A questionnaire survey carried out by the Education Ministry with over 3,000 students, parents and teachers in Gozo and Malta, has indicated that they have settled in well with the co-education changeover, with a majority of students saying that they are 'more settled and 'more happy and content' than in previous years.

It also found that teachers, parents have easily settled with co-education changes. The questionnaire, which was carried out in April this year, evaluated responses from 987 Form 1 students and 758 parents/guardians, 958 Form 2 students and 854 parents/guardians, 123 Form 3 & 4 students and 69 parents/guardians, and 577 teachers.

The survey found that about 83% of Form 1, 78% Form 2, and 71% of Form 3 & 4 students reported they are happy and content at school. Girls are more so than boys in Form 1 (albeit slightly) and Form 2, while the converse is true in Form 3 & 4.

About 81% of Form 1, 78% of Form 2, and 68% of Form 3 & 4 students indicated that they are doing well/very well at school.

64% of Form 2 and Form 3 & 4 students reported that they are now more settled at school than in previous years. 59% of Form 2 and 53% of Form 3 & 4 students are more happy and content at school than in previous years. 58% of Form 1, 57% of Form 2, and 65% of Form 3 & 4 students indicated that they have too many curriculum subjects to study.

18% of Form 1, 12% of From 2, and 11% of Form 3 & 4 students indicated that they would have preferred they were not boys and girls together.

The main issues raised were – school uniform (they would prefer something less formal and more practical); and bullying (being a victim of bullying and there too much of it).

27% of teachers feel that students are generally doing well in a co-education school; for 46% it made no difference to students; 24% feel that students are generally underachieving.

50% have settled down teaching in co-education settings; for 41% it made no difference.

35% (mostly female teachers) need additional support to maintain discipline in the classroom.

44% of teachers with one or more years' experience in co-ed settings felt that this scholastic year they are more settled teaching co-ed classes than in previous year/s.

Of those teachers with one or more years' experience, 60% felt that the challenges have increased compared to previous year/s.

Challenges include: teaching classes with too many different abilities (68% of all teachers); and the need for more discipline (49% of all teachers).

Main issues raised were that more discipline is needed; more action on misbehaviour and bullying; and school and class size (smaller schools and class size).

83% of Form 1, 81% of Form 2, and 90% of Form 3 & 4 parents/guardians are generally satisfied with their child's co-education experience; at most, 3% expressed dissatisfaction.

12% of Form 1, 22% of Form 2, and 26% of Form 3 & 4 parents/guardians are dissatisfied on account of teachers who (according to them) do not teach properly.

90% of Form 1, 87% of Form 2, and 96% of Form 3 & 4 parents/guardians felt their child has settled down in co-ed settings; 72% of Form 2, and 86% of Form 3 & 4 parents/guardians feel that this scholastic year their child is more settled than in previous years.

78% of Form 1 parents/guardians felt that their child is doing well/very well at school; 63% of Form 2 and 64% of Form 3 & 4 parents/guardians felt that this scholastic year their child is doing better at school than in previous years.

96% of Form 1 parents/guardians felt that their child is happy and content; 67% of Form 2 and 80% of Form 3 & 4 parents/guardians felt that this scholastic year their child is more happy and content than in previous years.

Main issues raised were more discipline; the need to tackle school bullying; more action on misbehaviour; heavy school bags, and availability and suitability of lockers; and more supervision and monitoring of students during breaks.

The full report is available for download here.

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