A Closer Look to the Educational Sytems of the World

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.”

EDUCATIONALEDUCATIONAL
SYSTEMSYSTEM
OFOF
AUSTRALIAAUSTRALIA

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.

LEVEL OF SCHOOLING YEARS
•Primary Schools 6 years,
•Highschool 6 years
•College or University 3-6 years
• High school is divided into:
 junior high school (year 7- year 10)
 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 continue year 11 and year 12 to
prepare for 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.
08/10/16

•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.

b. Higher Education
The 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 in
March and ends in November.

• Undergraduate studies last between
three years (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.

SYSTEMSYSTEM
OFOF
CHINACHINA

•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 education
2. Three years of junior middle school, three
years of senior middle school
3. Six years of university
4. Varieties of technical and vocation schools.

SYSTEMSYSTEM
OFOF
JAPANJAPAN

08/10/16
AIRVIEW OF TOKYO,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) lower 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 7, 8 and
9. 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.

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.

•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.

SYSTEMSYSTEM
OFOF
SOUTH AFRICASOUTH 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

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.

SYSTEMSYSTEM
OFOF
UNITED KINGDOMUNITED 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 advanced
General 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.

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.

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMEDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
OF THE UNITED STATESOF THE UNITED STATES
OF AMERICAOF 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
EducationPre-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 school
Grades 7-8, 7-9, or 8-9

•Ages 12-14 years old
Senior high school
Grades 9-12, or 10-12
Ages 14-18 years old.
Duration of compulsory education is from entry of
6 years old to exit of 18 years old.

b. Higher Education
Higher 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.

References:
www.slideshare.com/acloserlooktotheeducationalsy
Credits:
Kimberly Lariestan
Albin Caibog
Heide Gayoso

A Closer Look to the Educational Sytems of the World

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