Student interactions at a college canteen: a critical perspective

Abstract

Much has been written about the style of lecturing that is adopted by lecturers in institutions of further and higher education. However, little has been written about interactions that take place in the informal settings of college and university campuses. Using an ethnographic approach, this paper presents an exploration of how students at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST), a post-secondary vocational college in Malta, further enable themselves to progress through a programme of studies by interacting at the college canteen. By employing an ethnographic methodology, based on participant-observation and unstructured spontaneous interviewing, the study explores, in a holistic way, different ways that students at MCAST experience student life and use the canteen as a space to give added meaning to the time they spend in this educational setting.

Experiences of young (minor) asylum seekers in further education in Malta

“…They know what lectures they will have, they know (more or less) who they are likely to meet, and they know who their lecturers are. Even the college canteen offers a certain degree of constancy as the people who frequent it can predict, with reasonable accuracy, who they are most likely to meet there at certain times of the day (Spiteri, 2014). This is in contrast to the uncertainty that prevailed on a daily basis en route to Malta, when they did not know whether they would succeed in making it to Europe.…”

What do older people learn from young people? Intergenerational learning in ‘day centre’ community settings in Malta

“…Service-learning, on placements, helps students connect with older people. his is readily acknowledged by students even when speaking informally among themselves (Spiteri, 2014b). his mutual learning, however, must also be seen from the perspective that the students have succeeded in generating a positive impression amongst the participants.…”