Changes in family structure and their effects on the educational system in Malta

Abstract

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, particularly within the last thirty years, many sociological factors, which conditioned the family structure and its education, began to undergo vast changes. The main factor underlying all this was the shift from the domestic machino-facture, to allarge industrial machino-facture. Because of this, the family which was the centre of economic; life disappeared. This brought about many changes in the family structure, both in other countries and in Malta. Such changes took place in, the pattern of the family; the marriage between the partners; the size of the family; and the occupational status of husband and wife. All these changes contributed in one way or another to changes within the educational system itself. So in chapter one, I am going to discuss how the family changed' from an extended type of family to a more nuclear one, with reference both to other countries and especially to Malta. Here an important question arises and this is, 'Can we, really call the Maltese family, the nuclear type of family?' In order to come to a sound conclusion, I based my arguments on the findings from a survey, which I carried out in both the old and the new type of family in Malta, in 1976. Further in chapter two, l am going to look into how the idea of marriage 'changed in other countries and how this affected marriage in Malta. As items for discussion, I will discuss the factors leading both to marital failure and success, and stemming from this, I will discuss the difference in attitude of married partners both in other countries and in Malta, towards divorce, one of marriage's great disasters. Besides this, change in marriage occurred also in the increasing number and rate of marrying couples, together with an increase in the marrying age of young couples, in comparison with that of older ones. The underlying reasons for this were several; such as the increasing education of young couples. Again some of the conclusions will stem both from statistical data and from findings through the survey.