamics – with special reference to water supply; availability of public and recreational spaces; work-life balance; globalisation and technology. Thus, the workshop pedagogy provided democratic, dialogical and reflexive engagement; enhanced social capital and a grassroots’ approach to knowledge and education. Recommendations stemming from these research findings include the possibility of parent and child workshops; holding a series of workshops and forming a core-group of family members who have a more active role in future ‘Ċaqlaq!’ and other health and fitness campaigns. Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/20767 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/20766 Title: Preparing for a future of diversity - a conceptual framework for planning and evaluating multicultural educational colleges Authors: Sever, Rita Abstract: 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. Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/20766 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/20765 Title: Promoting multiculturalism through a decolonising process Authors: Abu Rass, Ruwaida Abstract: The term multiculturalism is defined, and the emergence of policies of multiculturalism in countries of immigrants and Native communities, such as the U.S., Australia and Canada is discussed. This paper discusses the historical obstacles in terms of colonialism and neoliberalism that challenge the fostering of multicultural education in contemporary societies. To empower the Aboriginal people and to achieve real multicultural education, there is a need for carrying out a decolonising process, adopting critical pedagogy and developing global education. Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/20765 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z