OAR@UM Collection:
https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/53277
2024-03-28T23:27:29ZLet me dream! : transforming educational futures
https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/53284
Title: Let me dream! : transforming educational futures
Authors: Sultana, Ronald G.
Abstract: The issue of underachievement in education has preoccupied educators over the past century at least. And yet, there has been little progress made in addressing the problem, to the extent that large groups of students fail to flourish intellectual in a school by environment. Moreover, whether we are looking, at the United States, Europe, or Asia the groups of students who underachieve and who drop out of the educational enterprise have a similar identify. They generally share one or more of the following aspirations: namely, they have what can be broadly called a working class background, are migrants or children of migrants, and/or come from an ethnic "minority" background. The report I will be critically engaging with in this paper, namely To Learn More than I have: The Educational Aspirations and Experiences of the Maltese in Melbourne (Terry, Borland & Adams, 1993) looks squarely in the face of these facts. reflecting on the issue as it applies to one particular group of students who underinvest in education, namely chil- dren of Maltese migrants. What I will attempt to do in this paper is to weave a narrative, drawing on the Terry et al. study as well as on my own research and experiences in education, to make sense of the lived realities of this group of people. Needless to say, this is in my ways my story, my interpretation, informed as it might be by many interaction with people and ideas. I cannot claim to represent the voices of the subjects we are considering, namely Maltese background children in Melbourne. That would not only be pretentious, but undignified. All that I can offer are some critical reflections which could be of some use to the Maltese community in Victoria as they seek to empower themselves and their children.1994-01-01T00:00:00ZFactors determining career choice
https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/53180
Title: Factors determining career choice
Authors: Borg, Rosanne
Abstract: The answers that people provide to these questions: why do people work? why do they decide on the fields which they choose? and what factors affect their decision? are very important to career planning and subsequent satisfaction during the adult years. After all, work affects most persons between the ages of 16 and 61, and the decisions adolescents make about their work, occupations, and careers will significantly affect their future social relationships and leisure-time activities. It is evident then that work is a major part of human experience. Many young people appear to sense that it is through work that they must ultimately validate their adult status and acquire a measure of power and self- determination. Work is so central to most of people's daily existence that their entire outlook is affected by it. In essence, a vocational decision implies a lifestyle decision. For choice of career is not an event which can be located at one point in time. It is a process which stretches back into childhood where basic personality characteristics begin to be formed {Stephens, 1970; Gothard, 1985 ). In making a choice, the individual will seek a career which s/he sees as desirable, as one in which s/he will have the best chance of realising the various needs, hopes and expectations which at the moment of choice s/he believes to be important.1994-01-01T00:00:00ZSex differences in scholastic attainment from year 3 to form IV : a study of trends
https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/53177
Title: Sex differences in scholastic attainment from year 3 to form IV : a study of trends
Authors: Borg, Mark G.
Abstract: The role of pupil sex as one of the major determinants of scholastic performance is amply demonstrated in the international literature. Studies of primary school children carried out in the UK and the USA generally indicate that whatever sex differences exist in scholastic performance these tend to emerge clearly and consistently after age 11 (cf. Badger, 1985; Fairweather, 1976; Shackleton & Fletcher, 1984; Shuard, 1982). Studies by Ross & Simpson (1971), Thompson (1975) and Wilson (1972), for instance, show that in verbal abilities like reading and spelling no clear cut boy-girl differences appear before this age. Studies by Kellmer Pringle, Butler & Davie (1966) and Pidgeon (1960) similarly suggest that this is also the case for arithmetic skills and mathematical ability. In a comprehensive review of the literature on sex differences, Maccoby & Jacklin ( 197 4) conclude that up to age 11 boys and girls are very similar in verbal and mathematical abilities. At age 11, however, their abilities begin to diverge with girls becoming superior in verbal abilities and boys in mathematical abilities. Borg & Falzon (1995) propose a plausible explanation for the little or no consistency in the occurrence and direction of sex differences. They argue that this may lie in the nature of the items making up the assessment instrument. Indeed, in a report on mathematical performance at age 11, the Assessment of Performance Unit (1980) found that when the examination paper is analysed in its component parts rather than as a whole paper girls perform significantly better than boys in certain areas such as computation while boys perform better in other areas like the spatial (e.g. length , area, volume and capacity). Borg & Falzon ( 1995) postulate that this may also well be the case in language subjects so that it is quite possible, for instance, to find girls performing better in one specific language area and boys in another. Hence, differ- ences and directions may well be the product of the weighting of the various abilities assessed by the instrument. Although these UK and USA findings on sex differences may be important and interesting and may have serious implications for educational policies and practices it is here argued that they are not, or should be, directly transferable to the local situation. Cultural differences as well as differences in parental practices, educational philosophies and classroom practices warrant that sex differences in performance in school subjects should be studied in the local context. A small number of Maltese studies have begun to address this need. Falzon & Sammut (1976), for instance, found that amongst Maltese Form I and Il pupils in comprehensive schools girls consistently score higher in Maltese, English, and Maths, with the greatest differences occurring ip the two languages. Moreover, Ventura (1992) reports that whereas in Forms I and II girls outperform boys in Integrated Science, in Forms Ill and IV there are no sex differences in performance in Biology and Chemistry; in Physics, however, the boys perform better.1994-01-01T00:00:00ZForgetting Foucault? Anonymity, death and the author
https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/53176
Title: Forgetting Foucault? Anonymity, death and the author
Authors: Wain, Kenneth
Abstract: The title 'Forgetting Foucault?', minus the question mark (a very important omission, of course), is one I have borrowed from Baudrillard's famous paper of 1980 which tries to cut Foucault's thesis about power/knowledge down to size but fails to tell us exactly why Foucault should be forgotten'. 1 Racevskis describes the Baudrillard article as 'a fairly abstruse poetico-philosophic essay that indicts Foucault for collusion with prevailing myth-making strategies. Foucault,' Racevskis continues, 'is shown by Baudrillard to have become infatuated with the imagi- nary force of his own discourse, and his genealogy is depicted as a system satisfying a certain hegemonic logic of reason. ' 2 In effect, not only has Foucault not been forgotten, the contrary is the case; a Foucault industry has grown over the ten years since his death with a Centre for Foucauldian Studies set up in Paris. What were Foucault's own views about his posterity? Why would Baudrillard want us to forget Foucault and what is this continuing presence his memory constitutes?1994-01-01T00:00:00Z