Investing in music pedagogy – over 80 teachers have benefitted from professional development offered at the Malta School of Music.

The pianist and musicologist Chanda VanderHart from Austria has been in Malta to deliver professional staff development to pianists, accompanists and voice teachers.

This was made possible thanks to the re-established collaboration between the Austrian Embassy and the Mikiel Anton Vassalli College, Malta School of Music (formally known as the Johann Strauss School of Music). It was also possible thanks to the Institute for Education for funding the organisation of this training.

The College said that other professional development sessions took place for other categories of educators at the Mata School of Music.

Ms Moira Azzopardi Barbieri, a visiting senior lecturer at the University of Malta and educator at same school delivered an intensive session on Pedagogy in Music Theory Instruction for educators teaching Music Knowledge and Understanding.

Dr Francoise Mifsud, lecturer from the Faculty of Education, also targeted another group of teachers tackling the issue of inclusion and access to learning with the focus on the visual and performing arts education.

“Over 80 educators benefitted from these reflective training sessions with a focus on music education. Arts Education challenge us with different point of views, compel us to empathise with others, and give us the opportunity to reflect on the human condition,” said College Principal Victor Galea.

He added that, “empirical evidence supports these claims: arts participation is related to behaviours that contribute to the health of civil society, such as increased civic engagement and greater social tolerance, among other attributes.”

Photographs: Chanda VanderHart – Austrian Pianist and Musicologist; Moira Azzopardi Barbieri – Pedagogy in Music Theory Instruction and Dr Francoise Mifsud – Inclusion and Access to Learning

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