Schooling Differences Worldwide

Appreciating the cultural differences of various schooling systems globally

19th January, 2016

Adelle reflects on her experiences with different schooling systems and provides some insight into their variety

I can’t believe it’s been two years since I spent a semester of college in America. It’s definitely an experience I’ll never forget. The way the school system works in The States is different to that in Australia. Although the content may have been the same as, or similar to what we would be taught in Australia with just a change of name, the dynamics of the classes is what interested me. Across the world there are so many different education systems and each has their strong and weak points. It’s definitely a possibility that you’ll have children who have grown up in other cultures in your classroom, and it is up to you to find out about and respect these cultures.

For example in some Asian countries there is high-level expectations of the students by the teachers and parents. They are under a lot of pressure and feel they must succeed. The level of pressure, fear of failure and competitions is said to be much higher than what Australian or American kids are under. Their own intrinsic and extrinsic sources of motivation will affect their behaviours in your classroom and you must get to know these students and what they need in their path of learning.

European schools are different yet again and change per country. Finland has recently been in the spot-light for their education system which has improved dramatically over the past 40 years. Their system involves strengthening the relationship with children and most teachers are called by their first names. The subjects they teach are hands on and the teachers really spend their time with the children while they are at school. They eat lunch with the students in the school canteen, they do not do school-wide assessments each semester or year to see where their children stand against neighbouring schools or countries. There is in fact only one standardized test when children are 16. Their children don’t start school until they are seven and aren’t given exams or homework until they are well into their teens in high school. The high-pressure environment of an Asian school compared with the anti-test freer learning environment of a Fin school contrasts how different education systems can be and still both achieve high success rates.

These cultural differences will affect a child moving countries and or schools. It will change the way you teach and again create a different learning style that needs to be addressed as well as changing the dynamic of your own classroom.

My upcoming blogs will focus on the different school systems globally and the various expectations in each. As I am currently in France, I will be observing in a French classroom as well as interacting with French teachers and students to gain a further understanding of their system which I can already tell dynamically is quite different from Australia again.

- Adelle