Exploring AI in Education: Insights from stakeholders in the Maltese educational

As part of the second phase of Act-AI Academy, an Erasmus+ EU-funded project focused on AI in education, the Department of Mathematics and Science Education of the University of Malta hosted two stakeholder consultations at the end of November.

For the events, in order to gather insights from a wide range of experiences to tailor the project’s toolkits to local needs, professionals from the sector were invited. These included , teachers, student teachers, school leaders, academics, professional bodies, and policymakers in AI and education.

The sessions were animated by several researchers, including Dr Edward Duca, who acted as moderator; Kurt Calleja, who presented Act-AI, the project’s goals and timeline; and Dr Patrick Camilleri who performed presentations and insights on Generative AI in Education. Incidentally all those involved came from the Faculty of Education, supported by interns Klára Březinová and Floriane Sawadogo, who introduced the history and stakes surrounding AI as an introduction to the subject. The attendees then answered questions linked to their field of work and discussed them with each other and with the researchers. The questionnaire was designed to understand participants’ knowledge and use of AI, as well as the policies currently in place in their places of work or those they believe should be enforced.

These exchanges allowed for the gathering of diverse perspectives about the use of AI in Malta, reflecting the realities of the Maltese education system, regulations, and classroom practices. This will help with the project’s next steps, whose main goal is to understand the different possible uses of AI in an educational setting, define clear guidelines, and build comprehensive training for teachers by the end of the project in 2028.