A study of the views of parents/guardians of Maltese Year 10 students on the choice of taking ethics as a subject

Abstract

The dissertation examined the reason behind Maltese parents’/guardians’ choice of Ethics Education. It sought to investigate the views of parents/guardians of Year 10 students in four state secondary schools. It also sought to determine why parents/guardians chose Ethics over Religious Education and whether they were satisfied with their children's experience of Ethics. A quantitative approach was employed for the purposes of the study, a paper-based questionnaire survey among parents/guardians of Year 10 students within the four schools. Group differences in the results in terms of student gender and parents/guardians who are practising or non-practising, Catholic or non-Catholic, and whether they are relatively younger or older were investigated. Findings show that most parents/guardians who opted their child out of Religious Education to have them follow Ethics Education were predominantly Catholics. These parents/guardians were very satisfied with their choice of Ethics Education; they also remarked about their child’s eagerness to attend and participate in Ethics lessons. All of these parents/guardians showed no regret for the choice of Ethics and declared that they would make the same choice over and again if they had to. Additionally, the respondents showed no preference for having their child attend both Religious Education and Ethics Education. Conclusively, it is recommended that a similar study on a larger scale, namely across different age groups and schools, should be held to obtain a broader picture of Ethics Education in state secondary schools.