Curricular Brood Parasitism in Malta: An Empirical Study of Vocational Education and the Reproduction of Social Inequality

Autor/in	Muscat-Inglott, Matthew
Titel	Curricular Brood Parasitism in Malta: An Empirical Study of Vocational Education and the Reproduction of Social Inequality
Quelle	In: SoJo Journal: Educational Foundations and Social Justice Education, 7 (2021) 2, S.53-66 (14 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	2381-5183
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; Vocational Education; Socioeconomic Status; Access to Education; Educational Opportunities; Educational Status Comparison; Social Mobility; Higher Education; Socioeconomic Influences; Graduation Rate; Place of Residence; Social Bias; Malta + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Ausbildung; Berufsbildung; Socio-economic status; Sozioökonomischer Status; Education; Access; Bildung; Zugang; Bildungszugang; Bildungsangebot; Bildungschance; Soziokultureller Vergleich; Soziale Mobilität; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Sozioökonomischer Faktor; Wohnort
Abstract	The study explores the social impacts of a relatively nascent vocational education and training (VET) sector in the European Union microstate of Malta, from a Deweyan reconstructionist philosophical position. It explores VET-social inequality complicity theory, or the idea that through a combination of employer-centered curricula and systematic convocation of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, VET acts as a mechanism for the reproduction of social inequality. Publicly available secondary data were collected on socioeconomic markers as well as student body distributions from the 2 largest vocational and academic state-sponsored further and higher educational institutions on the Maltese islands. Two main research hypotheses were formulated to test, first, for statistically significant variations in socioeconomic status (SES) across the 6 main national districts, and second, for an association between residence in those districts and propensity to graduate from either a vocational or academic institution. The results showed overrepresentation of VET graduates from low SES districts, supporting the basic tenets of VET-social inequality complicity theory by way of a systematic channeling effect. The results also suggest that further and higher educational outcomes in Malta may be particularly sensitive to property wealth, a disconcerting finding given the tendency for property prices to inflate, potentially causing an ever-widening rift of social inequality. The article goes on to argue that VET institutions in Malta as well as further afield, are falling prey to a surreptitious form of curricular brood parasitism, engendering the need for radical curricular reform. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	IAP - Information Age Publishing, Inc. P.O. Box 79049, Charlotte, NC 28271-7047. Tel: 704-752-9125; Fax: 704-752-9113; e-mail: infoage@infoagepub.com; Web site: https://www.infoagepub.com/the-sojo-journal.html
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01