Girls more likely to study sciences and languages, MATSEC report

At secondary level girls are more likely to study more than one foreign language and more than two science subjects than boys.

While 15.2% of all females born in 2005 registered for all three science subjects only 10.1% of boys who turned 16 in 2021 did so, a statistical report issued by the Matsec examination board shows.

While 313 females sat for their SEC exam in all three science subjects only 221 males did so.

Overall, only 1,019 out of 3,561 candidates born in 2005 registered for more than one science subject. Of these 40.2% were males while 59.8% were female.

But the report shows a degree of gender segregation in the choice of subjects, with males more likely to opt for physics alone or combined with another science subject, and females more likely to opt for biology alone or combined with other subjects.

Chemistry is the least popular among all three science subjects but females also outnumber males among those sitting for the subject’s SEC exam.

Females were also more likely than males to study more than one foreign language.

While 16.6% of all females born in 2005 registered for a SEC exam in two foreign languages, only 4.5% of males did so.

Overall, with regards to foreign languages, 69% of children born in 2005 registered for one foreign language (Maltese and English are both official languages of the Maltese islands). Italian remained the most popular option, followed by French,  Among the candidates who registered for two foreign languages, Italian and French were by far the most popular. In comparison, there were only twelve who opted for three foreign languages.

School differences

School differences are notable both with regards to sciences and languages. For in-stance, candidates from state secondary schools are three times as likely as church and independent school candidates not to sit for not even one science subject (14.4% compared to 5.7% and 4.5% respectively). Candidates from state schools are also much less likely to apply for the three science subjects.

As regards language while 11.9% of church school candidates applied for not even one foreign language subject, 26.6% and 19.9% of state and independent school candidates did so. Moreover, while 19.2% of church school candidates registered for two foreign language subjects, only 11.6% and 4.6% of independent and state schools did so respectively.

And while 39.4% of candidates from independent schools registering for one foreign language chose French, only 25.4% of church schools and 17% of state schools respectively did so. While 17.2% of state school candidates chose Spanish, only 6% and 5.9% of those coming from church and independent respectively chose that language subject alone. For Italian, all sectors were similar (49.9%, 45.6%, 47.5% for church, state and independent respectively).