/library/oar/handle/123456789/1055 Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:28:17 GMT 2026-08-11T11:28:17Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/148453 Title: Drama education in Malta : from theatre practice to pedagogical ecology in the Mediterranean Authors: Gatt, Isabelle Abstract: This chapter traces the development of drama education in Malta as an evolving, hybrid field shaped by the interplay of theatre practice, educational reform, and higher education. It begins with the establishment of formal theatre training through the Manoel Theatre Academy of Dramatic Art (MADC) in the late 1970s and examines the pioneering work of Adrian Rendle and Peter Cox. Their initiatives contributed to the emergence of drama-in-education practices and the formation of the Drama Unit. The chapter then follows the shift from theatre-based training towards the academic and pedagogical development of drama, marked by the introduction of Theatre Studies at the University of Malta in 1988 and subsequent developments in teacher education. These include the Postgraduate Certificate in Drama Education and, later, the MTL in Drama Education, which became the professional route to qualifying as a drama teacher in Malta. Particular attention is given to the distinctive character of Maltese drama education, which developed through an interaction between British drama-in-education traditions, Italian pedagogical influences, notably the work of Loredana Perissinotto and the AGITA network, and local educational and cultural conditions. Drawing on documentary sources, practitioner interviews, and a reflexive practitioner perspective grounded in the author’s professional involvement, the chapter examines how drama education expanded beyond theatre training and developed across schools, teacher education, community settings, and educational policy. It foregrounds the role of collaboration, practitioner networks, and practice-led innovation in shaping a specifically Maltese approach. Situated within the wider cultural and educational context of the Mediterranean, Malta is presented as a case study of how international traditions can be adapted through local practice to produce a responsive and evolving pedagogy with implications for creativity, cultural participation, and educational policy. Fri, 01 Jan 2027 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/148453 2027-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/147795 Title: Phenomenography in a more-than-human world - clarity, coherence and critical renewal Authors: Cutajar, Maria Abstract: Phenomenography is an interpretative research approach for investigating the “qualitatively different ways in which people experience, perceive, and understand various aspects of, and phenomena in the world around them” (Marton, 1986, p.31). In its short history of a few decades phenomenography accumulated a substantial body of literature. A few stand out as seminal works developing phenomenography knowledge. Historically, Marton and Booth (1997) was an unmatched reference work that set out the philosophical and theoretical foundations of phenomenography, elevating it from a set of qualitative research methods to a research approach, while concurrently laying out the foundations of the variation theory of learning as a pedagogy using phenomenographic outcomes for scaffolding students’ thinking and learning. [Excerpt] Description: This extended book review does not include an abstract. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/147795 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/147778 Title: Finding care in networked learning : close encounter with a virtual assistant Authors: Cutajar, Maria Abstract: A theme that emerged from the selection of papers drawn from the 14th edition of the networked learning conference and included in the edited book in the Research in Networked Learning series was that of care. The editorial team noted that while care is an assumed aspect of networked learning, it has not received direct attention in the networked learning literature. What began as a curiosity about the presence of care in recent networked learning scholarship developed into a motivated inquiry to examine both the thematic representation of care and the possibilities researching with a virtual assistant. The guiding question was: What are the distinct ways in which care is thematically represented in recent networked learning literature? The question was answered with reference to the proceedings of the two most recent conferences on networked learning that generated a dataset of 92 papers. This corpus was chosen as representative of the field in the period following the Covid-19 pandemic and the concurrent rise of generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI) and other AI-driven applications. These developments and related regulatory debates increased the attention to care and care ethics. The study confirms the limited direct focus on care in the recent networked learning publications. From the small subset of papers that explicitly address the theme, it is evident that care in technology mediated education settings is a troubling concern, spanning practices, approaches, values and beliefs and tensions in the intersectionalities cutting across them. Care demands genuine action towards the mattering of both human and non-human actors. The tensions surfaced suggest that care needs to be foregrounded more explicitly in networked learning to highlight conflicting perspectives, counter hollow political discourse, and emphasise care as integral to design, implementation and practice. As the postdigital entanglement with sophisticated AI-driven technologies deepens, appeals for care and care ethics are expected to intensify. This experimental study conducted with a chatbot illustrates such entanglement. The personal experience of doing this work further underscores the necessity of human oversight – not only to verify and validate the outputs of non-caring algorithmic systems but also to ensure that digital assistants remain accountable tools rather that arbiters of what the world is. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/147778 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/147442 Title: Aligning pharmacy education with evolving community practice : a comparative study of Europe and Mauritius Abstract: INTRODUCTION : Community pharmacy practice in Europe has evolved from a dispensing-focused model to a clinically oriented, patient-centred profession supported by structured competency frameworks, experiential education and integration within primary care systems. In Mauritius, community pharmacy remains largely product-focused, with limited formal recognition of pharmacist-led clinical services.; AIMS : This study aims to explore how differences in regulatory and organisational frameworks influence professional roles and examines the implications for pharmacy education and curriculum development. Thu, 01 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT /library/oar/handle/123456789/147442 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z