Power and politics in a private school in Malta

Abstract

This dissertation is an ethnographic study focusing on three levels of power and politics in a private school for boys in Malta. The study concerns the macro level of the school, that is, the relationship between the College and Maltese society. The meso level of the study refers to the relationship between the institution and its bureaucracy; while the micro level focuses on classroom interaction. The main objective of the study is to delve deeper into the over-simplistic premise that private schooling is exclusively reserved for the elite elements in society. While discussing the relative truth of this premise, the study also attempts to reveal that even in this context there exist particular hierarchies and a process which cools out unpromising groups of children. The study also investigates what political function the College in question has and its reactions to the 1984 Church-State crisis and its aftermath. The meso level of the study gives a detailed examination of the relationship between the different strata of the College's hierarchy. The micro level of the study highlights the diffe11:rntia.l hidden curriculum of the College and the modes of resistance employed by the students concerned.