Boys' and girls' 1989 entry into Gozitan secondary schools : a tracer study

Abstract

This longitudinal study was designed to investigate the progression of a population of 3 80 Gozitan students throughout their secondary course of education (1989-94) and thereafter. The main issues concerning this study are the following: (i) to determine how many students managed to complete successfully their secondary course; (ii) to find out what has happened of those students who stopped schooling during their secondary course or later on; and (iii) to find the percentage of students who made it into post-secondary education. In 1994, 295 students in all (77.6% of the cohort group) completed their secondary education in a secondary or trade school. From this group of school leavers, 216 students (73.2%) furthered their education at post-secondary. This percentage is relatively high when compared to the percentage of students opting for post-secondary education at national level ( 60%) and in the European Union (77%). With regards to achievement, the perforn1ance of successful students in the 1989 Junior Lyceum Entrance Examination was compared with the performance of the same group at the Matriculation/G. C.E. Ordinary Level Exams. Points systems were devised to compare the students' achievement, and ultimately two correlations have been computed. The resulting coefficients were higher than expected. An important aim related to the section about subject choice was to determine whether achievement in examinations influences subject take-up at A' Level. Results indicate that achievement does not appear to affect to a large extent the choice of subjects at post-secondary level. A questionnaire was administered to 164 students from the cohort group who entered post-secondary education. The issues concerned were subject choice, gender differentials, attitudes towards secondary schooling and career aspirations.