The participation of Maltese older people in the voluntary sector

This publication is concerned with the interface between volunteerism and later life, with a special focus on the role that older adults can play in ensuring a better future for present and future generations. One of every four Maltese citizens is aged 60 and over, a state of affairs that will impact greatly on how local public policy is planned, coordinated and implemented. The ageing of Malta’s population warrants that government and civil society alike ceases to perceive older adults as a homogenous category, characterised by frailty and dependency, and instead, look at the immense opportunities that arise if older cohorts are mobilised into a productive force. In addition to active participation in the labour market, another highly promising area of policy development in productive ageing is volunteering. Indeed, all societies are experienced by a significant increase of people’s life- and healthexpectancies, so that a large percentage of older citizens enjoy some fifteen to twenty years of active retirement.peer-reviewe

Critical educational gerontology : a third statement of first principles

This article elaborates upon the initial statement of first principles for critical educational gerontology [CEG] established by Glendenning and Battersby some two decades ago, whilst taking stock of the body of critique levelled at such principles by the humanist strand in older adult learning. Keeping in mind the gritty realities which embed older persons in structured positions of social inequality on one hand, and the difficulty of subjects to work towards the transformation of such realities in individualist and self-directed ways, this article voices support for CEG. Acknowledging a need to renew CEG in line with contemporary socio-cultural realities, it is argued that the weakness of CEG lies in its current, rather than its potential, usage. Hence, the way forward does not lie in ditching the critical epistemological framework for late-life education, but to renew CEG in a way that rediscovers its liberatory spark in an excessively globalised and individualised world. It forwards four key proposals with respect to such a goal: a transformative rationale that challenges the cultural hegemony of neo-liberalism, the centrality of directive educators, embedding geragogy in a critical epistemology, and a praxeological engagement with historically accumulated concepts and practices.peer-reviewe

Moral Law

What is the moral law and what role does it and should it play in political theory and political practice? In this entry we will try to answer these important questions by first examining what the moral law is, before investigating the different ways in which the relationship between morality and politics can be conceptualize

Feminism and critical educational gerontology : an agenda for good practice

The aim of this research piece is to focus on the ‘empowering’ potential inherent in that interface between feminist gerontology and critical educational gerontology. Following a feminist criticism of critical educational gerontology as yet another patriarchal discourse where women are silenced and made passive through their invisibility, I attempt to construct a critical agenda for feminist educational gerontology. Field research was carried out at the University of the Third Age (U3A) in Valletta (Malta), due to the fact that the U3As represent one of the most successful and important educational program specifically developed for older persons. Data analyses reveal the necessity of introducing five principles for the founding a truly feminist educational experience in later life, namely: acknowledging older women as an oppressed population due to the ‘double standard of aging’; a focus on women’s lifelong cumulative disadvantages; emphasizing a ‘politics of difference’; embracing a feminist praxis in both older adult education and research activities; and finally, embodying a drive towards the empowerment of older women in a distinct but collective effortpeer-reviewe

Perspectives on lifelong learning in the Mediterranean

This publication constitutes an edited collection of papers arising from the ‘Lifelong Learning in the Mediterranean Conference’ that was held in Malta in September 2003. The idea of lifelong learning has long been a central catchword in educational studies. Although its definition is often fluid and its usage diverse, lifelong learning is generally used to refer to our efforts in creating a society where everybody is learning all the time. Lifelong education is thus understood as an institutional movement, a politico-institutional project and even as a discourse on social change but never, of course, as a pedagogy.peer-reviewe

Knee pain

JC is a 13 year old boy who presented with a 3 week history of anterior right knee pain. Pain is activity related and brought on whenever JC plays football or basketball. He never needed to stop from any particular activity because of the pain. After exercise, the knee pain only persists for a few of hours such that by the following morning JC is pain free. There is no history of trauma, there have been no previous similar episodes in the past and the pain was of insidious onset. There is no limitation in the range of movement and no swelling is described. On examination, there is no abnormality in the knee joint except for a moderately enlarged right tibial tubercle which is mildly tender on palpation.peer-reviewe

European Union policy on older adult learning : a critical commentary

This critical commentary discusses the strengths and lacunae in the European Union’s policy on older adult learning. Late-life learning is deemed as a productive investment on the basis that it not only engenders positive returns of economic growth but also improves the quality of life and social development of older persons. This article argues that although European Union policy on lifelong learning does hold some promise toward more optimum levels of physical, psychological, and social well-being in later life, it remains characterized by a range of limitations ranging from mindless activism, to economic bias, to ageism.peer-reviewe

Critical geragogy : situating theory in practice

The goal of this article is to document the planning and coordination of an older adult learning program premised upon the tenets of critical geragogy. The learning program took place in Dingli, Malta, and was called “Age-friendly communities: the case of Dingli.” Its purpose was to open spaces for older learners to participate in the development of a curriculum that makes our experiences of power, privilege, and discrimination explicit. Its objectives were twofold: to what extent does critical geragogy raise older learners’ consciousness of their role in the society and hence unlock older adults’ critical imagination? And secondly, to what extent does critical geragogy lead older learners to engage in a social activity that has the potential to change their lives for the better? As far as this learning program is concerned, there is no doubt about the potential of critical geragogy to help older learners locate their positions and voices, as well as to create spaces for resistance, subversions and new possibilities. As the direct consequence of this course, a small group of older Maltese elders currently are more knowledgeable about the structural issues hindering the establishment of age-friendly policies. Yet, critical geragogy’s promise to lead older adults from “reflection” to “action” seems more problematic and difficult to achieve in practice. On the basis of this article’s data, it seems that as individuals grow older, they tend to experience a shift from material to transcendent values which eclipses their interest in political commitments.peer-reviewe

Population trends and ageing policy in Malta

Malta is no exception to the unprecedented demographic changes that are being experienced by industrial countries. As a result of declining fertility and mortality levels, the Maltese islands have registered a decrease in fertility rates and a major improvement of life expectancy at birth. Following a brief introduction, the second section presents clear demographic data that outlines Malta’s gerontological transition, noting how the Maltese population has evolved out of a traditional pyramidal shape to an even-shaped block distribution of equal numbers at each cohort except at the top. The third section focuses on population projections for Malta which highlight how in the near future the nation will continue to experience a decline in the numbers and percentages of the younger and working age population, with the opposite effect with respect to older persons. The final section outlines Malta’s social policy on active ageing, as it related to labor issues, participation in society, and healthy, independent and secure living in later life. This part notes how to-date many older people already participate in and contribute to society in a variety of ways such as providing support to their families by caring for spouses or grandchildren, working as volunteers or paid employees, and in receipt of various health and social care services that enable ‘ageing in place’. The study concludes that although several inroads have been made in welfare ageing policies, further initiatives are warranted for older persons to lead active, successful, and productive lifestyles.peer-reviewe

Rising waters : integrating national datasets for the visualisation of diminishing spatial entities

Preparing for the potential changes wrought by climate change can be grounded in commonly integrated real data. Efforts by various countries to prepare for such potentialities have resulted in a stepped- approach to data management and integration. Small island states experience an added burden through data limitations, disparate datasets and data hoarding. This paper reviews the processes employed in Malta that target a spatio-temporal analysis of current and future climate change scenarios aimed at integrating environmental, spatial planning and social data in line with the transposition of the Aarhus Convention, the INSPIRE Directive (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community) and the SEIS (Shared Environmental Information System) initiative. The study analyses potential physical and social aspects that will be impacted by sea-level rise in the Maltese islands. Scenarios include the analysis of areas that will be inundated, the methodology employed to carry out the analysis, and the relative impacts on land use and environmental, infrastructural and population loss. Spatial information systems and 3D outputs illustrate outcome scenarios.peer-reviewe