Each national education system was formed in unique conditions due to the historical and cultural process, the peculiarities of the formation of the state system. Even in countries as close as Sweden, Denmark and Norway, it is easy to find dozens of differences at all levels, from national to parochial. We offer you a look at 7 interesting examples from different parts of the globe!
Italy: 13 years of study and compulsory school changes
Little Italians go to school for 13 years, do not wear uniforms, change school a couple of times and avoid graduation celebrations. At the beginning, they study for five years, at 11 they move to the secondary school. Unlike Russia, this is a different school with other teachers and students, and the countdown goes from the 1st grade. Italians are convinced that such a system teaches a schoolboy from a young age to adapt and avoid fear of change.
Next, compatriots Dante and da Vinci go to the lyceum. 14 years is the age of profiling, you need to firmly and clearly understand where you want to go next. This system has not changed for 70 years, although the parent community insists that at this age it is too early to make strategic decisions.
France: 20-point grading system
Among the French, it is customary to evaluate the success of schoolchildren according to a twenty-point system. Why so much? The accuracy is higher, the need for tension is much less than in the five-point system adopted by us (in fact, we are talking about three points).
The academic year is divided into two semesters. As a result, parents receive a report card summarizing information about the child's results according to the above system with rounding to hundredths of a point. In addition, there are also the results of the previous reporting period - so you can track the dynamics of changes.
Interestingly, the average score of the class is also given - to understand how good the results are against the background of the rest.
Japan: the beginning of the school year in April
Bondage for the Japanese school brethren begins at the age of 6, and in April: the local Ministry of Education is convinced that spring is the best time to start something new.
The school, as in Italy, consists of 3 stages - beginners (6 years), middle and senior (three years each). High school is optional, although 95% of students regularly go to it. However, the workaholic nation cannot be otherwise, it is not for nothing that Japanese students are called the busiest: already in the 7-8th grade, the number of homework exceeds imaginable limits.
The study period is divided into 3 semesters - from April to July, from September to December and from January to March. Vacations are most often used as an opportunity to train yourself in exam tests. Similarly, weekends pass over workbooks. Exams start in high school and are held several times a year: this is a serious test and a powerful stress-forming factor in the life of a schoolboy.
China: summer vacation lasts only a month
A Chinese man learns while he is alive. It is understandable: with a disastrous overpopulation and a newly growing birth rate, education, preferably higher education, is the only chance to get out of hopeless social poverty with a single bowl of rice for a day.
The average Chinese schoolboy gets up at five in the morning and begins self-training. Then, from eight to four, classes at school, and from four to nine , various electives. The summer holidays start in August and last only until September, with a few days reserved for mandatory independent training, and another week for work in the public interest (the local pioneers live according to the precepts of Mao instead of Lenin, but the essence is unchanged: free work in secondary areas).
United Kingdom:Teaching Good Manners
Most of the British schools, not only private ones, are boarding schools: children not only study there, but also live. Hence the prevalence of campuses, that is, fenced areas. The kit includes a dormitory, an educational building, a sports complex, often a library, an observatory or something else.
British schools of the first stage pay considerable attention to community and even community, the educational moment. The education of young British gentlemen and ladies is the privilege of elite private schools with a long history, but even the most overwhelming rural educational institutions put the basics of behavioral norms into the student. English teenagers have a stable reputation as the most pugnacious and hooligan in Europe. Previously, this was fought with the help of blows with a cane and rods, and now - by psychological assistance services, suspension from classes and a note to parents (according to statistics, in 67% of British families (!) the same cane or its younger comrades are in use).
Finland: attention to the laggards and relaxed atmosphere
Three decades ago, the national education system was not listed among the advanced, on the contrary, everyone considered it to be lagging behind and unworthy of attention. The Finns sent commissions to various countries in Europe – from France to the Soviet Union – and conducted exchanges, choosing the best of all systems. And now it is an advanced and one of the most friendly to a small person models, and very effective!
Surprisingly, even in the international arena, there is almost no criticism of the Finns, and among the main advantages are relaxation and comfort, the absence of tension.
Critics, however, consider it too relaxing. With all the rest, it is built on humanistic principles based on equal treatment, respect, and the principles of comradeship. The main goal is to level everyone up to a certain average and universal level (the same idea is the basis of the Finnish hockey school, by the way). Some inside the country, however, do not agree that it sounds so correct and reasonable.
USA: independent choice of disciplines for study
Subjects in school in the United States are divided into specific categories: humanities, mathematics, exact, linguistics, natural, programming and the like. In each area, a high school student must score a certain number of points. For example, you can take two basic courses and in total get the minimum necessary 10-20 points, or take an advanced subject and get 30-40 points at once.
It is not forbidden to exceed the standards, but those who have not reached the deadline will not see a diploma of secondary education. The process of education, like everything in the country, is permeated with individualism. Even grades for tests are not announced in front of everyone, but are either discussed tete-a-tete, or recorded in a notebook or on a piece of paper with work - and that's it.
Once a quarter or six months, the student receives a sheet on which the parents must sign, while feedback is not provided.
