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Foundation
for Educational Services (FES)
c/o 1st Floor, Sir Temi Zammit
Boys Secondary School, Mtarfa Malta
Tel:- 21 455600; Fax:- 21 455625
An
overview of initiatives
www.fes.org.mt
www.pefalmalta.org.mt
June 2005
Launched in late 2001, the Foundation for
Educational Services (FES) was conceived as a
mechanism that works hand-in-hand with the Education
Division at the Ministry of Education in Malta
to provide a range of innovative educational initiatives
including ones in the field of literacy, family
learning support and parental participation. Since
its inception, FES has developed four core educational
support programmes and a unit focusing on training,
development and international projects:
The
Hilti Programme
- a community-based primary prevention after school
family literacy initiative
Email: hilti.fes@gov.mt
Programme elements:
Hilti Clubs – these afterschool
family literacy clubs are aimed at students in
the early primary years and their parents. Hilti
Clubs are based in state primary schools and run
from 2.30 to 4.15 in the afternoon. At these clubs,
trained FES personnel use differentiated teaching
methodologies within a mixed ability and family
literacy context. Hilti Clubs currently operate
in 23 community-based primary schools and reach
around 400 children and their parents per scholastic
term. A team of FES teachers trained in family
literacy approaches and Activity Teachers employed
by the Education Division run each Hilti Club;
teachers who co-ordinate these clubs participate
in a 112 hour training programme. Club activities
are specifically designed with an in-built literacy
and/or numeracy component that the children immerse
themselves in as an integral part of the fun activity.
Results of internal evaluations indicate that
the approach stimulates and enhances children's
self-esteem, social skills and literacy attainment.
Parents gain competencies that strengthen the
curriculum of the home. School teachers have the
opportunity to develop home-school links and to
extend their repertoire of literacy tools and
strategies that enrich their classroom practices.
PEFaL - a parent Empowerment
for Family Literacy project co-funded by the European
Commission through the Grundtvig action of the
Socrates Programme. The participating project
partners were from England, Belgium, Lithuania,
Rumania and Italy. The aim of this project was
to adapt the Club Hilti and Id f'Id (see below)
approach to different European settings, training
and forming a network of family literacy workers
and parents. A National and a European Conference
on family Literacy were organised in June 2003
and July 2004 respectively for PEFaL partner organisations,
practitioners and parents. The project was concluded
in November 2004. [See website: www.pefalmalta.org.mt]
The NWAR Programme
- a secondary prevention family literacy initiative
Email: nwar.fes@gov.mt
Programme elements:
The Nwar Service is an initiative
piloted in mid-2002 and now operational in six
regional centres: Birgu, B’Kara, Hamrun,
Tarxien, Rabat and Gozo. Through NWAR, parents
and their children with severe reading and writing
difficulties go through an assessment process
and subsequently participate in an intensive one-to-one/two
literacy support programme over a period of one
semester, with the possibility of extended service,
if necessary. The service is national in scope
and accepts referrals mainly from the Statementing
Moderating Panel, the Ministry of Education, and
various psycho-social services within the Education
Division. Individual learning plans are prepared,
implemented and reviewed with the parents of each
referred child.
Development of English language fluency
– children in care: Through funding
from the HSBC Cares for Children Fund and in conjunction
with the Children’s Homes Office of the
Diocesan Curia, children from a number of residential
care facilities are participating in a language
development programme that combines drama, art,
music and movement with linguistic skill development.
The Parents-in-Education
Programme
(Programm Id f’Id)
- a parent capacity building and empowerment initiative
Email: idfid.fes@gov.mt
Programme elements:
Parents’ Sessions in Hilti Clubs:
parents of children participating in a Hilti family
literacy Club are encouraged to learn and practice,
in a paired work setting, practical tools that
stimulate their children to learn more effectively.
Parents have the opportunity to meet and discuss
educational strategies with teachers twice weekly
through the afterschool family literacy centres.
They also join their children during the club
to practice some of the tools. Following participation
in this process, many parents decide to engage
in other non-formal learning opportunities offered
by FES and other organisations.
Parent-to-Parent initiatives:
parents join FES personnel in parent-to-parent
initiatives in other localities, and are organising
various parent empowerment initiatives. A team
of parent leaders has been formed and trained
to provide, under teacher supervision and guidance,
courses for other parents. These courses are open
to parents from state primary schools that host
a Hilti Centre, and other parents. This programme
was short listed in late 2002 as well as in 2003
for the Alcuin Award of the European Parents’
Association and received a special mention.
Family Festival: an annual event
for families that have participated in the range
of FES educational programmes. Specialised workshops
planned and run by parents and focused on themes
identified by parents from each FES field site
have become a key feature of this event. During
the Family Festival, families and FES family literacy
field teams put up an exhibition of their work.
Community Literacy Outreach Projects:
piloted for the first time at Senglea on the request
of the Senglea Local Council and with the active
participation of community based organisations
(CBOs), this initiative is being developed in
other localities. The Senglea and subsequently
Cospicua projects combined a morning family focused
literacy programme with an evening community-focused
programme executed in popular open air spaces.
Lifelong Learning Portfolio for Parents:
A portfolio has been developed to enable parents
to record their lifelong and lifewide learning
processes. The portfolio has been tested by Maltese
parents as well as parents from Lithuania, Belgium,
Italy and Romania through the FES Parent Empowerment
for family Literacy Project (PEFaL) partly financed
by the EU Commission under the Grundtvig 1 strand
of the Socrates Programme. The portfolio is currently
being revised to integrate feedback received by
parents.
The Malta Writing Programme
- a teaching of creative writing initiative
Email: mwp.fes@gov.mt
The aims of the programme are to:
a) introduce writing process methodology as a
vital component of basic skills provision to the
different stakeholders of the school communities
in the Maltese educational system;
b) contribute to bringing about a gradual but
radical change in language learning and teaching
in Maltese education;
c) work in synergy with other educational stakeholders
to be of better service to school communities;
d) introduce writing process methodology in adult
basic skills provision through, amongst other
ways, schools as community centres;
e) promote action research and collaborative
review in professional development;
f) train and support a group of Maltese teacher
consultants so as to disseminate the writing process
methodology as much as possible;
g) promote research and human resource development
in the area of K-12 writing;
h) develop and promote a regional service provision
capability.
Programme elements
Young Writers Club – an
18-hour course for children between the ages of
8 to 13 who consider themselves as budding writers.
Five courses have been undertaken. Students are
taken through the process of pre-writing, drafting
text, peer editing, revision and publishing within
a time span of two months. Course Tutors are rigorously
selected and supported from a cadre of teachers
trained in the Writing Process Methodology. Child
and adult participants are taken through the process
of pre-writing, drafting text, peer editing, revision
and publishing within a time span of two months.
Writing Club and Workshops for Parents
– a Club for parents runs parallel to the
writing programme offered for young writers. At
the end of the programme, a Family Writing Workshop
is organised to conclude the process and to collectively
celebrate outcomes.
Teacher training and support:
Intensive hands-on Institutes on the Writing Process
methodology are organised. A cadre of Teacher
Trainers is being formed. This strand of the Malta
Writing Programme is managed by the FES on behalf
of the Department Curriculum Management of the
Education Division through the framework of an
inter-agency service agreement. (see e-zine: an
electronic magazine on the MWP on www.fes.org.mt)
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Training, Development and International
Projects Unit
Technical assistance to schools:
FES provides in-school technical assistance to
those primary and secondary schools that plan
to develop in-house literacy strategies and tools.
Initiated in January 2003, the programme now provides
technical assistance to a number of schools including
the Boys’ and Girls’ schools for low-achieving
secondary level students where inter-school collaborative
measures have been set in motion. Monthly inter-team
meetings are held in the latter schools on a rotating
basis. Peripatetic literacy teachers attached
to the Literacy Unit at the University of Malta
also attend such meetings in order to actively
contribute to inter-agency collaboration in this
key area. Learning targets have been collaboratively
produced by Form 1 and Form 2 teachers from the
Boys and Girls Schools for Maltese, Maths, and
English. Resource materials are being published
for use by these schools. For the next three years,
FES shall focus on working hand-in-hand with schools
in the Gozo island and Cottonera inner-harbour
regions to develop and implement basic skills
action plans. This service is provided by personnel
across FES programmes.
Training provision benefiting state schools:
Since its inception, the FES has focused on the
development and provision of demand driven specialist
teacher training opportunities in such areas as
differentiated teaching methodologies, parental
participation in the school community, the teaching
of creative writing, the use of phonics especially
with children grappling with literacy skills,
and individualised learning plans for students
with literacy difficulties. A significant number
of state school teachers have been trained in
family literacy methodologies, project management,
team leadership and collaborative modalities of
working with other teachers and with parents.
Staff Development at FES: FES
has a staff development policy through which its
personnel are encouraged to avail themselves of
professional development opportunities. Personnel
are also encouraged and supported to pursue masters
degree programmes in such FES-related fields as
parental participation in education and family
literacy.
Publications: In 2002, three
new children’s books in Maltese were produced
for the 6 to 8 age category. One of these was
produced in large book format for use at early
primary levels. Two bilingual reading packs for
the 6-7 and 7-8 age categories have been put together
and a guidebook for parents published focusing
on how parents can create a range of activities
at home around the themes of the books. The books
and 2 parent guidebooks were produced in partnership
with the Klabb Kotba Maltin . Editorial work and
selection of the books for the two bilingual reading
packs was carried out by a committee composed
of two early years specialists, an educator specialising
in the teaching of writing, a writer of children’s
books, and a school administrator. The reading
packs have been funded through a grant from the
HSBC Cares for Children Fund. A video training
pack has been produced to train Tutors from partner
organisations of the Parent Empowerment for Family
Literacy Project (PEFaL).
EU co-funded Projects:
FES has co-ordinated a Socrates-Grundtvig 1 project
entitled Parent Empowerment for Family Literacy
(PEFaL) that concluded with a European
Conference on Lifelong Learning through Parental
Involvement in Education in early July 2004.
[www.pefalmalta.org.mt]
FES is also participating in a Socrates-Grundtvig
4 (Networks) project called Reprise led by the
UK-based Basic Skills Agency (BSA). Through Reprise,
FES had started a network of organisations in
Malta that provide adult-focused lifelong learning
opportunities. By the end of Febriary 2005, the
Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment plans
to formally recognise this network as a National
Adult Basic Skills Working Group.
FES has recently started a project that is part-financed
by the EU under the Structural Funds Programme
(2004-2006)/ European Social Funds. This project
is entitled Initiating and Managing Community-based
Lifelong Learning Centres. [communitylearning.fes@gov.mt]
The Hamburg-based UNESCO Institute for Education
has invited the FES to be a partner in a potential
Grundtvig 2 project on Family Literacy.
FES
Brochure - Il-Hidma tal-Fondazzjoni fil-qasam
tal-Partecipazzjoni
tal-Genituri fl-Edukazzjoni.pdf
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