https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/5192 Fri, 22 May 2026 09:43:50 GMT 2026-05-22T09:43:50Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/74967 Title: SEBD in children of incarcerated parents Abstract: Taking the local and international context into perspective, this dissertation aims to understand the experience of children who have a parent in prison. Interviews were conducted with incarcerated parents and partners of incarcerated parents, teachers, social workers, volunteers and Director of Mid-Dlam Ghad-Dawl. The main findings imply that children who have a parent in prison might exhibit social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. lnfact among the most common difficulties encountered by children of prisoners are behavioural problems, emotional turmoil, the sense of loss, poverty, guilt, shame and inferiority. However, addressing the social, emotional and behavioural difficulties in children of incarcerated parents can provide an easier situation for these children. The study therefore concludes with recommendations and suggestions to be implemented by NGOs and people who work with children of prisoners. A proposed sample of a plan for an adequate visiting room in prison in also presented. Description: M.ED. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/74967 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/74944 Title: Back to mainstream : reintegrating students from learning support zones into the mainstream system Abstract: A substantial number of students in Maltese secondary education experience social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBO) that interfere with their learning and that of peers. In order to help these students to be included more effectively in mainstream classes, Learning Support Zones (LSZ) have been set up which are aimed at offering these students an opportunity to improve their skills and engage more constructively in classroom learning. The LSZ service consists of regular sessions per week over a one-semester period. This study was aimed at describing the process in which the students attending the LSZ can be effectively reintegrated fully into their mainstream class. An action research approach was adopted. Data was collected on how the researcher managed the reintegration of eight students from the LSZ back to full membership of their class. A qualitative analysis of the data identified eight main factors that influenced the successful reintegration of the students. The eight factors are as follows: The coordinators' personal relationship with students, Parental Support, Continuation of support by other teachers, An effective LSZ programme, Preparing Students for the transition; into and out of LSZ, Importance of evaluating students' progress and readiness; into and out of LSZ, Peer support and relationships and Full support from the school SMT. It is recommended that the reintegration programme is given high importance and forms part of the LSZ programme. Description: M.ED. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/74944 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/74905 Title: Evaluation of the impact of professional development on teachers in social and emotional learning programmes Abstract: The prime motivation for becoming a teacher is the desire to make a difference to the life outcomes of learners. This research attempts to make a contribution to the understanding of how teachers' professional learning in SEL is most effectively supported. By examining where teachers' professional learning and development did and did not lead to improved outcomes for both teachers and students, I was able to make tentative propositions in helping to understand why professional practice is successful or fails. The findings will only make a difference to the profession if those in positions of influence also learn from them and use them to inform policies designed to support good teaching. This research on teacher professional learning and development in social and emotional learning (SEL) has demonstrated to have a positive impact on teachers' practices and student outcomes. Its findings relate to teachers who have received professional development in the process of deepening their knowledge and refining their skills in SEL together with implementing a programme. The main finding of the this study identifies that teacher knowledge acquired through SEL professional development does in fact have a positive impact on a range of student outcomes and, at the same time, develops that knowledge to build a SEL culture in the school. Another interesting finding illustrates a top down approach is necessary to compliment the impact of SEL professional development. It can be concluded that the SEL professional knowledge base that is most needed to improve the quality of teaching is knowledge about the ways in which classroom activities, including teaching, affect the changes taking place in the minds of students. An immediate challenge for policy is to attend to situations where SEL should be considered as an important aspect of students' educational path, hence adequate professional development should be provided in order to optimize educational opportunities for students. Description: M.ED. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/74905 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/74846 Title: ''Everything is dangerous" : a Foucaultian reading of the role of the inclusion coordinator Abstract: In the last two decades, the inclusion of children with special educational needs in mainstream schools has become one of the main topics for debate in the Maltese educational system. The role of the Inclusion Coordinator (INCO) lies at the heart of these debates and the Maltese Government has empowered the Inclusion Coordinator by conferring her with a managerial position, at the level of an assistant head, with the main responsibility being that of ensuring full implementation of the Inclusive Educational Policy (2000). An Inclusion Coordinator who has read Foucault's works cannot help but see herself as a constructed subject, a technology serving a political agenda set by interested institutional forces through their participation in games of truth. Through this dissertation, I seek to write a genealogical narrative that seeks to trace "the accidents, the minute deviations - or conversely, the complete reversals - the errors, the false appraisals, and the faulty calculations that gave birth" (Foucault, 1984, p. 81) to the role of the Inclusion Coordinator, and try to identify in whose interest I, as an Inclusion Coordinator, continue to carry out observations, judgements and assessments on students. This writing experience shall allow me to see how unfounded certain things we accept as normal procedures are and show how, even though they might have beneficial effects, they still need to be scrutinised as otherwise things might become too dangerous. Moreover, I shall argue that this way of looking at things makes one become politically active in the power relations that constantly shape and re-shape the discourse that defines the purpose I serve as an Inclusion Coordinator. Description: M.ED. Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/74846 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z