The teaching of biology in Malta

Abstract

The development of Biology teaching in primary, secondary and tertiary levels of education since the pre-war years up to the present day was investigated. For this purpose, documents comprising reports by the Education Department, reports by foreign experts, quarterly returns from schools together with syllabi, text-books, handouts and other resources were reviewed. Interviews with key persons were held. The London G. C.E. Ordinary and Advanced level examination results for Biology and Human Biology from 1959 to 1993 were analysed for trends in the choice of the subject, gender achievement and school attainment. The information collected showed that initially Biology was introduced to suppliment the physical sciences which were considered more important at the time, and to prepare students for medical and· paramedical courses. Early syllabi emphasized the acquisition of knowledge while more recent ones stress both the knowledge and process skills. The analysis of results indicated that there are no significant differences in performance by gender and school type at both '0' and 'A' levels. However, in a few instances, males outperformed females while Private schools outperformed State schools at 'O' level. Moreover, students from State schools achieved better results than Private school students at 'A' level.