Schools and delinquency

Abstract

The relationship between delinquency in youths and the school environment has been the subject of numerous theories as to its causation. This dissertation attempts to review these theories with respect to the issues pertaining to schools in the Maltese Islands and the youths served by them. To this end, a series of questionnaires directed to both students and their teachers followed by respective interviews were designed and effected to gain an insight into the major causes of delinquency in these Islands and proposed ideas on how to deal with such behaviour. The methodology adopted in designing these questionnaires and interviews is amply discussed and the results achieved has been statistically evaluated and found viable. These results clearly show a direct relationship between educational aspirations, commitment to school, and school performance to the incidence of delinquency in Malta. School drop-out frequency and streaming have also been identified as major factors in predicting delinquency. The limitations of this study, based primarily on the time factor, have been delineated and recommendations for future studies to amplify and consolidate the results achieved have been presented. It is hoped that this study will be of benefit to Maltese society and to the identification of the root causes of delinquency in schools in Malta and Gozo.