scoobydoo

If your child is great at and enjoys sports they will be given so many opportunities over here...perfect. Otherwise think carefully about the school you will be sending them to and budget wisely for private education if you wish to go that way.

When we first came to oz our son went to a tiny country school of 100 or less pupils. Very relaxed for the kids there...in fact so relaxed that in the 4 weeks he was there he had no homework or reading to do, and when asked what he had done said that they played most of the time!!!! This school was recomended to us by a senior lecturer in primary education:scared:

We then decided to search for a school ourselves!!!!

Badge

I think Mike has it exactly, actually. It all ends up the same as Aus workers compete well in the UK marketplace.

I think UK kids may appear 'academically' brighter, but then on balance at that early stage, Australian kids are brighter 'people'.

It is not even a question of UK kids being brighter than their Aussie counterparts, they just learn different things at different times.

I happen to favour the Australian build up social skills first but that is neither here nor there.

My view would be to let a normal UK kid relax for a year or two and concentrate on their people skills while the Aussies catch up academically. It's a shame Jill you're kid is SO far ahead.

Is she an allrounder - does she need more people skills?

This is OK; I was always the shortest but was always first in all the athletics teams. It all depends on power to weight ratio and other factors.

Interesting. I have noticed that kids in other countries often have a healthier attitude to study. I spent most of my schooling getting out of work. I still passed all my exams so it didn't matter in the end.

Mel Gibson

me wos educrated in austrialaia and me turned out allright.

Andiii

I'm an Australian.

I want to contribute to this topic but my response is merely based on bits of information here and there.

From what I can gather, Australian children are not taught certain topics in Maths until University, where as UK schools touch upon these topics in Years 11 and 12.

I'd also agree with the person that said many Australians are behind in terms of spelling and punctuation.

I still have some difficulties with written communication myself (obviously). It's not so much that I wasn't taught, it was that I was very lazy. My parents never took an interest in my education, either. I'm still learning how to be a better writer.

When I was at highschool, emphasis was placed on history. Aboriginal history, American history, British history. History, history, history every year. What I liked about my History classes was that our teachers would take us on excursions, which I believe is fairly uncommon in the UK.

A lot of emphasis is also placed on Physical Education. I hated it!!!!

MikeStanton

Totally agree.

In Oz, we sent our children to both state and private schools. The state school was good academically, but so short-funded that the buildings were in urgent need of repair - and we're not talking expensive repairs! In Oz, it seems a lot more people send their children to private school than in the UK. And the Oz government provides a lot of funding to private schools - another bone of contention.

There certainly is a welfare mentality in Oz - very recently there was an article in Sydney Morning Herald reporting on research by some (admittedly right-wing) guy, who claimed that Oz is ...addicted to welfare. At least I now know where all that tax I paid was being spent - obviously not on state education...

Sander

From my point of view it shouldn't be any problem at all. When I started uni I was 17 and there were students starting who already were 20 / 21.
The thing is at uni, at least here in the Netherlands, you will have people who start uni earlier and others who start later. But the age difference was never a problem for me. I think the difference in age is noticed more at highschool than it is at uni.

hevs

OK.

My daughter is just 10 and is in year 4 overhere, in the UK she would be starting year 6 in september. In her old school in the UK she was on the list of gifted children for her literacy and had extra input as a "special needs child"

Her school here is a public primary school and she is finding the work easy. I have spoken to her teacher and she has given her more work to do and assures me that whilst Leah IS ahead it would be detremental to move her ahead of her peers as she has so much to cope with already (moving, being different etc)and I agree with her.

Providing we don't want to return to the UK, where she would seem massivly behind, i really don't see a problem. As it has already been said, it WILL level out in the end.

My son who is now in year one here (would be starting year 3 in september at home) has had real difficulties (in everything) due to his dyspraxia. However, overhere the teachers were not content with this diagnosis and sent him for further test and it turns out that he has got a visual processing disorder aswell. To say that i am very chuffed with this is an understatement.

LOL, not that i am chuffed that he has got it, but chuffed that the school have been so proactive and have really helped. In the uk he was given 5 hours one on one help per wk (alledgedly) they were content with the label and had written him off as always "going to struggle"

The irony is that the opthalmist said that HE (my son) has above average intelligence for his age and is amazed that he hasn't got frustrated and just given up long before this.

So many people on here are so quick to put down PUBLIC education here in Aus because they feel that in order to get what they deem a "good" education,(eg, up to English standards, when they start 2 years earlier for gawds sake) it needs to be paid for.

Its that huge word again, GENERALISATION. Every child/ school/ teacher/enviroment is DIFFERENT:lecture: Rant over

jaxowen

Wow!! at last a positive statement about the oz education system. i was really beginning to wonder if i was doing the wrong thing dragging my kids half way round the world only to have them turned into numbskulls overnight!!

thanks for restoring my blind faith, i can safely replace my blinkers and carry on.
jax

scoobydoo

Agree with you Hevs that we are generalising and am glad that you can show a positive experience of the education.

We can only report on our experiences and if they havn't been that good......

MrsDagboy

Plenty of people here happy with the aussie system jax, both public & private, just cant be bothered to post.

Peter

Well, next year I will be finding out about schools as my oldest starts then. My youngest, who is a little slow, will be a bigger challenge. But we will see.

Paul&Ann-Marie

Some really interesting posts here, lots of different views.

I'm sure a lot of people would complain about their kids schooling , we have our own complaints about callum and shannon's current/ last school here in uk, on the flip side it is a recognised " good " school. I think it's just that we are critical of it because our children are there ( if you follow my drift ).

I have read previously that private schools in aus are very reasonably priced and nowhere near the cost of private in the uk ( though i guess this may vary from school to school ).

Found the sport issues interesting but not a huge concern on our part ( they both love sports ), what bothered me more ( and it's something i hadn't considered ) was the social side of being moved up a year or two.Intersting point.

Paul.

NickyC

Agreed. I have boys in Years 10 and 12 right now and I've always been extremely happy with their education. My youngest could read long before he went to school, but was always given enough stimulation in class not to get bored, when all the other kids were still learning. Now he's 15, it doesn't matter a hoot whether he could read fluently at 4 or didn't make it till he was 7. Everyone else has certainly caught up in the meantime!

Not true as far as I'm aware. The maths that kids are taught here (NSW) in Year 9 and 10 equates almost exactly to the maths I did for 'O' level many years ago. In fact they cover some topics of algebra that I never did at the same age. This is the general School Certificate course that everyone does.

Maths in Year 11 and 12 is not compulsory in NSW, but if they do take it then there are four levels of Maths to choose from. General Maths (practical application of maths), Mathematics (more academic), and two extension levels. The topics covered vary according to what level you choose to do, with Extention 2 Maths being notoriously difficult (and only taken by the gifted few.)

tinaj

I have taught in both State and Private in the Uk and have recently started teaching out here in 'backward' Oz. This is one topic where I can directly compare my experiences.
So far my opinions are:


PROS:
Oz children definitely start some aspects of formal education 1-2 years later than in England, but I must say things did not look too disimilar in a year 2 class that I was in last week.

Most kids appear about a year behind English kids in the level that they are studying, however their social skills and all-round ability for non-academic subjects surpasses English children's. Mainly because academia is pushed down their throats (UK) at such an early age.

Here in Aus kids are kids for longer at school and they have a better all-round curriculum which includes more Art, Music, and PE etc, these have almost been chucked out the window in the Uk to make way for eng and maths. The kids here also appear to study more cross- curricular studies, just like they did in the Uk a few years ago.

By the time kids get to leave primary school here they seem to have more or less caught up to a UK level.

Kids here are tested at similar ages to UK kids, but the results are just used by the school/ State so parents and newspapers don't see them. This means the school is compared statewise against other schools and the kids can be seen if they are av, above av etc by the school. This is the same as what used to happen before SATS were published in the UK. Now it is just a matter of coaching up for tests and cheating to make the school look good in England.

My son was in yr 8 in England and went into yr9 here, most of his work involves him being a much more independent learner than before, he has to do a lot more researching on independent assignments, whereas in the Uk it was 'do exercise 3 1-10' etc.

He goes to a private school here and in no way can I say the work he does is lower than in the Uk, I have looked through all of his books and it is comparible. It does shock me though that marking plays a very small part out here in Senior Schools! The weird thing for us is he was classed as 'Gifted & Talented' in the Uk, out here he is bog standard! But then again he was put up a year so that could make a difference.

The Special Ed Needs facilities out here far surpass English ones, kids with far less needs than I taught in England get 1- to-1 SEN support which is very rare in the Uk.

CONS
Discipline out of class here is atrotious compared to the Uk, kids run around like looneys and at the end of day it is like free for all as they leave the grounds! However in class behaviour is pretty good and they tend to sit in rows, which is pretty old-fashioned in England now!

Security here is non-existant, I have to bite my tongue when I see how insecure the kids and schools are, anyone could just walk off the street and straight into a class. There are no locks, high fences, gates etc but then I have to remember it is generally safer here than where I used to live ( hopefully) it still fightens me though as there are nutters around.

Discipline appears a major problem in many of the State High Schools, there are good ones, but many of them are terrible, the kids seem to treat them more like a social club and I would not want to send my kids there.

Teachers in sate schools have a reputation of being less dedicated than those in Private schools and appear to do shorter hours than I would have done teaching in the Uk.

I was talking to a teacher colleague here and she re-enforced this to me by saying that all the good, concientous teachers work in the private system here. Hopefully this is a generalisation but it is definitely what people think here.

All in all my advice would be to check out the school as much as you can and try to chill a bit at Primary level as they should catch up later on. No one can say that English kids are brighter than Aussie ones and I have met some great intelligent kids out here.

At Senior level look carefully at your options, don't just assume the local comp will be as good as your Uk one was and if the reputation is bad look seriously as to whether you can afford private.

aussie73

In Australia Sport is far more important then education. A high school drop out who becomes a third rate rugby rate rugby player not even at the professional level will earn far more money and get far more publc recognition then someone with two University degrees who works as a molecular scientist making breakthroughs in cancer research. Once in Australia you should tell your kids to put away their books and get out their footballs
and cricket bats.