Education
What is Education?
According to the cambridge dictionary, education is the process of teaching or learning, especially in a school or college, or the knowledge that you get from this. Meaning in few words gaining knowledge mainly by being taught but I also believe you get this knowledge from life experiences.
Education is not the same in every Anglophone country, and this is what I will be investigating along this research.
Education in the UK
In the UK, education is divided in four sections. This would include:
Primary education
Secondary education
Further education
Higher education.
PRIMARY EDUCATION:
In the UK proper education being with 5 year old children. This section lasts about 6 years, meaning they attend to primary schools from 5 until 11 years old. Along this years, education is either public, meaning the government pays for the education or independent, meaning parents pay for their pupils education.
Primary education is then divided in two Key stages. On the one hand there is the Key Stages 1 which includes children from 5 to 7 years also known as Early years, and Key stage 2 which are kids from 7 to 11 and are also known as infants.
SECONDARY EDUCATION:
Still being cumpolsary people from 11 to 16 attend secondary education. Thorugh this years, teenagers will have to complete Years 7,8,9,10 and 11. Not only this but on their last year they have to take an exam called GCSE which allows them to go into a job without having to study any longer. Secondary education as mentioned previouslyl is mandatory in the UK, after this, kids don't have to study.
Usually students are to chose from different subjects they want to be examined from. This subjects are included in humanities, science, maths, arts and many more. This is what GCSEs are all about.
FURTHER EDUCATION:
After secondary education, children have the right to cxhose whether they want or not keep studying. If they do they becme part of Sixth form where they will then take A-LEVELS. They take 2 years to be completed, and in order to be taken they must have previously passed GCSEs. Teenagers from 16 to 18 chose which subjects they want to focus on to then be examined.
People who want to then go to college must first complete A-LEVELS.
HIGHER EDUCATION:
This section includes the preparation of adults that would like then to specialise professionaly on something. This education is normally offered by universities in order to prepare young adults for a master, bachelor or doctoral degree. As a fun fact, Britain has some of the best universities world wide such as Cambridge, Oxford or UCL.
Education in USA
Education in United States is mainly public, meaning the government finances children and adults education. Education in the USA is divided in different sections
Elementary school
Secondary school
High school
College
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL:
Also known as primary school, elementary school is for children aged 6 to 11. It is very similar to Britain's education. In 2001 there were around 92.858 primary schools, most of them public, which included first to eight grade.
SECONDARY SCHOOL:
Inside secondary school, pupils attend lower or upper secondary education. LOwer secondary school includes people from 12 to 15 years old, and upper secondary school includes 16-18 years old. Along the secondary school they have hat its called grades which go from grade 6 till grade 12.
HIGH SCHOOL:
You have all probably heard of high school because it comes up in multiple of movies and TV shows, however let me tell you the back story. High school is named as the last stage of secondary school. It is also known as upper secondary school which has been mentioned previously. This high schools usuallly have a subject-based education, meaning there are different subjects to chose from.
High schools in most ocassions are public based institutions which means parents don't pay directly for their pupils education, but the government does.
COLLEGE:
In the USA college is the way to refere as university. It is the lasts years of education and it is where people get qualified for a profesional career. This institutions are usually residences ehere students live until they finish college. After college students graduate in a specific academic degree. After having graduates they can go into working world.
Education in Australia
Education in Australia is similar to the rest but it is divided into different sections as well
Primary and secondary education
Tertiary education
Australian Qualification Framework
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION:
During this years students receive education divided in different sections. On one hand there is the primary school which is also known as Kidergarten and it is for children until 8 years old. Furthermore there is secondary education wich consists on 4 years more, finishing with 12 and then last but not least upper secondary education which is until 16 years old. Children along this years are must go to school compulsory.
TERCIARY EDUCATION:
This education is not different to USA or UK, it is just named differently. Terciary education, or university is when children especialise themselves onto one thing profesionally. Getting an academic degree when they finish their career. They can also chose Vocational Education and Training (vet) which focuses on providing skills for work.
AUSTRALIAN QUALIFICATION FRAMEWORKS:
This system was installed in 1995, as a national policy that covered qualifications from the tertiary education, and school leaving certificate which includes secondary education. This way of studyng allows you to work easily in different institutions, and their is more flexibility when planning the career. It helps students be prepared to the working life.
Education in South Africa
Education in South Africa is very similar to the ones mentioned previously. However it varies in something. This are the different sections:
Primary education
Foundation phase
Intermediate phase
Secondary education
Senior phase
Further education and training phase
Higher education
PRIMARY EDUCATION:
Following the same structure as the rest of educations in other countries, primary education is compulsary for those who live in Sputh Afrcia. It starts at age 6, and it is divided into two different phase.
The first one is the foundation phase. During this years, the education focuses mainly on the basic skills such as reading, writing, basic maths and language development. After doing grade 3 it is compulsory for pupils to take an extra language. Then they have the intermediate phase, which is from grade 4 to grade 6. During this years, the main focus is reading and writing skills in both languages. From grade 4 onwards, the education is mainly in English as their first language. They take history, maths, geography and many other subjects.
SECONDARY EDUCATION:
After primary they have to go into secondary education. Which again is divided into two parts, The senior phase and the further education. The senior phase is lower secondary. Once pupils finish this, they no longer have to attend to school. The upper secondary education is the further education and training phase which is when they take exams in order to gain the National Senior Certificate given to them at the end of grade 12. In order to take this exams people have previously been prepared in at least 7 subjects.
HIGHER EDUCATION:
This includes universities, in other words, preparing themselves for a professinal career they will then be doing for the rest of their lifes. Universities include bachelor programes and academic degrees for those who have continued their education.
