Learning how to educate the whole child

As part of its ongoing training, the University of Malta's Let Me Learn (LML) team recently participated in a conference entitled 'Valuing the whole child - Embracing the global vision', organised by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Middle East in Istanbul, Turkey. The conference was aimed at helping educators work towards higher achievement and pursue approaches that help students grow personally and academically, addressing the needs of the whole child.

The challenges that educators meet today call for the restructuring of our educational system, educating the whole child and at the same time, imparting new and appropriate skills to learners, helping them to achieve their full potential. Based on years of research, education experts have developed innovative strategies which help teachers and students make the learning experience a more successful one.

During the conference, leading researchers on learning, education experts, school improvement consultants as well as practitioners at all education levels were available to conduct workshops and to help educators understand and make the most of their role in this new approach. Educators and school administrators were able to participate in a number of workshops to learn about the benefits of differentiated instruction, helping the holistic development of students to become effective, independent learners.

Apart from providing the LML team with the possibility of exploring rich, new content, the conference also provided opportunities of networking with educators from diverse educational backgrounds who are all working towards the same goal. During this conference the LML team promoted the First Malta International Forum on Learning, to be held from June 25-27.

ASCD executive director Gene Carter and Joseph Ghaly, executive director for the Middle East centre promised to attend the Malta forum and to support and promote the conference among their members. More information on the conference is available at http://forumonlearning.org/index.php?venue . The LML centre in Malta is seeking to expand its support to local schools and colleges in the area of differentiated teaching.

For more information, access the website www.letmelearnmalta.org or e-mail info@letmelearnmalta.com.