Youth transitions of tertiary education students in Malta : a narrative inquiry

Abstract

This study is an empirical investigation of negotiation of youth transitions of tertiary education students in Malta. It starts with an articulation of the changing concepts and metaphors used to explore how, in the last decades, the journey to adulthood has become extended, less sequential, delayed or postponed. While extensive literature on school-to-work transitions and on young people who are not in employment, education or training exist, research regarding young people in tertiary education has been neglected. The study aims to fill this lacuna and addresses how transitions of Maltese young people in tertiary education extend from the past to the present and into the future; how the personal and the social interact in the negotiation of these transitions; and how transitions are situated in the Maltese context. Taking a qualitative longitudinal approach, the research uses narrative inquiry to examine the stories of eight young men and eight young women who were interviewed three times over a period of four years. Three main themes emerged: continuity and change; the construction of identities through relationships; and the landscape of transitions of the Maltese islands. The study proposes a typology of young people transitioning through tertiary education in Malta: ‘traditionalists’; ‘pioneers’; ‘opportunists’; and ‘radicals’. The findings show that these four ideal-types are not static. The study thus makes a contribution to the evolving theory on youth transitions in Malta and beyond and concludes with some recommendations for further research.