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Australian Education in brief

It can suddenly become important, when immigrating to Australia, to know where your children will be in their school years, to see how different it will be for them, and what post school choices are available.

The School years are divided as follows:

• Preschool education starts when a child is 5 years old.
• Primary school begins at age 6 and is a general elementary programme and continues for 6-7 years.
• Secondary education starts in Year 7 or 8.
• Students sit a year 12 exam to continue into higher education.

The current leaving age for each state is 16 yrs for Western Australia, 15 yrs for the Northern Territory, 15 yrs for New South Wales, 16 yrs for Tasmania, 16 yrs for Victoria, 15 yrs for Queensland and 16 yrs for South Australia.

There are two main types of Tertiary education programmes:

1. Vocational Education and Training (VET).
2. Universities and other higher education institutions.

VET is competency-based and offers a programmes under the National Training Framework (NTF).

Registered training organisations include: TAFE institutes, private training and assessment organisations, enterprises, universities, schools and adult education providers throughout Australia. http://www.dest.gov.au/

Choice of School

Public State schools are free and typically places are given to the children in that district.

Private schools are categorized either by religion: Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran etc. or are prestigious schools: Boys/Girls’ Grammar, and there is also a range of other co-education and boarding schools.

Scholarships are available but some are by year and need an exam needs to be taken each year rather than being one exam at school entry point.

Private school fees range from 2000$ per year to 12 000$.

Typically there is a tendency for schools to rely on parent participation: help with reading for the early years, tuck shop, excursions and fund raising for even some basics equipment such as air conditioning.

Parents also do need to equip their children with uniforms, sports kits, books and lunch.

In terms of the financial management, it’s said that a lot of state funding goes to private schools so state schools do feel like they operate on the bare minimum.

State schools do have good teaching all the same. However, another aspect of the management of state schools is that the head doesn’t typically have the ability to hire and fire permanent staff. Australian teachers, once trained, go to the outback to cut their teeth. Once they’ve proven themselves they have a job for life in the education department.

Schools are typically resourceful and can point you in the right direction if your children have adjustment difficulties, learning difficulties, behavioral adjustment issues or you need more family help.

Queensland Education: http://education.qld.gov.au/

Early Years at School

There is a ‘prep year’ (preparation for school) for children in the year they turn five – this has recently come into place in Queensland.

The school year runs from January to December with roughly 6 weeks holiday over the summer. ‘Prep’ is for children aged 5 or turning 5 before July of the coming year.

The prep year is available in private and public schools as well as at some Day Care centers.

At public schools it is free and there are guaranteed places for all children. It is full-time but isn’t compulsory in all states as yet.

It is of course a good idea to put your name down at the school you hope your child will be attending.

The prep year is still play based learning and the start of formal reading and writing comes in Grade one.

Grade 1 to Year 5 are often then spent at the same school. Year 5-9 are sometimes grouped as a middle school and then High School is year 10 to Year 12. After year 12 is university.

Schools do vary in terms of Curriculum, extra curriculum activities, sports facilities and homework.

Some schools offer after school and pre-school care for parents who have working hours outside of school hours. These are often but not always, on the school premises. If the care is away from the school building, the children are bused with their minders.

There is the start of a lean towards using this time for a homework club rather than recreational time. Currently there are a lot of sports events and sports practice run by high schools at the weekend and parents spend most of their weekends being a taxi, again this has initiated a push for after school practices at the end of the study day.

Some schools offer holiday care with a special activity program.