Special Journal Issue: Malta Review of Educational Research

Raphael Vella and Milosh Raykov from the University of Malta co-edited a special issue of MRER focusing on ‘Socially engaged art and global challenges’.  This Special Issue of MRER brings together several scholars and artists from AMASS and aims to present arts-based research with persons affected by discrimination in daily life and/or educational contexts, as well as evaluations of cultural policies related to cultural inclusion and challenges of marginalised members of society.

The first three articles discuss AMASS studies in three different contexts: Finland, Malta and Portugal. They describe and analyse the role of participants in arts-based research, artistic processes and evidence of research outcomes. The article by Mirja Hiltunen, Pieta Koskenniemi and Melanie Sarantou from the University of Lapland presents the work of researchers, artists and art educators involved in promoting different forms of dialogue and interaction amongst people living in Rovaniemi. The article by Isabelle Gatt, Milosh Raykov and Raphael Vella (University of Malta) presents some data emerging from the University of Malta's AMASS pilot study, which focused on misinformation and stigma affecting persons living with HIV. The article by Ângela Saldanha, Teresa Eça, Célia Ferreira and Raquel Balsa from APECV in Portugal asks how researchers in the arts and education can develop collaborative projects and other interventions with marginalised communities. Inspired by Freire's ideas about popular education, APECV's research develops new ways of understanding learning encounters.

The fourth article by Zsófia Somogyi-Rohonczy and Andrea Kárpáti (Ludwig Museum Budapest and ELTE Doctoral School of Education, and Corvinus University Budapest, respectively) presents methods used to mentor art educators working with socially disadvantaged children and youth who rarely visit art exhibitions and cultural institutions.

The last three articles present different perspectives on generating cultural policy recommendations, particularly during workshops with stakeholders involved in the field of culture, social work and the arts. Melanie Sarantou and Mira Alhonsuo (both from the University of Lapland) and Carolina Gutierrez Novoa, and Silvia Remotti (both members of PACO Design Collaborative in Italy) write about the generation of data about policymaking during stakeholder workshops that made use of participatory service design. Making use of online platforms, Raphael Vella and Karsten Xuereb first introduce Malta's new national cultural policy (2021) and underline references to inclusion and other challenges associated with discrimination within a broad theoretical framework informed by intersectionality. Their article then presents a bottom-up approach that engages stakeholders directly in online workshops in which opportunities for cultural inclusion and specific challenges are discussed. Finally, Karsten Xuereb's article also analyses Malta's cultural policy, focusing on issues of diversity, sustainable development and investments in research that can inform cultural policy.