The Newark School organized and shared the timetable of the science teachers, Mr. Mattia and Ms. Priya, before my arrival so I would know which classes I would be attending during my mobility. As preparation before mobility, I made sure that I have my flight tickets and accommodation booked on the right time to be able to attend the school on a full schedule. Also, travel insurance was purchased to cover the time I was on flight and abroad. I also made sure to have my contact cards with me to share it with other teachers from other countries and also to other schools for further collaboration possibilities.
As my first job shadowing mobility with Erasmus, I would say that I learnt quite a lot by observing other teachers studying from their positive and also their negative attributes. The school usually runs around 6 different Erasmus projects at the same time, so some insight was given on the management part for Erasmus mobilities. Upon arrival, we all (including 3 teachers from Hungary, 3 teachers from France with 13 students) had a nice presentation about Newark school and their programs as well as a valuable insight about education in Malta. Some highlights from this first day was to find out that Malta follows an educational system very similar to the UK having their own IGCSEs and A levels that is why schools can finish by IGCSE at 16 years old (referred to as year 11). Since their school building is quite small, they have many days called Sports Day when they go out to other locations to have sports and other activities. It was interesting to hear about the school having an Erasmus Day as well! A noteworthy extra was to have a separate room for Erasmus meetings and activities.
To sum up the main acquired knowledge and techniques in education, I would like to emphasize on the importance of the teacher to be friendly and at the same time firm with the students. Mr Mattia did this amazingly, as he was down to Earth with his communication with the pupils which facilitated the students to be open with him asking their questions and addressing their concerns. This in a way has led many of the students to run after knowledge and not the other way around. Of course, he also needed to deal with the not so interested ones, so he was many times tough telling them to stand up and change their place. I also studied from him to give much more tasks to the kids to do rather than for the teacher to do a one man show. On another occasion, I had the chance to shadow a science teacher where I mainly studied from some negative attributes. The teacher was strict and firm, but a lot of time was wasted trying to discipline the pupils to get their attention, although this could have been solved by directly involving them with work and not losing too much of class time.
After this mobility, I have diversified my scope of educational systems and techniques. I was also exposed to great student diversity which Newark can be proud of. I experienced how the teacher was at ease to teach and deal with students coming from different backgrounds, religions and cultures. Being honest with the pupils was another attribute which I appreciated and willing to keep practicing in my teaching where the teacher accepted some things that he did not actually know. Another important aspect in my experience was the reaction of students when having another teacher teaching them. When I asked to have some classes, Mr Mattia was kind enough to allow me, and I saw on the students’ faces somehow asking their teacher if they can trust me (their “new” temporary teacher). This was great to see in practice how students see when a new teacher is hired and teaches me to assist a new teacher when we get in our school.
During this mobility, I built a better relationship with the Newark school directors for the purpose of further collaborations. I also made contact with the Erasmus manager in a school in France for Erasmus exchange possibilities. I also acquired many school contacts which are form 6 education (high school until year 13) for future possible mobilities. The soft skills acquired from the teachers at Newark school is something that will definitely be implemented in my teaching career and passed on to other colleagues at Avicenna International College.
This mobility was fully funded by The European Commission. Written by: Harout Parseghian 04. May. 2024.
