Event: Reflections on the Performance of Maltese Students in PISA 2018
Date: 19 February 2020
Time: 17:00 - 19:00
Venue: Gateway Building Hall C, University of Malta, Msida Campus
The next lecture in the MRER Lecture Series will be held on Wednesday, 19 February, between 5-7pm, at GWHC (Gateway Building Hall C), University of Malta, Msida Campus. The session will be chaired by Professor Carmel Borg, Editor, Malta Review of Educational Research (MRER).
Abstract: The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international comparative survey of educational achievement of 15-year-olds. The PISA programme investigates and compares the performance of education systems worldwide. Moreover, it assesses knowledge and life skills in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy rather than curricular domains. The first PISA study was conducted in 2000 and Malta participated in the 2009, 2015 and 2018 cycles. In this presentation, we compare attainment of Maltese students in Mathematics, Science and Reading with other countries, and examine how this performance vary between the three cycles and between Maltese male and female students attending state, church and independent schools.
Equity in education is a central and long-standing focus of PISA and a major concern of countries around the world. In this presentation we examine equity in education in Maltese schools; the impact of students’ economic, social and cultural status and students’ immigrant background on attainment in Mathematics, Reading and Science. Moreover, we investigate academic resilience amongst socio-economically disadvantaged Maltese students.
PISA results consistently show the pervasive over-representation of boys amongst low-achievers in Reading. In this presentation we discuss attitudes of Maltese students towards reading and examine how teenagers use digital tools for this purpose. Moreover, we investigate reading competencies of Maltese students; compare reading durations and attitudes between the genders and explore gender differences in self-regulation such as motivation, competitiveness and fear of failure.
Interactions between students and their teachers play a crucial role in students’ learning and their feelings towards school. Students need to feel that their teachers care about them and their achievement to fully engage in learning activities and perform at their best. In this presentation we examine teacher enthusiasm, support and feedback to students in Maltese schools and how these affect students’ performance. We also investigate how teacher enthusiasm, support and feedback to students vary between countries and between school characteristics.
Three concerns which hamper a positive school learning environment are bullying, disciplinary problems and student truancy. In this presentation we examine students’ exposure to bullying disciplinary problems and student truancy in Maltese schools and how these concerns affect students’ performance. We also investigate how bullying, disciplinary problems and student truancy vary between countries and between school and gender characteristics.
Teenagers have to make important decisions relevant to their future careers, such as what field of study or type of education they will pursue. In this presentation we investigate the education and career expectations of Maltese students and the extent to which these expectations are shaped by their socio-economic status and academic performance. We also examine gender stereotypes in career expectations.
Biography: Liberato Camilleri graduated from the University of Malta after reading for a first degree in Education and proceeded to read an MSc in Mathematics. He obtained a PhD degree in Applied Statistics in 2005 from Lancaster University. He joined the University of Malta as an assistant lecturer in 1998 with the Department of Statistics and Operations Research and was promoted to lecturer and later to senior lecturer.
His research specialisation areas are related to statistical modelling, which include generalised linear models, latent class models, item response models, structural equation models, multilevel models and survival models. He has co-authored a number of peer-reviewed publications in journals and conference proceedings with foreign and local researchers in several fields of application including market segmentation, education, neural networks and atmospheric chemistry. He has co-authored three books describing national surveys related to SEBD and Maltese university students. He has contributed in analysing data and writing national and international reports, such as“ PISA Malta report (2009 and 2015), TIMSS Malta report (2011, 2015), PIRLS (2011) Malta report Civic and citizenship education (2010) Malta report, European Survey on Language Competences (2011) Malta report, Short-Term Statistics for Industrial Production and Retail Trade Indices (2015), Prediction of expected TV and Radio Share (2015), Digital and Video Game Usage in Malta (2014), Consent Project (2013) Standardised spelling and reading tests for Maltese students (2011), Food consumption and eating patterns of Maltese adults (2010), Travelling patterns of university students (2009).