Terms of Reference of the Education Committee
The Education Committee (hereinafter “the Committee”) is proposed for office by the Chairman of the Board of Governors for the approval of the Board of Governors (hereafter “the Board”). The term of the Committee will be that of three scholastic years.
- The purpose of the Committee is to carry out the following:
(i) to oversee the College’s academic quality assurance and self-evaluation processes. The Headmaster shall present his evaluation of individual teacher’s performance to the Committee on a regular basis. The assessment of teachers’ performance shall be responsibility of the Headmaster;(ii) to ensure that student performance is appropriately analysed and that the overall school performance is benchmarked against that of local and international peers, on a subject basis and/or the basis of other criteria. The Committee shall ensure that an Academic Appraisal Report is compiled annually to be presented to the Board; and
(iii) the College supports all students holistically, addressing their emotional, social, ethical, and academic needs irrespective of their abilities, gender and cultural background.
- The Committee shall provide feedback to the Finance Committee on any expenditure it feels is required to support the educational progression of all students and the professional development and resources required by staff at the College to ensure that the highest standards of education are being promoted at all times.
- The Committee shall be composed of the Headmaster, ex officio, and a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 members, one of whom the members shall designate as Chair of the Committee, with the Bursar being in attendance acting as Secretary of the Committee. Committee members are not required to be members of the Board, but at least one must be.
- The Committee shall regulate its own proceedings and will report on progress to the Board after each semester.
- The Committee shall meet on a regular basis as required but at least on a quarterly basis, as convened by the Chair.
- Members of the Committee shall be notified by email or by post at least seven days prior to a meeting. Any presentation to be made in support of any item on the agenda is to be forwarded to the members of the Committee at least 1 week prior to the meeting.
- The quorum for a meeting of the Committee is not less than 50% of the members.
Updated October 2020
Members
Prof. Richard Muscat
Old Edwardian (1967-1976) – captained the school football teams from under 13 to under 15 and finally under 17 and received half and then full colours.
He moved to the UK to complete undergraduate studies in Pharmacology at Liverpool and then moved to London to complete Masters, doctoral and postdoctoral studies in the field of neuroscience.
His postgraduate studies resulted in the development of a model of depression that is one of the most used in the scientific literature to date.
He moved back to Malta in 1993 to join the Physiology Department at the University and is now Head of Department and also Director of the newly inaugurated Center for Molecular Medicine.
Between 2006 and 2016 he was Pro-Rector for Research and Innovation during which time the University revamped most laboratories and this resulted in part to the increase in quality and number of research publications in high impact journals.
During this period he also sat on the San Anton School Board that culminated in his appointment as Chair for the last two years when the School started to build a new block that included new labs and also a multipurpose hall.
Finally, his tenure as Chair of the National Addiction Advisory Board within the Ministry for Social Policy has resulted in the launch of a National Drug Policy as well as in 2018 a National Alcohol Policy. In January 2021 the first centre for adolescents will open to help those with substance use problems.
Dr Louise Ellul Cachia Caruana
Louise is a lawyer by profession after graduating from the University of Malta. She later pursued her Master’s Degree in Financial Services also at the University of Malta. Louise has been partner at EMD Malta since 2006 and leads the tax and advisory services arm of the firm. Her main areas of practice are corporate and commercial law, financial services and employment law.
Louise is an old Edwardian and has been a member of the Board of Governors since 2004. Her links to, and passion for, the College, however, span over several decades, her father having first been a teacher and subsequently Headmaster of the College between the years 1976 – 1989. As a member of the Board of Governors, Louise headed the team which was instrumental in the establishment of the kindergarten section of St Edward’s College.
Louise has held academic posts within the Faculty of Laws at the University of Malta for the past 25 years and currently holds the post of Senior Visiting Lecturer within the Department of Media, Communications & Technology Law.
She is also examiner and moderator in various aspects of law with other institutions including the Institute of Financial Services Practitioners and The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. Amongst the various posts held, Louise sat on the Board of Governors of the Malta Financial Services Authority between 2009 - 2014 and was a founder member, and former council member, of the Malta branch of the Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners.
Louise is the mother of 4 children with her eldest son being an Old Edwardian and her youngest son a current Edwardian.
Prof. Valerie Sollars
Valerie Sollars is an academic member of staff at the Faculty of Education within the Department of Early Childhood & Primary Education. After graduating with a B.Ed.(Hons.) from the University of Malta, she pursued further studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada as a Commonwealth Scholar and subsequently undertook doctoral research at the Royal Victoria University of Manchester.
Her area of research and teaching has always focused on early childhood education and care and her promotion of this area of children’s development and education has led to her authoring several national policy documents (2006, 2013, 2014), contributing to an Early Years Framework as part of the National Curriculum Framework (2008-2012) and developing the first undergraduate programme of studies for early years practitioners (2009-2016). She also co-ordinated the development of a post-graduate degree in Early Years with colleagues from six European institutions and subsequently was a member of an international consortium delivering an Erasmus Mundus leading to a Master degree in Early Childhood Education (2010-2016).
Valerie has conducted research focusing on emergent literacy and young language learners and led a number of language-related projects at the ECML in Graz (1998-2007). She has also been commissioned by the State Institute of Early Childhood Research, IFP (Germany) to review the local early years workforce issues (SEEPRO, 2007; and SEEPRO-R, 2017) and was also appointed as the country expert for EPIC – the European Platform for Investing in Children.
She has published several articles linked to various topics in early childhood education including pedagogical approaches suitable for second language learning at a young age; home background and emergent literacy development; parents satisfaction with early years settings, and transitions from kindergarten to compulsory school. Her most recent research areas and publications focus on the history of early childhood education in Malta and quality issues in early years from the perspective of parents and staff.
Valerie was a Head of Department (2004-2011) and the Dean of the Faculty of Education (2007-2015) at the University of Malta. She has also served on various national and international boards including the Council for the Teaching Profession; the Institute for Education; the National Institute for Childhood within the former President’s Foundation for the Well-Being of Society and the European Network for Teacher Education Policy (ENTEP). She currently serves as the country co-ordinator for the European Early Childhood Education Research Association.