The preventive educational system : a salesian perspective

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to see how the Salesian educational system, known as the Preventive System, operates in three different settings. The contexts that were explored were a school with Muslim teaching staff and Muslim pupils in Tunisia and two Catholic schools in Malta: one that caters for students of high academic achievement and one that caters for students of low academic achievement. All three settings have different needs and thus a different approach to them. The Preventive System is an educational system that concerns the whole person of an individual, be it educator or pupil. While most of the interviewees in Malta are aware of the basic concepts of the Preventive System, there seems to be a lack of awareness, mostly on the part of the teachers, of what these basic concepts really entail. In Tunisia, the Muslim interviewees are not aware of the existence of the Preventive System per se, but mostly live it as fully as they can through the guidance of the Salesians that reside there. This study recommends that teachers are empowered further to live more fully the legacy that Don Bosco has left in the way that is most fit for the particular setting.