Journal #5617
Posted 15 years ago2009-02-02 02:02:08 UTC
A recent forum discussion got me curious about other countries' education systems, so please explain yours here in as consise a way as possible.
Scotland:
Primary School (P1 - P7): Starting at age 5, scottish kids do a mandatory 7 years of Primary school.
Secondary School/High School (S1 - S4): The first 4 years are mandatory, as students study at a "Standard Grade." With Standard Grades, students of ages 16 and up can leave education entirely and get a job, or go straight to college from here.
Higher Secondary School/High School (S5 - S6): The optional final 1 or 2 years (depending on your course choices) will see students studying for Highers. These are held with greater regard than England's A-levels. Depending on exam success, S6 can be devoted to an Advanced Higher.
College:
Depending on success at school, students can study for a National Certificate (NC,) a Higher National Certificate (HNC,) or a Higher National Diploma (HND.) There are also hundreds of further education courses that fall outside these three categories. Courses can last between a year and 3 years.
Uni:
Having never been myself, i can't really say. All i know is that it's a lot more theory work than the practical work of colleges. I guess universities are pretty universal.
Scotland:
Primary School (P1 - P7): Starting at age 5, scottish kids do a mandatory 7 years of Primary school.
Secondary School/High School (S1 - S4): The first 4 years are mandatory, as students study at a "Standard Grade." With Standard Grades, students of ages 16 and up can leave education entirely and get a job, or go straight to college from here.
Higher Secondary School/High School (S5 - S6): The optional final 1 or 2 years (depending on your course choices) will see students studying for Highers. These are held with greater regard than England's A-levels. Depending on exam success, S6 can be devoted to an Advanced Higher.
College:
Depending on success at school, students can study for a National Certificate (NC,) a Higher National Certificate (HNC,) or a Higher National Diploma (HND.) There are also hundreds of further education courses that fall outside these three categories. Courses can last between a year and 3 years.
Uni:
Having never been myself, i can't really say. All i know is that it's a lot more theory work than the practical work of colleges. I guess universities are pretty universal.
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...America (generally speaking):
-Public Schools-
Elementary School (K - 5th): Starting at age 5, children start with Kindergarten where they learn to read, write, do basic math, and have nap/snack time
-Elementary school is mandatory, and "free" to the public (paid with taxes).
Middle School [aka Junior High] (6th - 8th): Originally these grades were part of high school, but were seperated by the federal government because these grades are usually when kids go through puberty. Students are introduced to the concept of changing classrooms for different courses, as well as a common homeroom where students meet to receive report cards and such. Homerooms may or may not meet every day, depending on the school. Electives are also available to students, for the first time, in middle school.
-Middle school is mandatory, and free to the public as well.
High School (9th - 12th): Students have a default 4 years (8 semesters) to reach and pass a state-determined level of material. Note that it's a certain level, and not a certain amount of coursework, but there are prerequisites. If said level of material is passed before the end of the 12th grade, then the student can graduate early. If the student does not reach the level required by a state-determined age (usually 18), they can drop out of high school. High school can be extended a student fails, and has to retake grade levels-- but they can only stay in high school until they are 21, at which point they are kicked out.
Some higher level courses in high school can count towards a college degree.
-High school is mandatory until a state-determined age, and is free to the public.
Private Schools
Students may attend private school instead of public schools for grades K-12. These schools are not funded by the state, but instead rely on payment per semester from the students as a university would.
Higher Education
Community College: Higher education usually run by the city, and not the state. Community colleges can be attended to either earn a 2-year degree, or earn university credit hours and transfer to a university later. Unlike a university, a community college does not offer housing for students. In a nutshell, community college is a sort of "high high school". Note that it's "community college", not "college". Courses offered range depending on the community college, but usually don't reach anywhere near the level of a university.
State Universities: Higher education that is attended to earn either a bachelor's or master's degree. A bachelor's degree can be obtained after 4 years, a master's after 6. These institutions can either be run by the state, or privately operated. To attend a university, students must apply and be accepted into said university. Some colleges require a senior thesis for a degree, but it varies across the country.
Note: A "college" is part of a university hierarchy in the US. It goes university->college->department-- EG: University of North Carolina-> College of Information Technology -> department of computer science
Graduate School: Superior level of education that is attended to obtain a doctoral degree after the student has obatined a master's degree. Graduate school is operated by universities, but is regarded as seperate from college education, and not all universities have graduate schools. Time in graduate school varies greatly, depending on the subject, and can take as many as 2 to 8 additional years, or even more.
Pretty sure that's everything.
We'v been spoilt or what?
seems like every one else has to go through alot more than us
Grades 1-7 - Primary school
Primary school starts at age 5 or 6 depending on the state.
(note: year 7 is considered high school in some states)
Grades 8-12 - High/Secondary school
Students can leave after grade 10 if they don't want to go to uni, but most people (whether they want to go to uni or not) stay until the end of grade 12.
University
Take a guess.
TAFE
Usually for people who work full time (night courses), or people who only want "light" education, TAFE supplies some shallow "further education" in some fields such as hospitality, tourism, IT, etc.
This, of course, is all available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Australia.
Kindergarten : age 3-6
Primary School : starting at age 6\7 . 4 years.
General School(something like middle school- where general informations are learned) - 4 years ( age 10/11 - 14\15 )
High School - 4/5 years . That between 14\15 - 18\19 .
After that you can go to university. And fter this, if you want , Graduate School.
Primary School - Year 1 to 6
Starts at age 5, 6 years of education.
High School - Year 7 to 11 (or 7 to 13 if you go to Sixth form)
Students study for 4 years to take GCSE's at the end, after that they can leave for college or stay on as Sixth form (High school version of college) or leave completely to work. To get into college you need the required amount of GCSE's for your course, anything above a grade C is a pass. Best to worst. A* A B C D E F U
College
Whatever course you take is usually between 1 and 3 years, you can take multiple courses depending on how many A-Levels you want to try and get, or take one BTEC which is the equivalent to 3 A-Levels.
Uni
Never been there, I'm guessing it's just college but with more work.
Primary School - Year 1 to 4
You start attending school at 6-7.
Grade School - Year 5 to 10
All general subjects are mandatory.
High School - Year 11 to 12
You choose the subjects you want to study (basically the ones that'll be necessary for the field you'll be studying in uni/college).
Uni/College - Years vary
Self-explanitory.