Male students and Advanced Level Home Economics : factors limiting subject choice and academic achievement

Abstract

From all the 32 MATSEC Advanced level subjects, Home Economics and Human Ecology (HE&HE) experiences the widest gender gap in terms of subject choice and academic achievement. From 2004 to 2018, the average candidate rates for the Advanced level HE&HE was 9% males and 91% females (MATSEC Statistical Reports 2004-2018). Additionally, the most common grade for male students was D, whereas for female students it was B. Using a qualitative research design and triangulation, this phenomenon was explored in two Maltese Post-Secondary schools. Male students who did not choose Advanced level HE&HE were interviewed mainly to determine factors which had discouraged them from choosing the subject. Male students who had selected Advanced level HE&HE were also interviewed to identify those factors which had facilitated their initial subject choice but were also impacting on their current perspective of their choice. The researcher also discovered which factors were causing the under-achievement of male students in Advanced level HE&HE through interviews with HE&HE lecturers in three Post-Secondary Schools around Malta and Gozo. Other international and local researchers have indicated factors related to gender stereotypical perceptions, sex differences and the subject’s promotional efforts to be the main causes of gender gaps in gender-atypical subjects such as HE&HE. However, this study revealed that male students are not choosing and performing well in Advanced level HE&HE because of its current limited career opportunities, its female dominated subject community and faculty, its perceived gender-inequitable curriculum, and its modes of assessment, within the MATSEC Advanced level HE&HE examination. This study proposes a series of recommendations for the HE&HE subject professional community and other key stakeholders to narrow the gender gaps in subject choice and academic achievement.