Local organiser: Ministry for Education and Employment, Malta
Venue: St Ignatius College, Luqa Primary School, Floriana
Participants: 53 members of Senior Management Teams in schools, Education Officers, Teachers (primary and secondary sector)
On 2-3 March 2017 the Ministry for Education and Employment, Malta, organised a training course on Content and Language Integrated Learning, focusing on a Pluriliteracies approach to teaching for learning offered by the ECML. Participants attending the course included directors, education officers, members of school management teams and teachers both from the primary and secondary sector. This represented therefore a varied cross-section of stakeholders working at multiple levels, with the aim of applying CLIL principles within a whole school approach.
The training was conducted by Professor Do Coyle, from the University of Aberdeen.
Participants had the opportunity of becoming aware of the pedagogical approaches to integrated learning, including all the “4 C’s”, namely Content, Cognition, Communication and Culture. The training discussed the development of Pluriliteracies through the application of the Language Triptych: (language of learning, language for learning and language through learning) as elements which learners need. Professor Coyle stressed that educators needed to ensure that their teaching raises both the linguistic and the cognitive levels of their learners.
A dynamic hands-on approach guided workshops, where participants were invited to apply the above-mentioned principles to their existing school context, by developing a unit of work using CLIL guidelines. The Ministry for Education and Employment is now planning a follow-up session in the short term in order to offer participants to share best practices in the application of CLIL principles, and to cascade this acquired knowledge with their colleagues.