Access to professional training for persons with disability - February 4, 2007

The Kummissjoni Nazzjonali Persuni b'Dizabilità (KNPD), the University (UoM) and the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST) have teamed up in an International Project to make it easier for persons with disability, and other socially disadvantaged groups, to take up University and third level studies.

KNPD, UoM and MCAST are co-operating in APT-Leonardo - Access to Professional Training for Persons with Disability, a project funded by the EU Leonardo da Vinci programme.

The project aims to encourage and support disabled persons to undertake university and third level courses in social work, social policy, youth studies and social care, developing a learning approach that will serve as a model of good practice and go to enable the provision of such support and empowerment to spread throughout all levels of the University, MCAST and third level courses.

The UoM, KNPD and MCAST are committed to giving, through the Department of Social Policy and Social Work:

• a preparatory APT course to persons with disabilities or social disadvantage who intend to apply soon to join social work-related courses to help them overcome disadvantages that may have accumulated as a result of their disability;

• support each participant through a student mentor for the duration of the preparatory APT course between February and May;

• prepare existing university students to act as mentors by encouraging, training and matching them with the students that they will support;

• work for this approach to permeate to other courses and faculties at a later stage; and

• work in partnership with MCAST so that prospective students with disability can be similarly helped to join their social care course and subsequently other courses also on offer.

A short course on 'Access to Professional Training' is being offered by the Department of Social Policy and Social Work within the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy.

The course addresses the needs of persons who are interested in taking up a course in Social Work, Social Policy, Social Care or Youth Studies, and possess, or who are on the way to obtaining the required entry qualifications, and who have a disability, or other social disadvantage.

The course consists of about 15 hours of sessions that are intended to facilitate access to such studies. The course will include further sessions that introduce participants to the course, and the experience and demands it carries with it and the profession it leads to.

In this way, the structure of the course is intended to help students to develop key skills involved in pursuing the course, including study and relational skills and skills in managing the life challenges that participants have to face.

Each participant will have the support of a student from a related course acting as mentor, a friend with experience and a readiness to help. Participants who successfully complete the course will be presented with an attendance certificate.

The course is being prepared and promoted with the help of Leonardo funds in an international project in which the University is in partnership with KNPD, the Marie Curie Foundation (Bulgaria), the Social Services Department of Sliven (Bulgaria), and de Montfort University (Leicester), the project co-ordinator.

KNPD and UoM have appointed a steering committee to run this project, which will be dealing with all the necessary preparations for this course to meet the targets of the project.

The possibility of extending similar courses to other faculties is also considered. The co-operation has been extended to MCAST, which is now participating fully in the project.

Since this course is built on the Social Model of Disability, persons with disability are already participating actively in the Steering Committee's decision-making process.

Further involvement of disabled people involves their giving lectures for the training of mentors at the University; providing feedback to KNPD about the accessibility of the project's Website; and involvement in the training to be given to students in the course to be held at the University between this month and April.

Three international partners meetings have been held. The first was in Plovdiv (Bulgaria), the second in Malta and the last one in Sliven. During this meeting, every participating country presented a report of the work that had been done on the project.Malta was represented by Dr Charles Pace, on behalf of the University, and Rosanne Fenech, representing the KNPD.

More information is available by e-mail: charles.pace@um.edu.mt or on the project Website: www.apt-leonardo.org/Default.aspx. Those who wish to apply should write by Thursday, February 15.