The Hon. Evarist Bartolo, Minister of Education, visited the Mdina Cathedral Museum, on 21 May, to observe and participate in a Symbol Literacy session with year one pupils at the St Nicholas College Mtarfa Primary School. During the main activity, the five-year old children explored the themes and concepts provided by a 17th Century Flemish School painting of St Michael.
At the Museum the painting comes to life through props, games and role play. This helps children understand its symbols and carry the invaluable meaning of the archetypes of good and bad. Over the previous five days the class teacher, using material provided by the Symbol Literary Project, had prepared children to build their own prior knowledge in anticipation of the discovery of a treasure at the Mdina Cathedral Museum.
The Symbol Literacy Project is a pedagogical approach conceived by Professor Adrian Gellel, a member of the Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education at the University of Malta, and is being implemented in various state and church schools with the participation of over three thousand students between the ages of four and eleven.
The Symbol Literacy approach is a conscious education towards the formation of a symbolic repertoire by helping children to read symbols in art, architecture, rituals and stories. It aims to:
- increase children's cultural capital
- help children make meaning of the wisdom passed on to us by previous generations
- develop children's creativity and higher order thinking skills
- enable children to observe, read and construct metaphors
- nurture the spiritual and moral dimension of children
- enable children to understand reality through an interdisciplinary mode.
The research in this area is showing that such approach, not only increases children’s cultural capital but it also helps children to foster a mindful attitude and develop those skills that are essential to the education of a literate child.
Minister Bartolo, in line with his belief expressed in a parliamentary debate that art music and theatre are essential for the formation of every person and that the state is duty bound to promote cultural activities as essential activities, crucial even, for the formation of our children (10 March 2015), was pivotal to the introduction of the approach in a number of state schools.
The Minister’s encouragement and support resulted in strong collaboration between the Symbol Literacy Project at the University of Malta and the National Literacy Agency at the Ministry of Education. The two entities signed a Memorandum of Understanding expressing their intent to collaborate over the next three years so as to provide teachers with the necessary knowledge and skills to adopt this innovative approach and to provide children with culturally rich experiences that engage their imagination and ability to read symbols.
The Minister’s encouragement and support resulted in strong collaboration between the Symbol Literacy Project at the University of Malta and the National Literacy Agency at the Ministry of Education. The two entities signed a Memorandum of Understanding expressing their intent to collaborate over the next three years so as to provide teachers with the necessary knowledge and skills to adopt this innovative approach and to provide children with culturally rich experiences that engage their imagination and ability to read symbols.
Minister Bartolo’s visit at the Mdina Cathedral Museum was to experience first hand what is being done and to show his continued support for the project.