The First Malta International Forum on Learning will take place at the Dolmen Resort Hotel, Qawra, Malta, between 25-27th June 2009. This conference is being organised by Let Me Learn (Malta) in partnership with the University of Malta. The conference will provide an excellent opportunity for established scholars, teachers, education administrators, school leaders, policy makers and other stakeholders to present and discuss latest research, applications, and innovations in the field of learning. It will also facilitate national and international networking in the area.
Proposals for presentations are welcomed (see submissions section on the conference website). Plenary and parallel sessions will be run in English.
Please forward any queries or comments to info@forumonlearning.org
Convenors: Prof. Carmel Borg and Mr. Colin Calleja
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Dr Grace Grima – Director General, Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education
Dr Grace Grima graduated from the University of Malta in 1990 with a first class B.Ed (Hons.) degree and worked as a teacher in a range of local secondary schools. She completed her postgraduate studies (M.Ed with distinction and PhD) in New Zealand after twice being awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship. She conducted her doctoral work at the Educational Assessment Research Unit (EARU) of the University of Otago, New Zealand, where she joined the National Educational Monitoring Project (NEMP) of the New Zealand Ministry of Education. She returned to Malta in 1999 after the introduction of the national minimum curriculum in which educational assessment featured prominently. As a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Education she has taught assessment, research and policy units in various undergraduate and postgraduate courses and has been involved in training and development sessions at national
level and in schools in the three educational sectors in Malta and Gozo. At MATSEC, she has occupied the position of Principal Research and Development Officer since January 2000. Her responsibilities have included the professional training of examiners, the vetting of the examination papers, the grade awarding meetings and the annual statistical reports on the MATSEC examinations.
Dr Grima has recently chaired two national reviews: the MATSEC Review (2004-5) and the Transition from Primary to Secondary Schools Review (2006-7). Since 2004, she has been a member of the Malta Qualifications Council and the University of Malta Ethics Committee. In 2006, she was appointed Rector’s delegate for undergraduate courses and in the same year, she was elected President of the Executive Council of the Commonwealth Examinations and Accreditations Bodies. She has co-authored a number of books on assessment, including Group Assessment (2000) Portfolio Assessment (2001) and Transition from Primary to Secondary in Malta: Time to break the mould? (2006). She has also written several peer-reviewed journal articles and has regularly presented papers and ran workshops at conferences in Europe, North
and South America, South Africa and Australasia.
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Emeritus Professor Christine Johnston is the former Director of Rowan University’s Center for the Advancement of Learning where she lead research on the effects of the Let Me Learn Process on teacher-student interaction, student learning outcomes, literacy, and student persistence. For the past eleven years she has engaged in studies on the Let Me Learn Process including work with 19 universities within the US and abroad, and 38 US school districts including a two-year consultancy to the EU’s Grundtvig Project working with participants from Italy, Spain, the UK, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Malta, and Holland. Prof. Johnston serves on the external advisory board to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s College of Education and Human Sciences and in a consultant capacity to Corporate DuPont’s Office of Research and Education. She is a passionate speaker and presenter on issues involving learners of all ages.
Prof. Johnston received her Ed.D. from Rutgers University in 1985, her M.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She has presented refereed papers in the US and abroad on the Let Me Learn Process, authored and co-authored five books, and numerous articles and chapters on the topic. Her current works in progress include, “Finding Your Way: Navigating Life by Understanding Your learning Self,” and “Honoring the Learner” with authors Bonnie Dawkins and Robert Kottkamp. Prof. Johnston has been the recipient of a Ford Foundation Educational Internship, an NSF Graduate Fellowship, a Department of Education, State of New Jersey, education-innovation grant, and a Corporate DuPont Education grant.
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Tom Leney is responsible for international research and strategy at the UK government’s London-based Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and is head of QCA’s International Unit, as well as being the UK Co-ordinator for the European VET ReferNet network. He is a research associate at the London Institute of Education, and a consultant for the British Council. He has wide experience of education and training in a range of roles – teacher, education management, trade union official, VET research and development, international development projects. Tom has taken part in and led a wide range of international initiatives and research projects, mainly at the European level. As well as co-ordinating the work of the Lisbon-Copenhagen-Maastricht Consortium to research and produce the Maastricht study on VET developments across Europe, he worked with London University’s Institute of Education in the late 1990s to produce a study of convergence and divergence in European systems of education and training. Recently, Tom Leney led the international group writing the Cedefop Scenarios Toolkit (2004/05), exploring how scenarios and strategies can provide a useful tool to anticipate future needs for vocational education and training in uncertain times. In 2005 he worked with the officers of the European Commission (DGE&C) to analyse the 32 national reports on lifelong learning and co-write the EC officers’ report, which is an annex to the 2006 Communication on the implementation of the 2010 education and training work programme. He is currently working on a major study for the European Commission (CEDEFOP) on the developing use of learning outcomes in European education and training systems, and research for OECD on the recognition of non-formal and informal learning (UK, Canada and international analysis). He is also working on a European (ETF) project in the Middle East North Africa region relating to the development of National Qualifications Frameworks. He has led several bilateral projects. |
