History teaching & research : bridging the theory/practice divide, vol. 1

Abstract

The idea of organising an annual event to commemorate our colleague, Michael A. Sant, was put forward to me by the then Dean of the Faculty of Education, Prof. Mark Borg in early 2002. I was very happy and honoured to take up the duties of the organiser of this annual event for various reasons. Foremost, I felt it was an appropriate gesture towards a senior lecturer who was totally dedicated to his work at the Faculty and towards someone who pioneered for the first time various effective history teaching methods in Malta. I also realised however that this was a golden opportunity to give due importance to history pedagogy in Malta. The theme of the annual lecture would be research in the teaching of history and the development and evaluation of innovative learning approaches in history education. I invited my colleague Dr George Cassar, both in a personal capacity and as the President of the History Teachers’ Association to be part of a two-person team who would be responsible for the organisation of the annual event. Dr Cassar had been, like me, one of Michael Sant’s B.Ed. History students; however his relationship with Michael went far deeper. Besides being his tutor and mentor, Michael Sant became a close friend to George Cassar and they were also colleagues for many years. Undoubtedly, without George Cassar’s inexhaustive supply of energy, dedication and complete support this annual event would not have been possible.