The I Belong Stage Two Programme in Cultural Orientation and Maltese is run by the Department of Inclusion and Access to Learning at the Faculty of Education and the of the Ministry for Equality, Research and Innovation and was launched via the Zoom platform in November 2020. Yesterday’s I Belong Certification Ceremony at the Aula Magna of the Valletta Campus marks an end to a year long’s work and dedicated commitment from the side of all course participants who were awarded their certificates in the presence of their educators.
The programme offers lessons in Cultural Orientation and Maltese to third country nationals who are working towards obtaining Long Term Resident status in Malta. The Cultural Orientation component is divided into the three phases of Understanding, Sharing and Living and consists of a total of 120 hours of classes including the delivery of practical sessions that take place outside the classroom. The special focus of these classes is the social, economic, cultural and democratic history of Malta but also community building aimed at developing students’ participatory conviviality in Maltese society.
I Belong student, Andrea Carolina Perez Pardo, who has been living in Malta for four years and is Assistant Environment Protection Officer at Malta’s Environment and Resources Authority (ERA), was one of the speakers in the Certification Ceremony. In her speech, Perez Pardo, who is Colombian, explained how in the I Belong classroom, students received new tools to put into practice in their daily lives but also knowledge, which helped them get to know Malta not only as a country, but as their current home, the place where they have decided to build their future and that of their families.
As Perez Pardo rightly points out, Cultural Orientation in the I Belong Programme is not simply a matter of learning about folklore and quaint traditions. Developing participants’ interaction with Malta’s network of norms, values, beliefs and practices requires the transmission of the right information within the classroom whilst also building a safe space within which participants can discuss how they view, experience and understand Maltese society.
To this end, educators joining the team receive extensive training in educating towards cultural integration to help shape a pedagogy with an inclusive ethos and a social justice perspective. Maltese language classes are also centred on the needs that form part of the integration process. Special attention is therefore given to the acquisition of listening and speaking skills of the adult learner of Maltese as a foreign language.
“As academic coordinator of this programme, and throughout this past year, I have witnessed all participants, virtually but still significantly, growing in knowledge, curiosity and experience both when it comes to the Maltese language and when it comes to navigating Malta’s beautiful but also complex and very challenging networks of norms, values and belief systems, as well as the political, social and cultural systems in place. Most importantly, through their enthusiastic engagement with our curriculum, and their openness in the community of their class, they have shaped the I Belong experience into a space where integration is neither simply about formal learning nor a catchword. It is about friendship. Friendship makes daily life in another country better. It makes access to knowledge about another country better. To befriend each other is to integrate. And I sincerely hope that the bonds we have forged between us throughout this programme ripple out into our Maltese society for the better of all of us sharing a place in this country”, said Dr Rachel Baldacchino.
Present at the ceremony were the Pro-Rector for International Development & Quality Assurance, Prof Frank Bezzina, the Dean of the Faculty of Education, Dr Colin Calleja, the Head of the Intercultural and Anti-Racism Unit at the Human Rights Directorate, Mr Alexander Tortell and Dr Rachel Baldacchino from the Department of Inclusion and Access to Learning.
During his speech Prof Frank Bezzina said “At the University of Malta, we view education as playing a crucial role in the process of social inclusion and integration, but this role depends very much on how education is organised and delivered. When the education system is organised according to principles of justice, solidarity, and equity, it ensures access to education by all.
For more information visit: ibelongcourses@gov.mt
