MACTT is student-centred, as the courses are designed to provide them an unrivalled learning experience that can have an immediate impact on their performance. Therefore, trainers are well-versed in pedagogical methods and are able to tweak these to the specific preferences of each student and class including the enhancement of student diversity and special needs of each student. This flexibility also enables our tutors to ensure that the learning objectives of the course are being achieved by all students, including students with special needs in the pedagogy employed. Learning methods used involve, but are not limited to:
- Group Exercises;
- Videos;
- Presentations;
- Discussions;
- Case studies;
- Practical examples / exercises;
- Virtual
Moreover, our trainers are fluent with pedagogy practices that cater for student diversity and special needs by managing intercultural and mainstream classrooms, teaching students in their second language, classroom tolerance and diversity. Therefore, they are also equipped to manage the constant change being faced with, by contributing to the student motivation leading to social cohesion and well-being of all involved.
In light of the above, MACTT also caters for students with educational disadvantages caused by personal, social, cultural or economic circumstances, need particular support to fulfil their educational potential (Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on key competences for lifelong learning, 2006), and so that later on in life, they may achieve personal fulfilment and development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment.
10.1.1 Student Participation and Active Learning
Students stay interested and learn more from class when teachers use many different techniques to involve them in the learning process. These range from very short and simple techniques, like telling a story about the material, to more involved activities like small student work groups doing collaborative learning projects. MACTT trainers have established a hierarchy of active learning strategies, and they also find it useful to document and evaluate the effectiveness of each activity. Asking students to critique activities places teachers in the role of facilitator making the classroom a dynamic, ever changing environment in which students have a voice, and they allow students to view trainers as people who are flexible enough to take risks in the classroom which increases the likelihood of the students doing the same.
It is true that some students need more extrinsic motivation than others. Even motivated students occasionally need their lecturers to prompt them to complete learning tasks. Active learning strategies serve as useful educational tools when students participate. Trainers need to monitor their system of evaluation constantly and consistently. Most of the students who at first balk at class participation eventually will accept their role as active rather than passive learners. Therefore, by active learning MACTT believes that:
- Students are involved in more than
- Less emphasis is placed on transmitting information and more on developing student’s skills.
- Students are involved in higher-order thinking (analysis, synthesis, evaluation).
- Students are engaged in activities (e.g., reading, discussing, writing).
- Engaging Students using the right mix of educational technique and use of media sources.
MACTT supports trainers in implementing active learning during course delivery, thus including a range of teaching and learning activities such as:
- Involving Students in Well-Structured Question and Answer Sessions in Lecture
- Individual Think and Write
- Pairing Activities Such as “Think, Pair, Share”.
- Interactive
- Case Studies.
More complex and higher risk processes might include such activities as:
- Individual and Group Project Based
- Student Involvement in
- Practicum
- Student
Highest risk processes may include such carefully structured small group-based strategies as some of these more familiar ones:
- Collaborative
- Cooperative
- Team
- Problem-Based
Nevertheless, our emphasis remains on having trainers create an environment that engages students who might not otherwise be engaged in their own learning in meaningful ways. Thus, using a variety of teaching strategies that each contribute to the overall picture of making learning a deeper, more engaging, meaningful, active and effective process of education.
Information Management
Information provided by MACTT in all means of communication including courses and programmes should be clear, accurate, objective, up-to-date and readily accessible. This is done by ensuring that MACTT will strive to provide all the information required to help prospective students make an informed choice in terms of the training, particularly as concerns the knowledge, skills and competencies they are likely to gain upon successful completion of the course. The central point for information on the courses is the MACTT website (https://mactt.eu), however these guidelines apply to all communications of the Academy including emails and printed material.
Course brochures will include at a minimum:
- the selection criteria for the courses / programmes;
- their intended learning outcomes;
- the qualifications they award, including information on the EQF/QF level and ECTS/ ECVET learning credits;
- the teaching, learning and assessment procedures used;
- the pass rates, and
- the further learning opportunities available to
In order to ensure that public information is clear, accurate, objective, up-to date and readily accessible, brochures and course outlines are circulated among the Academy team members for thorough proofreading before being published on the website or shared with the general public.
Moreover, MACTT staff and tutors try to collect feedback on the programme information provided by students both during the induction programme (described in Section 9 Student’s Life-Cycle of this document) as well as through the evaluation form which is provided at the end of the course. Comments and suggestions are hence taken in consideration by the Academy team to improve promotional material and to convey public information about programmes more efficiently. For more information about the evaluation process vide Section 4.2 Students involvement in Programme Design & Evaluation.
Further to this, all training programmes are developed through research, based on peer reviewed journals that are carried out by qualified people in the field. The Academy performs a dry run of most of its training programmes during which different members of staff and trainers or professionals in that area are present and feedback is provided. This enables the Academy to improve clarity, accuracy and objectivity of all material delivered. This means that all material is heavily scrutinised before it is provided to students.
Data Collection
It is important to note that all data collected is carried out in compliance with data protection legislation in place at registration and at course completion. This allows the administration of the MACTT to monitor the:
- Profile of the student population provided at the beginning of every training programme;
- Course attendance throughout the training programme;
- Drop outs and Retention throughout the training programme;
- Success rate at the end of each training programme;
- Satisfaction of the overall learning experience at the end of the training programme;
- Achievement of intended learning outcomes throughout the training programme;
- Career paths after the course through follow-up questionnaires;
- Satisfaction of learning outcomes to employers (when applicable) after 1 month of training completion to assess impact on
This information is collected through several instruments adopted by MACTT, namely the registration form, the attendance sheets for each training session attended, exam results and evaluation sheets, satisfaction questionnaires, follow-up questionnaires based on simple performance indicators. Additionally, satisfaction and follow-up questionnaires are created on the basis of research carried out by MACTT on the most efficient tools for surveys and feedback collection as well as on the analysis of trainers’ past experiences in monitoring students’ satisfaction. These research and analysis led to the adoption by MACTT of the Kirkpatrick Blended Model presented in Section 4.2 – Students involvement in Programme Design & Evaluation of this document. The questionnaires aim to cover all aspects of the learning experience, without being excessively time demanding, and are usually delivered to students at the end of the course.
The data collection is subject to the approval of the learner, usually requested at the registration phase and at the end of the course. The Academy staff will also inform the students, during the introduction meeting before the first training session, that the data will be used for statistical purposes to improve the quality of the services offered and to support the management in decision making, nevertheless handling such data in strict confidence and in line with the Data Protection Act (Cap. 440 of the Laws of Malta).
As far as the data analysis is concerned, MACTT uses, as a starting point, the Statistics Questionnaire provided by the National Commission for Further and Higher Education where students’ general information, course information, course fee information and possible special needs requirements which are listed in a clear and fair structure. Data on the achievement of learning outcomes, performance improvement and success rates are collected, for each course iteration, in a different informatics file created by MACTT. This file is used to analyse, as described in Section 14.2 – Quality Assurance Measures of this document, the collected data which allows the Academy team to monitor general improvements for each course from one iteration to the other and to create, through the use of specific data analysis tools, descriptive and comparative statistics supported, when appropriate, by graphs and tabular display formats.
Feedback
During their life-cycle with MACTT, students are encouraged to provide the Academy with feedback about their experience on an ongoing basis. It is understood that feedback can take place in different formats, including: formal feedback; informal feedback; written; oral; individual; group; lecturer-student; student-student, and MACTT values all forms as it helps staff members to continuously adapt its teaching to the needs of diverse students.
With reference to formal feedback, every student is encouraged to complete the feedback form provided to them on the last day of the course. This data together with other data collected at the beginning and throughout the course allows staff members to perform a thorough evaluation after each training programme, discuss improvements required with staff members and trainers, implement changes that can take place immediately and plan for long- term goals and changes even in the budgeting phase. In the case of employment-oriented programmes, employers are also contacted to provide feedback on how the learning outcomes impacted the performance of their employees. This process enables the Academy to prepare an action plan to improve teaching, learning and feedback practices for future intakes. This plan is shared with all staff members and trainers alike to ensure compliance throughout.
MACTT understands that students have diverse learning needs and always makes an effort to respect and attend to the diversity of students. This flexibility is reflected in the way courses are designed and in the way the Academy approaches individual needs, allocating tailored learning resources and support services which are communicated to the students by email and/or web portal and verbally on the first day of the course and throughout the course. The support offered obviously varies on the basis of the needs eventually disclosed by the students (they are strongly invited to do so when registering or prior to the commencement of the course, if the problem occurs after the registration) and could result in ad hoc arrangements, as explained below, which are coordinated by the Director of Studies with the support of the Coordinator of Studies.
Student Diversity and Persons with Disability and/or learning difficulties or Special Needs
There is a growing public awareness of the need to pay particular attention to the requirements to cater for student diversity as well as persons with disability. This involves the setting up of a user-friendly environment with specially designed facilities.
MACTT, continuously updates its policies to ensure that it is accessible to persons with disability or persons with special needs. This is being achieved through arrangements, both before and after entry, and designed to assist without giving undue advantage. These arrangements are applicable both to follow a course as well as for assessment and examinations. These arrangements fall within the exigencies of Reasonable Accommodation as enshrined in the Equal Opportunities (Persons with Disability) Act 2000 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The online Admission Form has been tailored to make the Academy courses more accessible.
Therefore, in cases when students have a known disability and/or specific learning difficulty, we strongly advise students to disclose this information with the Coordinator of Studies prior to the commencement of the training programme. This will enable the Academy to assess one’s needs and make ad hoc arrangements to support the student accordingly through the right learning paths and/or appropriate resources. Any personal information the student gives the Academy when disclosing their disability and/or learning difficulty will be treated in strict confidence and made available only to relevant members of staff with prior student consent.
The physical environment of the Academy is also important, in such cases, courses are located in our approved premises at Malta International Training Centre whereby accessibility of ramps and lifts are available in the respective buildings.
MACTT is also committed to inclusive education of disabled persons and persons with special needs as well as the progressive removal of barriers to learning and participation in mainstream education. A student where their learning difficulty or disability calls for special educational provision, namely provision different from or additional to that normally available to students, makes higher quality teaching even more important for MACTT.
MACTT is a firm believer of inclusion to identify and remove barriers to learning, and is committed to enhance the educational experience through facilitated participation and achievement of all students involved by paying particular attention to those groups of learners who may be at risk of marginalisation, exclusion or underachievement by providing them with ad hoc personalised, student-centred care and by focusing on inclusion by having mainstream trainers who are receptive to the principles and demands of inclusion by creating an environment of interaction yet supported learning.
Our special pedagogy revolves around instruction informed by specific needs of the individual to ensure specialist approaches to the range of needs that are unique and specific to the individual. MACTT believes that there is no single type of educational approach that will work best for all students, best practice, has shown that it needs to be tailored for the individual and an inclusive system is required for results to be attained.
The Academy will then embark on ensuring that such individuals have all the tools at their disposal during course delivery.
Arrangements at the Academy are tailor-made, whenever possible, to meet the needs of the individuals requiring them. As such a specific request has to be made to the Academy which examines the certification and makes the necessary provisions.
Advice for Students with Disabilities, Long-Term Illness, and Specific Learning Difficulties
If you have a disability and/or specific learning difficulty, we strongly advise you to disclose this. This will enable us to assess your needs and make arrangements to support you. Please speak to the Coordinator of Studies or to the Director of Studies, as soon as possible – preferably before your course begins. Any personal information you give when disclosing your disability will be treated in the strictest confidence and made available only to relevant members of staff and only with your permission.
Please recognise that if you don’t disclose your disability – or if you withhold permission to forward information to the relevant members of staff – you may make it difficult for the Academy to provide suitable support to help you achieve your academic targets. Disclosure will not disadvantage you in any way. MACTT provides advice, guidance, information and support for a range of needs including:
- Autism Spectrum Disorders/Asperger’s Syndrome;
- dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties;
- mental health;
- mobility impairments;
- sensory impairments;
- unseen disabilities like Epilepsy/HIV/AIDS/Chronic Fatigue and other chronic conditions or
The Coordinator of Studies can advise students about support available and putting support into practice, they are responsible for making applications for alternative arrangements for exams and assessments. Therefore, if you think that, because of a disability, you need alternative exam arrangements (such as extra time or the use of a computer), discuss this with the Coordinator of Studies or to the Director of Studies without delay.
Part Time & Full Time Training Programmes
MACTT is primarily focused on providing training that helps students to enhance their performance at work, through short and long courses. This means that the targeted audience is mostly a mature one and already in employment. Therefore, the Academy is committed to design short courses which allow this targeted audience the opportunity to continue developing professionally at their own pace without disruptions to other commitments; but it is not excluding the design of professional training programmes requiring a considerable student’s commitment.
Meanwhile, full-time training programmes that take place during office hours are also available.
International Students
The majority of our courses are designed in the English language in order to cater for international students as well as local ones. MACTT also provides support to local and international students by assisting them in applying for national funds as well as Erasmus+ funds when and where applicable. Moreover, the Academy also provides a translation service support to those international students who struggle with the English language. This is provided by the professionals employed at MACTT who are knowledgeable and qualified in multiple languages
