On 7 December 2023 UM Rector Prof. Alfred J. Vella awarded Research Excellence Funds to four winning project proposals. The ECPE Research Group of the Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education, within the Faculty of Education, was awarded Excellence Research Funds for 2024-2025 after a successful bid in the research category of Social Sciences and Education. Dr Josephine Milton was invited to the Research Excellence Fund Ceremony as the lead researcher of the project to receive the award for the project submission titled: Addressing Linguistic Diversity in Malta: Teacher Education and Classroom Pedagogy in Early and Primary Education.
The ECPE Research Group is composed of Dr Josephine Milton, Dr Charmaine Bonello, Dr Josephine Deguara, Dr Rosienne Camilleri and Dr Tania Muscat. The ECPE Research Group hold that this research is urgent due to the incessant and rapidly changing linguistic milieu that is posing serious strains on the educational system in Malta. Through funding such research projects, the University of Malta enables us to be in a better position to respond to such current and urgent issues, thereby strengthening the relationship between HE and society. Over the past ten years Malta has witnessed a drastic change in the student population and the demographics of schools and childcare centres. According to the National Statistics Office during the last scholastic year non-Maltese student enrolment in compulsory education stood at 13.9% of the total cohort (NSO, 2022, NR119). This impinges directly on the quality of education professionals are in a position to provide.
Prof. Ing. Simon G. Fabri, Pro-Rector for Research and Knowledge Transfer explained the evaluation process of how proposals were thoroughly evaluated before being short-listed and awarded. The Research Funds Committee of the University of Malta awarded research grants in each of the following domains: Natural Sciences and Knowledge Sciences; Engineering, ICT & Built Environment; Medical and Health Sciences; and Social Sciences and Education.
