Two new training programmes will, in the coming months, be delivered to elderly residential home and day care centres personnel by academics of the Department of the Department of Arts, Open Community and Adult Education within the University of Malta’s Faculty of Education.
This is thanks to a joint initiative spearheaded between the University and Active Ageing and Community Care (AACC), which is the entity set up by the government through the National Strategic Policy for Active Ageing Malta 2014-2020 to transform Malta into an age-friendly nation.
An agreement reached between the two established a cooperation whereby University academics will deliver these training programmes, whereas AACC will recruit the participants, who are elderly home carers and will be able to use their newly-acquired skills to optimise elderly care practise and sensitise themselves to vulnerabilities in older adulthood.
Other than the organisation and delivery of this educational training, the agreement also focuses on securing mentoring opportunities and securing research and fieldwork opportunities for the students pursuing their studies.
Minister for the Senior Citizens and Active Ageing, Hon. Minister Farrugia said this training strongly resonates with the vision and principles of the by targeting its objectives to stimulate lifelong learning, place learners at the centre by optimising learning methods, develop sound structures for adult learning and most of all to promote active citizenship.
Permanent Secretary for Active Ageing and Persons with Disability, Mr Matthew Vella mentioned the growing and urgent demand for state-of-the-art adult education, training and development for the benefit of Maltese society, accredited at various levels. This kind of education, he reiterated, is a major step forward in the participation and independent living of older adults and the elderly.
The training programmes, titled “Enhancing Work with Older Adults using Applied Arts”, and “Vulnerabilities in Older Adulthood”, will both be coordinated by Dr Maria Brown, and will be worth 4 ECTS credits each. Whilst the first programme will introduce students to using forms of applied arts in their daily work practice, the second programme will introduce students to vulnerabilities of older adults. The students participating in these study-units will be sponsored by AACC.
Head of the Department of Arts, Open Community and Adult Education, Prof. Carmel Borg, said both of the programmes will target the increasing diversity between the service users and the country’s ageing populations. Whilst some of the initiatives of the department had to be postponed due to the pandemic, Prof. Borg is hopeful that as the vaccination programme progresses, the programmes will be successfully delivered.
University Rector, Prof. Alfred J. Vella, welcomed this cooperation which takes a proactive stance in managing a core service needed for the wellbeing of senior citizens: education.
“Lifelong learning is a moral and economic national necessity, which many universities today are ready to embrace. The empowerment of older adults and the elderly, as well as that of their carers, must be gratifying to the academics providing this training and it gives a very special meaning to lifelong learning. It makes this collaboration with AACC that much more satisfying for us at UM”, he concluded.
