While parents and students overwhelmingly feel that co-education was a step in the right direction only one in four teachers feel that things have improved and half of the respondents in a survey felt that things did not change at all.
The findings of the report, compiled by Professor Mark Borg and Mrs Maria Ciappara, were presented to the media this afternoon by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo.
A questionnaire survey was carried out in March 2015. The responses of 1938 students, 400 teachers and 844 parents were analysed in terms of the respective whole sample and school.
8 in 10 students reported that they are “happy” at school. Among the reasons cited are the positive new experience, the beautiful schools, the many activities organised and the "gentle" teachers.
91% of parents and guardians interviewed were generally satisfied with their child’s co-education while 1.5% declared dissatisfaction with the school and the co-education system. Parents said in the survey that their children were integrating well in the new system and were happy and learning a lot. 92% said their children had settled down in co-education. 85% said their child was doing well or very well at school. Only 1.6% said they felt their child was failing.
However, when it comes to teachers, only 25% of respondents felt that their students are generally doing well in a co-education school. About 21% of teachers felt that their students were underachieving and half said co-education made no difference. On the other hand 78% reported that they had settled down teaching in co-education settings and 12% said they are in need of additional support to maintain discipline in the classroom.
Some teachers said the system was rushed in hurriedly while others insisted that girls and boys did not work well together. Some said boys were more disruptive and others insisted that no one showed them any respect and discipline had to be stepped up.
Commenting about these figures, Mr Bartolo conceded that students were likely the least affected since they were coming from a co-ed primary school background. On the other hand the change had affected teachers the most and this had most likely affected their response. He also said several of the issues raised by teachers had nothing to do with co-education.
“Changes almost always affect teachers the most because they would have to go out of their comfort zones. However I am confident that teachers’ attitudes will change as they progress to their second year and get more accustomed to the new system.”
Professor Borg joined in, saying that the responses of many teachers was probably “coloured” by their experiences teaching single-sex classes and the sudden need to change.
Asked if the responses of young students were an accurate tool to gauge the effectiveness of the new system, the Education Minister said it was important to speak to all stakeholders and the fact that almost all students were satisfied with the new system was "an important thing to build on."
Mr Bartolo said this was not a comparative study and could therefore not be compared to pre-co-ed schools. “There is nothing in here that says that co-ed schools are better than single-sex schools.” The report, however, would serve as a baseline for future studies.
Asked about past criticism that introducing co-education would lead to an increase in promiscuity among young teens, Professor Borg said there was nothing in the report to show that this was the case. He also noted that some independent schools have been offering co-education for decades without any problems.
“To my knowledge these schools do not have a higher teenage pregnancy rate than the rest,” Minister Bartolo added. “There are cases of teenage pregnancies in co-ed schools just as there are in single-sex schools. This does not mean, however, that there are no issues that need addressing, such as stereotyping and the different needs of boys and girls.”
Pictures: Jonathan Borg