An investigation of the relationship between attainment in year 6 and in form 1 in Gozo

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the performance of children from Year 4 up to the end of Form 1. Special attention is devoted to the critical transition from Year 6 Primary to Form 1 Secondary. The study was conducted entirely in Gozitan schools. This study is new in its approach to this topic as it tackles transitional aspects from a quantitative point of view. To avoid contamination, this research took the form of an ex-post-facto quantitative study. Data collection focused, among others, on annual examination raw scores, family structure, ways of mass media consumption, language used in different settings and attendance to private tuition. The analysis showed that there is a general, significant lowering of the average scores in the secondary when compared to performance in the primary. The study has concluded that there are several factors that influence pupils' performance at the end of Year 6. Nevertheless, transition from primary to secondary affected pupils in both directions: there were those who progressed and those who regressed in the Secondary school when compared to their performance in the Primary school. Transition also affected performance in the subjects (Mathematics, English and Maltese) and the sexes differently. Little differences in social background were registered both for the 'High Winners' and the 'High Losers' which meant that more attention should be focused on what goes on in the classroom (pupil-teacher interaction) and at home (parent pupil interaction). While more focused work should be devoted to the transition process in Maltese schools, students should also be monitored during the first few years of their life in a secondary school.