Rethinking Professional Development in Child Protection : Work-Integrated Learning in Malta’s NGO Sector

Ensuring the safety and well-being of children, particularly those from marginalised backgrounds, is a global imperative. Yet in contexts such as Malta, fragmented training standards and limited institutional resources constrain effective practice. This thesis investigated how child protection professionals in Maltese frontline NGOs obtain and refine their competencies and knowledge through situated, rights-oriented Work-Integrated Learning (WIL). Drawing on nine semi-structured interviews and an abductive analytic approach, the study mobilised Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and the Children’s Right Framework (CRF) to examine how professionals acquire, reflect on, and apply knowledge and competencies in real-world environments. WIL is conceptualised as a process of learning in and through everyday work. Thematic analysis revealed five interrelated themes: (1) learning through everyday practice, (2) skill development and training needs, (3) structural and systemic challenges, (4) child-centered and rights-based practice, and (5) transformative learning through work. Participants described reliance on peer learning, improvisation, reflection and emotional coping strategies in the absence of consistent supervision or trauma-informed training. The study contributes empirically grounded insights into the gaps and potential of professional learning in NGO settings and argues for a broader, ethically grounded understanding of WIL in high-stakes social, and by extension political, care. Aligning peer mentorship, reflective supervision, trauma-sensitive care, and rights-based ethics across the micro (individual), meso (organisational), and macro (national/supranational) levels of child protection systems is essential for building resilience and ensuring rights–compliant, high-quality services. The findings offer theoretical and practical contributions to the development of more responsive, context-sensitive training models in under-researched fields such as NGO-led child protection.