Fewer students report being bullied regularly in school

Students experiencing bullying on a regular basis in Maltese schools declined to 11% 2021 from 16% five years earlier, an international study shows.

During the same time window students saying they feel safe at school also increased to 67.7% from 60.3%.

This emerges from information found in the national report on the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). The study was based on information given by Year 5 students and heads of school.

But the study also shows that 12.5% of students attending Year 5 reported they are ‘shoved, hit or kicked’ by other students a few times a week.  Another 14.3% are also called names and made fun of at the same frequency, while 5.9% also received nasty online messages on a regular basis.

The study shows that bullying and classroom disorder are major obstacles to mastering reading skills with reading skills improving in a more orderly and safer environment. On the other hand, a greater sense of belonging in school contributes to improved reading scores.

Slight improvement in controlling bullying

According to the report Malta’s mean scale score that measures the lack of bullying at school is similar to the international average and is marginally higher than the corresponding 2016 mean scale score, “indicating a slight improvement in the last five years in controlling bullying in schools”.

A scale score was generated by considering 10 items used to measure bullying at school ranging from being made fun of and called names to threats, physical violence and online abuse.

Students who ‘never experienced’ five of the 10 items and ‘experienced’ the other five ‘a few times a year’ were considered as ‘students who rarely experienced bullying’.  These amounted to 63% of all students.

On the other hand, 11% of students experience bullying on a regular basis.  This cohort includes students who ‘experience bullying a few times a week’ with regards to five of the 10 items.

A comparison between the 2021 and 2016 reports shows that the percentage of those who are bullied on a regular basis has decreased to 11% from 16%, and those who rarely experience bullying has increased to 63% from 54%.

Moreover, bullying is more prevalent amongst boys than girls; and is slightly more prevalent in independent schools than church and State schools.

The report notes that bullying causes distress to victims, leads to low self-esteem, and makes victims feel like they do not belong.

Research shows that bullied students are less likely to achieve in school.

Moreover, cyberbullying also appears to be common among students. In fact, 5.9% of students reported having received nasty online messages more than once a week and a further 5.6% received such messages once or twice a month.

Too much noise in class

The study also suggests that Maltese students are rowdy in their behaviour to the extent that a remarkable 33% of students said their teacher was interrupted by students during every lesson while 31.5% said there was too much noise for students to follow the lesson, and this happened in every lesson. Another 37% also reported their teacher must wait for a long time for students to settle down.

Year 5 students were also asked about the frequency of five occurrences related to disorderly behaviour in class.

According to a scale based on the frequency of these occurrences, the study shows that only 8% of students rarely or never experience disruptive behaviour during lessons. The study shows no significant difference between church, private and State schools with regards to orderly behaviour during lessons.

The mean scale score that measures orderly behaviour during lessons (9.6) was found to be lower than the international average (10.0), indicating that interruptions during lessons is more prevalent in Maltese schools than most schools abroad.

School heads face no serious disciplinary problems

Head teachers were also asked in the study to report the seriousness of several problems related to school discipline ranging from vandalism to classroom disturbance.

A comparison with 2016 suggests a general improvement with regards to school discipline. The percentage of heads saying that classroom disturbance is not a problem has increased to 55.1% in 2021 from 29.5% in 2016.

Overall, the study concludes that 87% of Maltese heads of school claimed almost no disciplinary problems, 12% claimed minor problems and 2% claimed moderate to severe disciplinary problems. Disciplinary problems in Maltese primary schools were found to be “significantly less frequent compared to other schools abroad”.

Disciplinary problems vary marginally between State, church and independent schools, in a clear indication that disciplinary problems exist across all school types.

Proud to go to school

The study found that 59.6% of students like being in school, 67.7% feel safe at school 80.6% are proud to go to school.

The study suggests a notable improvement in the past five years with the percentage of those who feel safe at school increasing by eight points. Those who feel ‘proud’ going to school also increased by seven points.

To measure the students’ sense of school belonging, a scale score was generated by considering students’ agreement with six statements.

Based on these responses the study shows that 69% of students have a high sense of school belonging, 26% have some sense of belonging, and only 5% have little sense of school belonging.

The study shows that girls in all types of schools have a higher sense of belonging than boys.  On the other hand, boys in church schools have a higher sense of belonging than their cohorts in both private and state schools.