Education and Maltese language usage among persons of Maltese backgroundAuthor: Maurice Cauchi Results of current surveyWith that brief background, I would now like to describe some of the findings of a survey which I am currently carrying out relating to second and third generation Maltese. For the purpose of this survey, any person arriving from Malta under the age of 10 years is considered as a second generation Maltese-background Australian. Because such persons would have undertaken secondary and further education in Australia and would presumably, in most other ways, be more akin to Australian-born than first generation migrants, this was considered to be more reasonable than to consider them as first generation (for the purposes of this discussion). The survey was carried out by phoning about every 25th person with a Maltese sounding name from the telephone directory. Over 600 persons were included in this survey, of which 250 were second generation, and over 200 were classed as third generation. In other words, we have sampled around one person in 250 second generation Maltese. While every effort was made to ensure that there was no bias in the selection of cases, it has to be emphasised that these findings are preliminary, and are subject to all the reservations involved in sampling-type surveys. Second Generation Survey Findings Around 7% of respondents were under the age of 15, while 25% were between 15 and 24 yrs of age. Just under half of them (48.6%) were between the ages of 15 and 29. However, I 1% were over the age of 40, and 43% were over the age of 30. This emphasises the fact that the second generation represents a considerable range of age-groups, a fact which is of relevance in interpreting, for example school retention rates. Marital status and Intermarriage The majority (73.30/o) of those who were married had an Australian-bom spouse. The ethnic background of the spouse was Maltese in 34% of cases and Australian in 28% of cases. Other nationalities with which there was significant inter-marriage include: Italian (I 60/o), English (7%) and Greek (4%). In other words, these second generation Maltese had married people with non-Maltese backgrounds in 66% of cases. Family Size The majority of families (81%) had no more than 2 children, and less than 3% had 4 or more children. This is in contrast with the family size of a decade ago, when a significant proportion of families had more than 2 children (see Cauchi 1990 pp. 29-30). It needs to be borne in mind, however, that some of these families are still in the reproductive age, and may not have yet completed their families. Retention Rates and Tertiary Education Review of the older literature indicates the relatively disadvantaged status of Maltesebackground youth (see Taft & Cahill 1978; Martin & Mead 1979; Mead 1983; Cauchi 1990). Earlier census data have confirmed that the school retention rate for Maltese youth was less than that of the average Australian population. In fact, the 1991 census shows that more than 50 per cent of Maltese-background persons left school at the age of 16 or earlier (see Birrel and Khoo 1995; and also Cahill 1996). In the current survey, overall there were 20% with a tertiary qualification, with twice as many persons undergoing tertiary education in the 20-29 age group (26.80/o), compared to those aged 3 0 and above (I 3.61/o). Table 4: Secondary and Tertiary Studies: Second Generation Maltese-background youth (Source:Current Survey, 1998) Education level | Males | % | Females | % | Total | % | Yr 11 | 29 | 23.0 | 14 | 14.3 | 43 | 19.2 | Yr 12 | 36 | 28.6 | 41 | 41.8 | 77 | 34.4 | Tertiary | 21 | 15.9 | 25 | 25.5 | 45 | 20.1 | Total | 85 | 67.5 | 80 | 81.6 | 165 | 73.7 | Total 16+ | | | | | 224 | |
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There was a better retention rate for females than males. The overall retention rate (Yr 11+) was nearly 82% for females and 68% for males). This is only marginally below the average Victorian retention rate, and shows a considerable improvement on previous years (see Cauchi 1990). These data seem to confirm the perceptions of increased educational expectations shown in previous studies (Terry et al 1993; Sultana 1994). Source: Maltese Background Youth - Editors Cauchi M, Borland H, Adams R, 1999, [Europe Australia Institute], p 1
    
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