A Closer Look at the Educational Systems of the Selected Countries

of the World

"To become a global teacher you should be equipped with a wider range of knowledge of the various educational

systems outside the country."

“Benchmarking is learning the best from the best practices of the world's

best educational systems.”

“As a future teacher, you shall be guided by UNESCO's principle on the four pillars that Education is for All and that this education is

anchored on the Four Pillars which are: 1. Learning to Know, 2. Learning to Do, 3. Learning to Be, and 4. Learning to Live together.”

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF

AUSTRALIA

a. Basic Education

•Australia, called by many as the last paradise on earth, has a high quality educational system. •Many students from all over the world go to Australia to study.• The educational system in Australia is similar with that of Canada and England.

•Primary Schools are for six years, high school, six years and college or university, three to six years. High school is divided into junior high school (year 7- year 10) and senior high school (year 11- year 12) but these vary from state to state.

•During the junior high school studies, most Australian students decide what to do after high school. Students who intend to go to college or university entrance examination. Other students may get a job after year 10 or go to a Technical and Further Education (TAFE) College to learn technical skills.

•The entry age of compulsory education is 6 years old and exit age, 15 years old.

•Primary education is provided by government and non-government primary schools. The length of the program is six years for six years old to twelve years old children. However, in most states, children start primary school at the age of five when they enroll in preparatory or kindergarten year.

•After the primary school, the junior secondary level which is for four years comes next. The age level of children in this level is from 12 to 16 years old. At the end of the junior secondary level, a Junior Secondary Certificate of Education (Year 10 Certificate) is awarded. The government, non-government Co-Educational Comprehensive/Multi-Purpose High School provides junior secondary level of education.

•A senior secondary level is provided for two years after the junior secondary level. Students are from 16 to 18 years old in this level. Senior secondary level is no longer compulsory education. It is being offered by government and non-government providers. A senior Secondary Certificate of Education (Year 12 Certificate) is awarded at the end of the senior secondary level.

•From the primary to the secondary levels, most students are enrolled in government schools which operate under the direct responsibility of the State or Territory Education Minister.

•The federal government provides supplementary financial support.

Basic Education

b. Higher EducationThe main purpose of Australian Higher Education are:

1. to enable individuals to develop their capabilities for effective participation in the workforce, for constructive contribution to society and for personal growth and fulfillment;

2. to advance knowledge and understanding;

3. aid the application of knowledge and understanding for the benefit of the economy and the society;

4. enable individuals to adapt and learn, consistent with the needs of an adaptable knowledge-based economy at the local, regional and national levels;

5. contribute to democratic civilized society.

•Australian universities are autonomous self-accredited institutions established by Federal, State or Territory legislation.

• Academic year in Australia begins with the undergraduate level. To be admitted, a Senior Secondary Certificate of Education is required. The main stage of the university education leads to a bachelor's degree

•Undergraduate studies last between three, (Arts, Science, Commerce) four

years (Education, Engineering) five years, (Veterinary Science, Dentistry, Architecture) and six years (Medicine

and Surgery) full time. Arts and Science usually offer either a

bachelor's degree (Pass) obtained in four years. An honours degree is

normally required for university level second stage: postgraduate studies.

•A graduate with a bachelor's degree can proceed to a one-year to two-year post graduate course leading to a postgraduate diploma. A student who has qualified for a bachelor's degree (Honours) may proceed to a master's degree. This degree may be obtained after one year (Pass Degree) or two years (Honours degree) of full time study.

•A student who has qualified for a bachelor's degree (honours) may

proceed to study for doctorate usually Ph.D. , higher doctorate in

science (DSsc) or Humanities (DLitt) upon submission of published work

are awarded the degrees.

Higher Education

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF

CHINA

•The most populous country of the world is China. With over 200 million students attending public schools taught by over 9 million teachers in the elementary, junior, and senior high schools, it is the largest educational system of the world (Wang, 1996; Nanjundiah, 1996). •The course syllabi are written by scientists and professors hired by the National Educational Commission.

•The subject matter and instructional contents are uniform for all. The first six years of school make up the primary grades which is devoted to development of cognitive skills, and this is followed by another six years of high schools. •Class size ranged from 40 to 60 students and the students have to cover all topics in order to pass national examinations. Students wishing to attend university must pass one of the two versions of the National University Entrance Examination. The quality and reputation of the school will depend on the number of students passing the examination (Changbin, 1995; Kwang, 2000)

•Education, one of the fundamental Chinese traditions entered to a new era of deep transformation after 1949. Education was used as a vital tool for centralization and unification of the country. The new educational system include:

1. six years of primary education2. Three years of junior middle school, three years of senior middle school3. Six years of university4. Varieties of technical and vocation schools.

Basic Education

Higher Education

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN

JAPAN

•The Japanese education system is highly centralized and is administered by the Mombusho or Ministry of Education. The school system from kindergarten through university serves about million students, with about ten percent going to the university.

•About one third go to the private schools and the rest are enrolled in the public of national school system (Abner, 2002)

•The Japanese educational system is sometimes seen as a model of how operate schools. The system gives a mental picture of obedient, quiet school children sitting on their desks, listening to the teacher and working hard to pass various entrance examinations.

•In 2005, a book Japan in the 21st Century: Environment, Economy and Society says:

" Japan's educational system produces students who perform for better on international examinations than Americans do, and Japanese students are indisputably among the best in the world in solving mathematical equations...Youngsters are well behaved, envied around and law abiding; Japan's low crime rates are well known and widely envied around the world. But what is even more striking than the lack of crime is the overwhelming civility; graffiti and vandalism are rare and schools sports teams not only bow to each other before the game but rush over the opposing team's stand after the game to pay their respect."

a. Basic Education Structure of Japanese Educational System

• The Japanese educational system is divided into five basic levels: kindergarten, elementary school (six years) lowers secondary school (three years) upper secondary (three years) and university (usually around four years).

•There are also preschool (yochien) with mainly female teachers. These are not official part of the educational system. Prefectural boards license teachers, appoints teachers to public elementary and secondary schools and also license preschools in their area.

•In Japan, education is free and compulsory for children 6 to 15 years. Classes are large and teaching methods is usually lecture. Japanese students spend 243 days in a year in school. The school calendar is year-round with some breaks between sessions.

•Standard curriculum includes Japanese language, social studies, math and science along with art, music, home economics, physical education, and the most emphasis being given to learning the Japanese language.

•Lower secondary schools cover grade seven, eight and nine. Men compose two-thirds of the teachers in this level. Class size average 38 and the periods are fifty minutes long.

•Upper secondary schools offer academic, technical and vocational programs. The first year courses included Japanese language, English, Science and Math. Vocational course includes information processing, navigation, fish farming, ceramics and business English. The upper secondary schools are ranked based on their success in placing graduating students into prestigious universities.

Basic Education

b. Higher Education•Junior colleges by women who want to pursue courses stress home economics, nursing, teaching, humanities and social science.•There are various universities that students can attend in Japan. Private institutions make up 80% of university enrollments although the public schools have the most prestige.

•To get into the universities (there are more than 500) the student must take two exams; the first one is a national achievement test and the second one is given by the university itself. The competition is quite fierce and some students who fail the test will take another year to study and prepare to take the test again. These students are called ronin, which meant samurai.

•Sixty percent of the universities have graduate schools, but only seven percent of university graduate gets Master's degrees. At the doctorate level, students enroll in medical programs and the humanities.

•Japanese education relies upon examinations to determine which schools the student will go to next, resulting in a push by students and parents (usually mothers) for their children to study very hard for the test so that he or she can get into the best schools. The entire educational system seems to be built on a principle that if you do well in exams, you will get into good schools or universities and automatically into a good life-time job.

HIGHER EDUCATION

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF

SOUTH AFRICA

In South Africa, the Constitution guarantees equal access to basic education. The identified values and principles to South African education include equity and redress, access to basic education opportunities for lifelong learning, quality, in terms of providing learners with learning opportunities of acceptable standards, efficiency, democratic participation, sustainability of development and relevance of education. The Ministry of Education in May 1994 was tasked to deal with education and training at the national level.

a. Structure and organization of the educational system in

basic education•Formal education in South Africa is categorized into sectors or levels. These sectors are closely linked to particular levels: namely, public ordinary school education, independent school education, special school education, technical college education, teacher training and university training.

•A public school may be an ordinary public school or a public school for learners with special educational needs. The levels are pre-primary, primary, secondary and higher education.

•Compulsory General Education and Training (GET) covers the reception year, Grades R to Grades IX. The General Education and Training corresponds to Level 1 of the National Qualification Framework (NQF) and is divided into three phases: foundation (Grades R-III) intermediate (Grades-VI) and senior (Grades VII-IX). As a rule, children start primary education is divided into junior primary (Grades I-III) and senior primary (Grades IV-VI).

•Grades VII-IX is the last stage of compulsory education and will lead to General Education and Training Certificate. Further Education and Training (FET) or senior secondary education (Grades X-XII) is not compulsory. At the end of Grade XII, students sit a public examination leading to senior Certificate. Technical secondary education which generally lasts for three years are offered in technical centers, high schools and vocational schools.

•The eight learning areas that form the basis of all basic education up to the Further Education Training(FET) Certificate are:

* Language, Literacy and Communication* Mathematical Literacy, mathematics and Mathematical Science* Natural Science* Technology* Human and Social Science* Economics and Management Science* Arts and Culture* Life Orientation

Basic Education

b. Higher Educational System Tertiary and higher education correspond to Level 5-8 of the National Qualification Framework (NQF) which is used more advanced than the Senior Certificate. Institutions of higher education include colleges, technikons and universities. Most colleges of education offer a three-year programme leading to the Diploma in Education (four year for higher diplomas). Nursing colleges and hospital schools of nursing offer four-year course leading to a diploma.

Agricultural colleges offer one-year certificate, two-year higher certificate and three –year diploma courses. Technikons also offer bachelor’s (four-year course) masters and doctoral degrees (magister technologiae) usually require a minimum of one year of study, the doctorates (Laureatus in Technology/Doctor Technologiae) at least two years. An honours degree requires one additional year of study. A master’s degree is obtained after one or two year of study and the minimum time to complete a doctorate is two years.

•One school year consists of forty-one week (196 school days) which is divided into four terms.•Other relevant sectors of the educational structure include special education, private education or independent schools, adult and non- formal education and HIV/AIDS education.

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN UNITED KINGDOM

•In England, education is compulsory for children ages 5-16.

•Most children attend primary schools until they are eleven and the transfer to secondary schools. In the primary school the subjects are taught by the same teacher for a year before moving on to the next teacher and next grade level on the next year.(Sadker,2002)

•The National Curriculum is defined as the minimum educational requirement for compulsory school age, 5 to 16 years. It is mandatory for all state schools to provide a balanced broadly based curriculum which promotes spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development, prepares them for opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life. It includes religious education and for secondary students sex and career education. Almost all the schools whether private or state choose to follow the national curriculum.

a. Basic education

•The national curriculum core subjects include English, Mathematics, and Science. Each key level has definite emphasis that gradually becomes more advanced as the level progresses.•Foundation Stage- this is included in the national curriculum which covers children aged 3-5 years, but does not have a strong mandate as to what needs to happen during these years of schooling as it is not yet mandatory.

•Key Stage One- it includes children aged 5-7 years and year groups grades 1-2. It mandates core subjects including English, Mathematics, and Science and non-core foundation subjects as design/technology, history, art/design, music and physical education. Other statutory areas are religious education, the format of which is decided by local education authorities (LEA’S) or by the faith in which the school was founded.

•Key Stage Two- it includes children aged 7-11 and year groups 3-6. It mandates the same core and non-core foundation subjects, with more emphasis on more difficult topics and the addition of sex education to additional statutory areas which is left up to the policy of school governors (school board).

•Key Stage Three- it includes children aged 11-14 years and year groups 7-9. It mandates the same basics in Key Stages One and Two, but adds Foreign Language, and Information/ Communication Technology to the mix while adding appropriate difficulty to the core subjects.

•Key Stage Four- it includes those aged 14-16 and year groups 10-11. It covers the statutory program that must be taught to all students. Most schools include in their core curriculum courses that lead to qualifications in each of the five subject areas which are English, Math, Science, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), and Physical education.

•Post 16 Education- it is not mandatory in England. Students can either continue education or enter working world. Some secondary schools go beyond the 11-16 mandates to 11-18 and the student may stay there. If the high school does not offer these ‘Sixth Form’ extra years, the student may go to a “Further Education College” (FEC). The following certificates or diploma can be awarded in the Post 16 Education.

General Certificate of Education (GCE), a level comprising advanced subsidiary (AS) and A2, each of these usually containing three assessed units.Vocational Certificate of Education (VCE) --- a level, dealing with the more applied aspects of the subject; they are available in three, six, and twelve unit sizes; they replaced the advancedGeneral National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs).Foundation and Intermediate GNVQ are widely used 16-19.Key skills qualifications at levels 1-4 of the National Qualifications framework.

Basic Education

b. Higher Education

•In 1992, the binary divide in the higher education system was abolished. Former polytechnics became universities enabling them to award their own degrees. Divisions continue to label pre-1992 universities as the “old” universities and the former polytechnics as the “new” universities. Universities are not only concerned with the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. Higher education system in the UK needs to include reference to the Open University as a major provider of the undergraduate and postgraduate degrees for adults. The Open University pioneered the way for opening access by offering greater flexibility for adult learners through distance learning programs.

•Students studying at a university for their first degree are called “undergraduates”. Once a student has graduated, he/she becomes a “graduate” of the university. Ordinary degree programmes in the UK universities are usually 3-year courses. Undergraduates completing these programmes successfully are awarded either a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) or Bachelor of Science (B. Sc.) degrees are not permitted to place B.A. or B.Sc after their names. •Honours degree programmes are usually four-year courses. The degree title is extended to B.A. (Hons.) and B.Sc. (Hons.), respectively.

•Masters degree is usually achieved after two more years study following an Ordinary or an Honour degree. The students are awarded M.A. or M.Sc.•A doctorate is normally awarded after several years (three years full time) of research under the direction of a member of a department of a possession of a doctorate and the presentation of a doctoral dissertation or thesis.

Higher Education

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES

OF AMERICA

The levels of education in the U.S. are similar to those in other countries. There are public and private colleges, schools and universities in the United States. The public schools are funded, in part, by a city, and/or state, and or state pay less tuition because some tax money is used to subsidize the tuition. Non U.S. residents would pay more, since they would not be residents of the city or state where the college or university is located. Private colleges and universities are supported primarily by tuition and private contributions. All students must pay the same tuition no matter where they come from.

a. Structure and Organization of Basic Education

Pre-primary education- types of school providing this education are kindergartens, nursery schools, preschool programmes, and child/day care centers.Age level is 4-6 years old and the duration is 2 years. Primary education- elementary school- there is varied levels of schooling in the primary education.

•Grades 1-4- children are from ages 6 to 10.•Transition to middle school•Grades 1 to 5- children are from ages 6 to 11•Transition to middle school•Grades 1-6- children are from ages 6 to 12•Transition to junior high school•Grades 1-7- children ages 6 to 14•Transitions to junior high school

Middle school education- Grades 4-6, 5-7, or 6-8.•Age level is from 10-14•Length of the program is 3 years.

Secondary education- high school- Grades 7-12 or 8-12

•Ages 12-18 years old•High school diploma is awarded•2 levels

Junior high schoolGrades 7-8, 7-9, or 8-9

 •Ages 12-14 years old

Senior high schoolGrades 9-12, or 10-12Ages 14-18 years old.

Duration of compulsory education is from entry of 6 years old to exit of 18 years old.

Basic Education

b. Higher EducationHigher education in the U.S. begins at the post secondary education. It is diverse and autonomous community of publicly and privately supported institutions. Current data states that there are some 2,819 institutions offering Bachelor’s or higher degrees and 4,927 institutions offering shorter non degrees of two years duration. These higher education institutions are classified according to the following categories:

Research universities (I and II) - Comprehensive doctorate granting institutions that have extensive theoretical and applied research in a wide variety of programs.

Doctorate – granting universities (I and II) – Universities offering comprehensive studies but awards Doctorate in limited fields or areas.

Master’s (Comprehensive) universities and colleges (I and II) – Institutions offering academic and professional programmes at the Bachelor’s and Master’s levels but do not award research doctorate.

Baccalaureate (Liberal Arts) Colleges (I and II)- Institutions offering Bachelor’s degrees but not higher.

Associate of Arts colleges- they offer academic and professional or occupational studies at the Associate Degree level including public community colleges and public and private junior colleges.Professional school and the other specialized institutions- institutions that offer only one or few related courses in the professional or academic with degree levels from associate to research doctorates.Postsecondary vocational and technical schools- institutions offering short non-degree training programs of less than two years duration, leading to certificates or diplomas in occupational specialties.

Post secondary education- there is no real age categories for post secondary education. Generally, American students starts college right after completing high school (About 60% of all students who graduate from high school enter college at some point in their life), Junior and technical colleges are designed to be 4- year programs at the undergraduate level. In reality, the average American takes over 6 years to finish a four year degree. The reason is that more than 50% of college freshmen do not know what major or specialization they wish to study. Also many students work to pay for college expenses. Thus, they may take fewer classes in order to work.

Vocational and technical schools operate at either the high school or junior college levels. They teach skills such as secretarial, auto-mechanics, photography, and nursing.

College and University education- a college usually has a Bachelor’s (4 year) program. A university may be composed of several colleges (for example, the college of medicine and the college of engineering). Universities often have graduate programs as well. For most purposes, a Bachelor’s degree from a college is equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree from a University, so that the two words “college” and “university” mean the same thing to most Americans. Generally, the value of a degree is a reflection of how society views the particular college or university. From a Bachelor’s degree a student can proceed to a graduate program for master’s degree or doctorate degree. For non-residents of the U.S., a TOEFEL is required and a Graduate Record Examination or GRE is a must.

Classes begin in September and end in June of every year. The language

of instruction is English.

Higher Education

Presented By:

Kimberly Lariestan

Albin Caibog

Heide Gayoso

Beed IV-A

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING?

(paro la’t namati… ehehe)