Performance in exams: an issue of class

Statistics presented in parliament show that boys attending Church schools are getting the best results in their Secondary Education Certificate exams, while boys attending State schools are getting the worse results.

While on average boys attending church schools obtain a Grade1 to Grade 5 pass in 8 SEC exams, boys attending State schools on average get the same result in three SEC exams.

Girls attending Church schools outperform boys attending both independent and State schools, but are outperformed by girls in independent schools and by boys in Church schools. 

Girls outperform boys in both independent and State schools but not in Church schools.

Carmel Borg, an associate Professor in the Department of Education Studies and an external expert for the European Commission's education agency, is hardly surprised by these statistics, which reflect underlying class and gender issues.

He observes that boys in church schools "have been creamed five years earlier through a highly competitive, common entrance exam". Moreover, once their presence within the Church system had been secured through this exam, their 'performativity' continued to be "nurtured by small, caring and generally well-equipped educational environments".  

This very "rigourous selective system, followed by a supporting, albeit traditional educational environments", may also explain why boys attending Church schools outperformed their female counterparts. 

Girls' presence within the Church system has for long been largely dependent on a lottery system which generates more diverse student populations than the "selective system" operated till recently in the boys' sector. 

According to Borg, the performance gap between boys and girls attending church schools may  change when the first cohort of boys entering the church-school system through the lottery, sits for the SEC exams. This is because boys entering Church schools at primary level through the lottery system no longer have to sit for the common entrance exam in order to progress to secondary level in a church school. Instead like their counterparts in State schools they will be able to continue their studies in the same educational college.

But Borg predicts that the performance gaps between the State and non-State sectors will continue to widen as the former continues to shrink due to State-sponsored migration to the non-state sector through tax incentives, different grants and the cancellation of loans.  

"In the State sector, I forsee the education community struggling with higher concentrations of social, emotional, behavioural and learning difficulties and with the educational consequences of the depletion of the social mix."  

Statistics also show that with the exception of Church schools, girls are outperforming boys.

"The SEC and 2009+ PISA results confirm that Maltese girls are outperforming boys in many aspects of the curricular experience". 

Among the factors contributing to this state of affaris is the feminisation of the teaching profession - a trend which is making male teachers a rarity in most schools.

Moreover, Borg laments the lack of a gender equity policy in education and the prevelance of  traditional, transmission-oriented and exam-driven teaching that does not reflect the latest developments in gender-specific pedagogies and data emerging mainly from brain research and neuroscience. 

Another factor is the lack of awareness of "the empirical fact that boys and girls process and organise knowledge differently". Maltese policymakers have also underestimated the impact of patriarchal discourses on the self-perception of students.

Equally to blame for the state of affirs is the perception that education is politically neutral which is accompanied by an allergy for theory and research-based reflection. He also predicts that the "weak, responsibility-free and dependency-driven welfarism" will continue to block the social mobility of low socio-economic status students who, are  overly represented in the early- school-leaving category.   

Will the introduction of mixed schools which include girls and boys bring about greater equality?

Borg is not against this development and warns against  fast-tracking of co-education in state schools.

"The social-class composition of State schools is very different from that of independent schools.  This basic sociological datum will influence the dynamics of the different co-ed contexts and, ultimately, may not contribute to better achievement in State schools." 

Borg's concern is that co-education will be introduced in a one-size-fits-all dynamic that is completely alien to the complex nature of the teaching and learning process in a co-ed setting. "Taking the plunge without adequate preparation may serve an exam-oriented system but could ultimately contradict the fundamentals of the National Curriculum framework."