We only subsist through culture and, in particular, through our ability to think symbolically and metaphorically. Indeed, it is through meanings that humans invested in objects, arts and signs (such as writing) that humanity has been able to store and transform information into knowledge and wisdom. This need was spurred by an understanding that there is more to reality than meets the eye, as well as by the ability of humans to imagine, and to think through analogies, metaphors, and narratives.

This is true for any area of knowledge, including those that are seemingly factual and non-contentious. Yet for too long, narratives and metaphors have been relegated to the realm of the irrelevant or not-so-important. Narratives are in most cases only given importance for their ability to gain and practice language. This is mainly due to our valuing more measurable facts, abilities and skills rather than the processes of connecting, interpreting and reinterpreting cultural artefacts and the different forms of narrative.

A society that falls prey to this type of instrumental reasoning, puts emphasis on an education that is measurable and that is valued only for its direct contribution to labour and economic measurements.

The past and the arts are mistakenly seen as unnecessary commodities or niceties and therefore devalued from their millennial role of being the guardians of memory, able to provoke innovative thinking and to provide answers to present-day challenges.

Besides believing in the power of the arts to connect children with the wisdom of past generations, literature shows how the skills needed for this literacy, that is the skills of silence, observation, interpretation and narrative thought contribute to cognitive and affective development.

Thus, interacting with the stories of Bacchus or St. Michael though the various artistic representations, engaging with the symbolic meanings of rituals such as giving gifts on Christmas or Għid l-Imwiet (the Maltese version of All Hallows) or connecting with the stories and signs available in such places as Ħaġar Qim or Palazzo Verdala, provide the child with the sensitivity to decode meaning while building a cultural repertoire necessary for the refinement of imagination and the transferring of knowledge to completely different situations.

Over the last ten years, more than 9,000 primary school children have engaged with, and through, art-based, place-based and ritual-based activities.

This was only possible through a wide-range of collaborations which included:

• The Metropolitan Cathedral

• Heritage Malta 

• The Office of the President, 

while on the other hand the educational institutions including:

• The National Literacy Agency, 

• The Assessment for Learning Unit, 

• The Directorate for Digital Literacy and Transversal Skills and 

• Most Primary schools.

The collaboration with so many entities should not come as a surprise, since facilitating children’s symbol literacy requires more than just providing rich immersive experiences but demands a whole shift in the educational paradigm in the belief that the process of narrative reasoning is not only as, or more important than content but is at the basis of any learning process.  

On Friday 27 January 2023, Professor Adrian-Mario Gellel, a member of the Faculty of Education, University of Malta delivered a lecture titled Retelling the narrative of the 1429 siege of Mdina within a contemporary secular and pluralistic context, at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Mdina.

The lecture discussed the cultural elements attached to the 1429 siege as a case study on how to retell a story that for centuries was deeply interpreted through a Christian lens in a context that is now becoming ever more secular and pluralistic. It shed light on the centrality of symbols in the construction of personal and national symbolic repertoires, as well as the pedagogical approaches that may need to be adopted in order to continue to value the collective memory. 

The one hour event also featured the premiere of a video animation of Mattia Preti’s painting ‘St. Paul conquering the Moors’ produced by Stargate Studios and the launch of an accompanying teaching manual published by the Symbol Literacy Project and the National Literacy Agency.

To note, that this lecture is part of the ongoing development of the Symbol Literacy pedagogical approach, which aims to to enable young children’s engagement with the metaphorical and symbolical underpinnings present in paintings, narratives and rituals. It aims to enrich children’s cultural capital as well as the acquisition of observation, interpretation and reasoning skills.

On 19 December 2022, the UM Rector officially awarded grants to the leaders of selected research proposals, including, Prof. Adrian-Mario Gellel, Department of Early Childhood & Primary Education (Faculty of Education) & Department of Pastoral Theology, Liturgy & Canon Law (Faculty of Theology), to further his research focusing on "A pedagogy to facilitate children’s sensemaking: Engaging with art and narrative to develop a symbolic repertoire". 

The Research Funds Committee awarded €60,000 Research Excellence Funds for 2023-24 to five awardees coming from five thematic areas. 

The decisions were based on the review reports and scores assigned to the submitted proposals by independent, external evaluators. Five projects were selected for award, one from every thematic area: Arts, Humanities, Engineering, ICT & Built Environment, Medical and Health Sciences, Natural Sciences and Knowledge Sciences and Social Sciences & Education.

The University of Malta (UM) and the Mdina Cathedral Museum have formalised their long-standing collaboration to enhance the accessibility of art and culture for children through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

Driven by the belief that children have a right to participate fully in cultural life, the Mdina Cathedral Museum and Prof. Adrian-Mario Gellel have collaborated for the past fifteen years to establish the first museum education activities for children aged 4 to 11 in the Maltese Islands.

The Cathedral Museum houses a prestigious collection of secular and religious treasures, including archaeological artifacts, works by Maltese and European artists, numismatics, and fine silverware. The building and its diverse collections allow children not only to be educated through beauty but also to make sense of, and take agency over, their own reality.

The museum was instrumental in allowing Prof. Gellel to apply educational theory to develop the "Symbol Literacy" approach. This pedagogy aims to develop reasoning and higher-order thinking skills while increasing cultural capital. It operates on the belief that a wider knowledge of symbolic language empowers individuals to interact more fully with the world.

Drawing insights from cognitive psychology, anthropology, and socio-cultural theory, this approach has already welcomed more than 13,000 children to the museum. This fruitful partnership has paved the way for further collaborations with the National Literacy Agency and Heritage Malta, as well as international research into holistic pedagogies and narrative thought.