https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/19765 Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:46:48 GMT 2026-08-24T09:46:48Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/148611 Title: The home economics seminar centre as a catalyst for transdisciplinary learning and community engagement in Malta Authors: Aquilina, Alison; Attard Vella, Stefania; Bezzina, Maria-Rita; Borg, Daphne; Cassar, Sarah; Grima, Stephania; Dimech Magrin, Lorraine Abstract: This review explores the Home Economics Seminar Centre (HESC) as a long-standing component of the Maltese education system, focusing on its contribution to transdisciplinary learning that connects educational, social and policy contexts, as well as is contribution to community engagement. Drawing on its historical development and current practices, the review examines the evolution of the HESC from its establishment to its present role within the Directorate for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Vocational Education and Training (VET) Programmes. It shows how the HESC has aligned experiential and inquiry-based pedagogies with national priorities related to health, sustainability, financial capability, inclusion and lifelong learning. The discussion highlights how Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM)-informed approaches, cooperative learning, and multiple literacies are embedded in authentic learning contexts. It also examines the HESC’s engagement with stakeholders, illustrating how learning is strengthened when classroom practice is linked to wider societal and policy frameworks. Overall, the review positions the HESC as an example of how Home Economics can support wellbeing, equity, and responsible citizenship. It offers a contextually grounded account of real-world-oriented education, with implications for curriculum implementation and policy–practice alignment. Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/148611 2026-06-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/148609 Title: Teachers' role in fostering digital trust and mediating ethical engagement with artificial intelligence : a literature review Authors: Zammit, Lucianne; Colombo, Christian; Agius, May; Fenech, Christine; Tirazona, Roger Abstract: The rapid expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education has intensified questions about how students develop informed and responsible relationships with algorithmic systems. While existing research has largely focused on teachers as adopters or users of AI technologies, far less attention has been given to teachers’ role in guiding students’ engagement with these systems. This literature review examines how teachers contribute to the development of digital trust in AI-mediated learning environments. Digital trust is conceptualised as the capacity to make informed, critical, and context-sensitive judgements about when and how AI systems should be relied upon. The review synthesises research across three interconnected areas: conceptualisations of digital trust, teachers’ mediating practices in AI-supported learning, and the factors shaping teachers’ own trust in AI technologies. It further examines systemic constraints on teachers’ capacity to perform this mediating role, including gaps in professional preparation and governance frameworks. The Maltese educational context is analysed as a case study illustrating how policy ambition, curriculum reform, and teacher capacity-building interact in practice. The article argues that preparing young people for AI-saturated knowledge environments requires recognising teachers as central mediators of digital trust rather than merely users of educational technologies. Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/148609 2026-06-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/148584 Title: Comparative insights on gender, family-friendly policies, and the motherhood penalty in higher education institutions : Malta as a revealing small-state case in international perspective Authors: Agius Tabone, Vania Abstract: This paper examines the persistence of gender inequality and the motherhood penalty in higher education institutions (HEIs), focusing on Malta within an international comparative perspective. Drawing on feminist institutionalism and institutional ethnography, it explores how formal family-friendly policies interact with cultural expectations and institutional norms to shape career outcomes for both academic and support staff. Comparative evidence demonstrates that while Nordic countries have mitigated the motherhood penalty through supportive policies and more egalitarian cultural norms, Anglo-Saxon and Central and Eastern European systems continue to reproduce significant inequalities due to the gendered uptake of flexible work arrangements, limited childcare provision, and persistent expectations surrounding maternal caregiving. The Maltese case illustrates how small-state and Southern European contexts reproduce and intensify these dynamics. Although policies such as flexible working arrangements and parental leave formally exist, their uptake remains highly gendered: men rarely utilise them, while women who do often experience stalled career progression and reduced opportunities for advancement. At the same time, the entrenched ideal of the “ideal academic” or “ideal worker,” characterised by uninterrupted availability and productivity, continues to marginalise caregivers. By extending the analysis to both academic and support staff, the paper demonstrates how occupational segregation and the devaluation of feminised labour sustain systemic inequalities across institutional structures. Crucially, the paper argues that Malta should not be viewed merely as another national example, but rather as an intensified small-state case that exposes the structural limitations of policy-led equality models. The motherhood penalty is shown to emerge not only from policy gaps, but also from institutional valuation systems that privilege uninterrupted, research-intensive career trajectories over relational, administrative, and care-oriented labour. Conceptually, the paper advances a model in which the motherhood penalty emerges through the interaction of three mutually reinforcing systems: policy design, cultural norms, and institutional valuation structures. It concludes that genuine gender equity in higher education requires not only policy reform, but also deeper cultural and institutional transformation capable of redefining academic success and challenging gendered assumptions surrounding care and productivity. Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/148584 2026-06-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/148583 Title: Skills pay bills : linguistic capital and the neoliberal market in bilingual Malta Authors: Lubnow, Justine Abstract: This article examines the disproportionate demand for language instruction at Blue Door Education (BDE), a Maltese nongovernmental organisation (NGO) where displaced and marginalised adult learners overwhelmingly prioritise English over Maltese, despite the country’s official bilingual status and Maltese being the national popular language. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's theories of “linguistic market” and “symbolic violence”, the author argues that this preference is a rational reaction to a neoliberal economic climate that positions English as the language required for market-driven economic survival and essential for employment, while Maltese, despite being the mother tongue, is commonly seen by outsiders as having a narrow practical reach beyond national identity in a small state, and therefore a “cultural bonus”. Through practitioner observation and lived-experience narratives, this essay highlights how migrants are discouraged from learning the Maltese language, be it by racialised gatekeeping in the public sphere, or institutionalised censorship in the workplace. By critiquing the “deficit model” of integration, which blames the learner for systematic failures, this essay advocates for a shift from functional “lifelong learning” to a more transformative educational framework via Freire’s (2000) approach, making migrant voices pivotal to dismantling structural barriers to true social belonging in Malta. Mon, 01 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/148583 2026-06-01T00:00:00Z