Meeting the challenges of teaching personal and social development (PSD)

Abstract

Personal and Social Development was introduced in the Maltese Schools in the early 1980s. Various forms of training courses for the teachers were developed to the final form of the B.Ed (HONS) PSD degree and the PGCE course available today. The main objective of this study is to investigate the challenges that teachers encounter in the teaching of PSD and the methodologies used to overcome such challenges. This study focuses on those teachers who started teaching before PSD was introduced as a course in the University, in comparison to teachers who completed a B.ED (HONS) PSE course of intensive training and started teaching after the revolutionary changes that took place in the pedagogy programme of the subject. The method of training of both samples is analyzed to investigate how it has helped or hindered the way each respectively tackle/d challenges in the teaching of PSD. Overall, conclusions from this research demonstrate that B.Ed participants have a more proficient background training, since through their responses they pointed out minimal difficulties they encountered and displayed particular skills in handling PSD sessions more successfully. Finally, an evaluation of the teachers' perspectives with regard to the current B.Ed PSD training is carried out. Data have been obtained mainly through in-depth interviews with twelve PSD teachers teaching in Girls' State Schools in Malta.