New Perspectives in Science Education
Subject Choice and Performance in SEC Biology: Patterns According to Gender and School Type in Malta
Jacob Azzopardi, San Ġorġ Preca College Middle School (Malta)
Martin Musumeci, University of Malta (Malta)
Abstract
Malta's educational system has three main branches: a six-year primary cycle (age 5 to 11), five years of secondary school and tertiary education. Malta has three school types: the state, the Church and the independent school systems. The MATSEC Examinations Board of the University of Malta offers over 40 subjects at the 16+ Secondary Education Certificate (SEC) level and over 30 subjects at each of the 18+ Intermediate (IM) and Advanced Matriculation (AM) levels. One needs six SEC passes for entry into mainstream Sixth Form, including one of the three sciences. Entry to the University of Malta requires the Matriculation Certificate (MC), comprising two AM and four IM subjects, including Systems of Knowledge (at IM level). The MC includes a language, a science subject and a humanistic or commercial subject. Some subjects are taught throughout secondary school (and carried from Primary) while other subjects are optional, normally starting at Form III. Integrated Science is taught in Forms I and II and as from Form III one of the science subjects is compulsory; students can also opt to have two or three sciences. Physics has been a compulsory subject since the early eighties but this was replaced to any science subject for Sixth Form entry, although in most state schools Physics is still compulsory due to teacher profiles. The study traces the number of registrations in the three science subjects at the three levels through the last ten years. It compares and contrasts patterns and fluctuations in subject registration and examination performance according to gender and school type. A main focus will be set on Biology, which will lead to a Maltese Biology ‘map’ within a more extensive science ‘map’, purporting all its various ‘topographical’ and ‘morphological’ characteristics. This ‘snapshot’ will be enhanced with the various facets of perception that stakeholders have of the subject, in correspondence to gender and school type.
Keywords: Subject choice, Biology, Science subjects:
