Generations apart: 84% of Maltese teens say immigrants should have vote

Maltese teenagers are becoming more inclusive towards immigrants, less sexist, less religious, less trustful of others, more likely to speak English at home and less likely to vote in general elections when they come of age.

It is this picture that emerges from the results of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), conducted in 2022 among 3,900 14-year-old students whose results were recently published.

For example, 79% of teenagers agree that migrants bring many cultural, social and economic benefits. Of these, 35% said they strongly agreed with this statement.

Moreover 84% of students, up from 67% in 2016, agree that immigrants who have lived in the country for several years should have the opportunity to vote in elections. 40% said they strongly agree with this.

This greater acceptance of immigrants reflects demographic change: 13% of teens participating in the study were not born in Malta – up from 8% in 2016. 19% had a non-Maltese mother from 15% in 2016 and 23% a non-Maltese father up from 16%.

But while teens are becoming more inclusive towards immigrants, the percentage who do not trust people in general has increased from 12% in 2016 to 18% in 2022.

The participants in the study included 1,052 males and 1,016 females from 14 State schools, 725 males and 659 females from 21 Church schools and 246 males and 202 females from seven independent schools. A total of 22 countries participated in the study.

Civic awareness proportional to number of books at home

The Maltese national report concludes that students who have many books at home and whose parents have a high income, and a high educational and occupational level are more likely to score higher in civic knowledge than their counterparts with few books at home and parents who have a low socio-economic status, an international study on civic education.

Fifteen countries scored significantly higher than Malta in civic knowledge, while six countries scored significantly lower.

The survey shows that 8% of teens have less then 10 books in their homes. These also scored the lowest scores in civic education.

Overall Malta scored higher than Romania, Serbia, Cyprus, Brazil, Bulgaria and Colombia in civic knowledge attainment, but it scored lower than Taiwan, Sweden, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Estonia, Croatia, Norway, Italy, Spain, Lithuania, Netherlands, France, Slovenia and Slovak Republic.

Higher civic consciousness in independent schools

Student attainment in civic knowledge in Malta differs significantly between school types. Male and female students attending private-independent schools and female students attending church schools scored significantly higher in civic knowledge, than other students.

The study also found that students attending state schools are more satisfied with the Maltese political system than church and independent school students. Students attending independent schools were also more critical to the Maltese political system than church and state school students.

Students attending independent and church schools also tended to agree more with gender equality than state school students; and while independent students scored higher than church and state when it came to immigrants’ rights.

The study also found that participation in legal civic and political activities like collecting petitions or attending protests, is significantly lower than the international average. Students attending independent schools are more likely to participate in future legal civic and political activities than students attending state and church schools.

Overall, 8% said that they will certainly spray paint slogans on walls and 7% would also block traffic or occupy a public building as a sign of protest. Students attending independent and church schools are also more likely to participate in future ‘illegal’ protests than students attending state schools.

A profile of Maltese teens

The study, based on an extensive questionnaire touching on various aspects of life including religion, language and politics, also provides an interesting profile of Maltese teenagers.

Significantly the survey shows that 50% of 14-year-olds speak mostly in English at home in contrast to 40.3% who speak Maltese; 10% speak other languages. This represents a sharp change since 2016 when 71% said they spoke mostly Maltese.

Significantly the percentage of teens who identify as Christians has decreased from 92% to 77%. Moreover 15.3% now say they have no religion. The percentage of teens who never attend any religious service has also increased 16% in 2016 to 24% while those who attend a religious service once a week have decreased from 47% to just 31%.

And the percentage of teens who have a complete distrust of political parties has increased from 16% in 2016 to 23% now. While in 2016 only 15% said that they will certainly or probably not vote in general elections when they come of age, the percentage has increased to 28%. This is particularly interesting because 16-year-olds can vote in general elections.

Still despite this disenchantment over 60% believe that Malta’s political system works well but 53% think that MPs do not care enough about the wishes of the people. Moreover, 24% disagree that democracy is the best system of government.

And while most students believe in gender equality, a fifth think that men are more qualified to serve in politics and 13% think that women should stay out of politics.

In an indication of greater environmental awareness, 83% believe that governments should focus more on the environment then on economic growth. But in an indication of greater individualism 76% think that as adults they will never join a trade union.