Church school boys score better Matsec results in English, Maths

A statistical study published by the MATSEC committee, the body responsible for Ordinary and Advanced level exams, has revealed boys from Church schools have obtained higher grades in their O-levels than their counterparts in government or private independent schools during the 2011 exams.

No great differences between girls from government lyceums and church schools are registered, apart from the fact that girls continue to outshine boys in the MATSEC exams.

But boys from church schools were more likely to obtain the highest grades in Mathematics: 40% of the overall 315 candidates obtaining a Grade 1, the highest grade possible, in Maths hailed from boys' church schools.

The 128 achievers comprised 17% of male church school candidates who sat for the Maths O-level.

But just 1% of boys from government Junior Lyceums and 6% from private independent schools obtained a Grade 1 in maths.

On the other hand, the gap between girls attending church schools and other schools was less accentuated. In fact, while 6% of girls from Junior Lyceums obtained a Grade 1, the figure rises to 8% amongst church school counterparts.

The percentages for Junior Lyceum candidates do not include other students from government area secondaries who sat for the exams.

The same pattern was observed in the English language exam. While just 0.2% of boys from Junior Lyceums obtained Grade 1, 6.7% of boys from church schools obtained the highest grade.

On the other hand, 5% of girls attending Junior Lyceums and 7% of girls attending church schools obtained Grade 1 in English.

The study shows that in general, female candidates are still faring than boys at their O-levels.

While 51% of the last candidates born in 1995 obtained passes that made them eligible for entry into Sixth Form colleges in 2011, only 39% of boys born in the same year obtained the necessary passes.

Significantly, while 16.4% of 16-year-old girls registered for exams in all three science subjects (Biology, Chemistry and Physics), only 9.7% of the boys did so. "This difference needs further study and action, especially in the light of the importance given to science education and the targets set out for the growth of scientific work in Malta," Matsec chairman Frank Ventura said.

In total, there were 7,177 candidates who registered for secondary education certificate exams in May 2011 (3,342 males and 3,835 females).

This means that 84.6% of boys and 93.3% of girls born in 1995 registered for SEC examinations in 2011.

The report shows that in certain subjects there were significantly more girls who obtained a Grade 1. These included Accounting, English Language, English Literature, French, Home Economics, Maltese, and Religious Knowledge. But in graphical Communication and Mathematics there were more males than females who obtained a Grade 1.