Girls beat boys at maths, study shows

Girls perform better than boys in mathematics, the first national study on the subject shows.

The report launched yesterday by Education Minister Louis Galea, was commended by Greg Brooks, of the University of Sheffield and research director at the London-based UK National Centre for Literacy and Numeracy, for its "meticulous professionalism".

According to Prof. Brooks, the survey placed Malta in the front rank of countries compiling reliable and relevant data on children's progress.

The study is a publication of the Education Division's Planning and Development Department.

The results, which would interest parents, teachers and policy-makers, indicate that the majority of Year 1 children made a good start on learning mathematics but pointed out areas for future research. The need to identify and assist children who required additional help was also raised.

Carried out in April last year, the study was a baseline test of Year 1 pupils.

All the 101 state and non-state schools having Year 1 pupils took part and complete data were gathered for 4,384 pupils. Variables taken into account were gender, age, language, special educational needs, years of pre-school, class size, types of school, geographical districts, family structure and parents' level of education and occupation.

The minister described the survey as another valid initiative by the education authorities to identity the strengths and weaknesses of the education services.

"The survey offers a first snapshot of the numeracy level of students and creates the baseline for benchmark comparisons at later stages."

He said that in the same way that the literacy survey had given the country the opportunity to identify and tackle problem areas, the numeracy survey would also help in strengthening support where needed.

The second literacy survey had shown marked improvements in many areas especially where support was beefed up.

The Education Ministry had been focusing on the main subjects starting with English and mathematics and held national conferences on these subjects primarily to get all stakeholders to assess the current situation and brainstorm on the way forward.

Dr Galea said the country was becoming all the more conscious that the early years were extremely important.

The minister noted that the survey would be conducted again with the same children in a few years' time. Good education policies required informed research because the study was a precursor of things to come.

Comparative results showed that Maltese pupils performed relatively better than their UK counterparts on some of the more practical items, such as reading the clock, a telephone number pad and shopping.

Consultations with schools about their results and their implications are being held.