Title: A Study of Young People following Basic Skills Courses in Malta
1A Study of Young People following Basic
Skills Courses in Malta
- European Literacy Researchers Meeting
- UIL Hamburg
- 18th February 2008
- Charles Mifsud
- Centre for Literacy
- University of Malta
2Aims and Objectives
- The key aims of the study were to
- a. identify the personal and educational
milestones of the young people prior to and
during their compulsory education years
- b. provide a broad account of the young peoples
experiences of compulsory education
3Aims and Objectives
- c. make an assessment of the contribution of
schooling to the situation of post 16 unemployed
and not having sufficient educational attainment
and certification to proceed directly to
post-secondary education - d. set out the young peoples perceptions and
experiences of Basic Skills provision including
what they liked and disliked about the course
- e. obtain details of young peoples
self-perceptions and their expectations and
desires as workers and lifelong learners.
4Introduction
- In November 2005 the Department of Further
Studies and Adult Education (DFSAE) commissioned
this study.
- An area of concern for the Department is the 16
to 18 age group especially those who have left
compulsory education without the necessary
academic qualifications. - For this reason the target group for the
research consisted of 16 to 18 year-olds who
were unemployed at the time the study was carried
out and who were attending Basic Skills
courses.
5Research Methods
- The research data was collected using
face-to-face one-to-one structured interviews.
- A structured interview schedule was prepared in
both Maltese and English including a number of
close ended questions and also a number of
open-ended questions. - The interviews were carried out in November and
December 2005 by two interviewers in order to
increase the reliability of the research process.
6Research Sample
- A sample of 50 participants was selected.
- Interviewees who were eligible to participate
were between 16 and 18 years old that is those
born between 1987 and 1989.
- Participants were to have completed compulsory
education.
- They were also to be unemployed at the time of
the interview and were to be attending Basic
Skills Courses.
7Definition of Basic Skills
-
- For the purpose of this study Basic Skills
were defined as Basic or Functional
- Literacy
- Numeracy
- Information and Communication Technology
816-18 Year Olds following Basic Skills Courses in
Malta
- Initial enquiries revealed that there were 176
young people aged 16-18 at the time of the
study who were following Basic Skills courses.
9The Sample
- The variables of gender age and the geographical
region the students came from were taken into
consideration.
- When they joined their Basic Skills course all
the young people were performing below Level 1
in
- Maltese (Sisien Nghallmu Lsienna Education
Division Malta 2006)
- English (Adult Literacy Core Curriculum Including
Spoken Communication DfES UK 2001)
- Numeracy (Adult Numeracy Core Curriculum DfES
UK 2001)
- ICT (National Standards for Adult Literacy
Numeracy and ICT QCA UK 2005)
- In this respect this was a stratified random
sample of 50 young people.
10Key Findings
11Biographical Details
- Fifty young people aged 16 to 18 years were
interviewed in this study.
- Thirty-six were male.
- Twenty-eight participants were 16 years old (born
in 1989) 14 were 17 (born in 1988) and eight
were 18 (born in 1987).
- The participants were following Basic Skills
courses run by
- MCAST (44)
- Education Division (1)
- ETC (3)
- Paulo Freire Institute (2)
12Biographical Details
- The majority of participants had attended state
area secondary schools.
- Most of the participants had not obtained any SEC
certificates. Only 2 participants had obtained a
pass in one of the Basic Subjects.
- The interviewed participants claimed they had
- Special Educational Needs (9)
- Learning difficulties (25)
- The parents of the participants had a low level
of education
- 4 parents had never attended school
- 6 parents had attended only primary school
- Most of the rest had attended school only up to
secondary level.
13Compulsory Education Experience
- Almost half of the respondents had not enjoyed
their compulsory education experience. The two
most common reasons being
- Bullying
- Boredom as they could not keep up with their
peers.
- Participants felt they did not benefit from
compulsory education because
- They were immature
- They did not pay attention
- Students misbehaved and were unruly.
- The majority of participants felt they had good
teachers and had enjoyed their lessons at
school.
14Compulsory Education Experience
- The majority of participants identified the core
subjects of English and Mathematics as their
worst subjects.
- A number of participants were not satisfied with
their school experience. They had
- disrupted lessons
- played truant from school
- been suspended or excluded from school.
- Notwithstanding all this more than half of the
participants (26) felt they had succeeded at
school.
15Compulsory Education Experience
- Most of the parents visited the school of their
children only a few times (two to four visits) a
year.
- A large number of participants claimed they had
been told stories and read to by family members
mainly by parents when they were children.
- All participants except one believed that
school was important and that students should do
their best to succeed.
- A large number of respondents (38) felt that
school had prepared them well for any future
job.
- A large number of participants (36) wished to
continue studying beyond Form 5.
16Basic Skills (Language Numeracy and ICT Skills)
- All the respondents were struggling with one or
more of the basic skills even more so in English
than in Maltese.
- A number of participants could not read printed
mail sent to them in Maltese and/or English and
others could not apply for jobs as they did not
know how to fill in application forms.
Furthermore almost half of the respondents said
they had numeracy problems. - Participants had fewer problems with ICT skills
like use of the computer the internet and the
mobile phone. Most of them (44) could write
messages via sms (short messaging system). Half
of the participants had difficulties when writing
e-mails.
17Maltese Skills
18English Skills
19Other Skills
20Basic Skills Course
- Most respondents were very positive about their
Basic Skills course.
- The majority of participants had chosen to follow
the course themselves for self-improvement.
- Almost all participants were supported and
encouraged to follow the Basic Skills course by
their families.
21Basic Skills Course
- Participants enjoyed their Basic Skills Course.
Reasons given were
- the setting
- the way the course was conducted
- the small groups
- the individual attention
- the fact that they were being treated as adults
- the very patient tutors
- A number of participants compared this present
learning experience with their compulsory
education experience claiming that had the
latter been more like their present course they
would have learned more when at school.
22Employment and Lifelong Learning Aspirations
- The majority of participants wished to find a
job. Most of them aspired to be in manual skilled
or semi-skilled jobs.
- The majority of participants recognised the
importance of life-long learning and were eager
to further their education after completing
their present course.
23Implications
24Implications
- This study shows that a number of young people
who fail in primary school fail also in
secondary school and do not obtain the necessary
qualifications to proceed directly to
post-secondary education. - There are a number of young people who when at
school struggle with all the subjects but
especially with the basic subjects that is
Maltese English and Mathematics. - Some young people with SEN and learning
difficulties have more problems in their basic
education when at school.
- Family background plays a very important role in
a childs education. Young people who lack basic
skills often come from families with parents who
have a low level of education and are in skilled
or semiskilled manual employment.
25Implications
- Bullying and bad behaviour were the main
contributing factors towards a negative
compulsory education experience.
- A number of young people who were satisfied with
their compulsory education experience were still
lacking basic skills.
- A number of participants had problems with
functional basic skills like
- reading printed mail and other documents sent to
them
- filling in job applications in either Maltese or
English
- sorting out bills
- calculating the change when shopping
26Recommendations
27Recommendations
- More attention needs to be given to the early
identification of school failure. There should be
a systematic identification of difficulties in
basic skills so that early intervention can take
place. - It is important to look closely at the reasons
given by those participants who felt they had a
negative school experience to rectify the
situation of those who are still in compulsory
education. They may be experiencing difficulties
which disrupt normal school progress like - Bullying
- Disruptive behaviour
- Insufficient support or individual attention for
pupils with SEN and learning difficulties
- Ineffective or absent teachers
- Unsafe or dirty school environments
- Discrimination based on gender and ability.
28Recommendations
- Schools and teachers require more support to be
able to deal with students from socially deprived
backgrounds and who often manifest their
frustration through poor or negative behaviour. - There needs to be increased awareness of the
educational opportunities which exist for those
who finish school without having obtained the
necessary qualifications. - More attention needs to be given to basic
functional skills even for those who are still
in compulsory education. Students who have
literacy and numeracy difficulties would benefit
more from Basic Skills courses and some form of
vocational training rather than only subject
teaching. Such programmes were offered to
students aged between 14 and 16 years of age in
the UK for example and have proved to be very
successful.
29Recommendations
- Modern Information and Communication Technology
tools like the computer the internet and the
mobile phone should be made use of more
extensively on Basic Skills courses. Most of the
young people in this study felt confident using
these tools and they claimed that their levels of
literacy were much better when using such tools. - The young people in this study preferred their
present learning environment to their compulsory
education. They felt this was more suited to
their needs they received individual attention
and they felt they were progressing as mature
learners in a positive learning environment.
There should be increased opportunities for small
group work and individual attention in the
compulsory education years.
30Recommendations
- The young people were eager to avail themselves
of lifelong learning opportunities. Most of them
wished to follow other courses in the future.
There should be increased opportunities for such
courses. - Further research studies could be carried out
about young people who lack basic qualifications
and who cannot avail themselves of educational
opportunities.