martynm

Now I know this may be a 'starter for 10' (as Bamber Gascgoine would say), but I've heard some fairly interesting remarks about the standard of education in Oz, not so much the facilities in the schools but more around the comparable level of curriculum for thier age. (i.e way behind)

Mine are 6 and 4 so I'm worrying early, but this is a really important part of our decision and as we've just posted our medicals and are almost at completion I'm starting to think I should have investigated a bit earlier in the process!!!!

Also that the general Ozzie degree is generally less well thought of than many other countries.

Any comments would help ?

worzel

ur experience is (primary) schools are fine. My daughter is happier and fitter than she was in the UK too.

Wendy

I was speaking to a rep at the Travel Agents yesterday, she lived in Australia from being 14 to 18, she told me that the school she went to in Australia was excellent.

Of course everyone will have different stories about it, purely because we all expect different things. For me it's more important that my kids grow up happy and have a good childhood. Whether it's here in the UK or over in Australia.

I believe that everyone is good at something and if thats academic stuff then it won't matter which school they attend. My kids are prime examples of that. My eldest is very academic and attends the worst school in the area (was in the wrong catchment area for the good one ) and he is now doing his A levels, and is expected to get A's and B's in his subjects. My other lad who did get in the better school isn't so academic and is not doing that well at all. I'm not saying it's not important to get the best education you can, but sometimes kids get too much pressure put on them to "make the grade" so to speak, mostly just to make the school look good in the league tables.

jon and alex

Alex is a teacher and from what I understand a lot of the more recent innovations in the UK curriculum have been lifted straight out of Oz and NZ. From what she says the curriculum at its core is pretty similar so I wouldn't worry. Also, if the move is permanent your children's education will need to be to Australian standard and the comparable standard in UK will be irrelavant. If you plan to return to UK it will be more of an issue I suppose.
Alex would know more though so I'll ask her

martynm

Thanks again, one and all. A great help.

martynm

Worzel, thanks for your help.

Heard a lot of good things about Perth, it looks like you're enjoying it ???

Ozzy dog

Hi,

My dad always used to say that the two most important things you can give your children is.

1. Love
2. An education.

I'm sure that this could be an emotive subject, we arrived 18 months ago with two school age children, the eldest had finished his GCSE's having done very well, he went straight into year 12 and got his OP, now doing a degree at Griffith on the Gold Coast (although we are in Thornlands). Daughter was one year into her GCSE course and went into year 11, now in year 12 and doing very well. Having looked at her assignments I am amazed at how involved her work is, but then it is preparing her for uni.

I am very impressed with the curriculum and standards - this is based on my observations and not an involved research project on Ozzy education. However I can remember one of my daughters teachers in the UK was an Ozzy and over for two years, she said that Tristie would be OK and that the systems were comparable. As for Ozzy degrees being less thought of - first I've heard.

Good luck with your enquiries - from my own experience I really wouldn't worry.

Tracey

worzel

No worries. Absolutely loving it over here. We have very quickly adapted ourselves to Aussie life (rather than trying to do the opposite) and we all can't believe how great things are. I was always laid back which helps. But it suits us so much out here we can barely stand the idea of a holiday in the UK nevermind returning.

The Johnstons

We've found that we can have a lot of involvement in our girls school (in Perth). Parents are actively encouraged to do so, so it's easy to keep tabs on what the kids are up to (educationally that it ). When we arrived here in April our daughters went into Yr 1 & Yr 3 but our oldest has just been moved up a year as she was just repeating work already covered in Scotland. She's much happier now and we couldn't be happier with the way the kid's confidence has grown.
Tracey

thebears

We relocated because of the education system. Our daughter is going private in Melbourne but even the state schools would be fine. The school here in Melbourne is far superior than the schools we reviewed in the South East of England.

kellyjs

I have to second that..I work in secondary education here and have extensively researched the curriculum offered in SHS in queensland. They are very much already doing what the government is trying to achieve here with its 14-19 vocational based curriculum. Other initiatives being implemented here such as the "every child matters" and "laptops for every pupil" are already in place over there in some schools. Like anywhere in the world you will have the pioneering schools ready to wholeheartedly take up new initiatives and those quite happy to stay with the same old crappy curriculum they have been teaching for the last 20 years! Its just a matter of findng the good ones.

thebears

My wife was sent initially to school here, in Melbourne but then sent across to the UK. She feels this was a step backwards and hated her UK education, but still has fond memories of her Melbourne school.

it_hooker

Hi,

I've been in Central Coast NSW now for 2 months and I have 5 children aged 2,5,11,13 and 15, ie one not yet at school, one in state primary school Kindy, one in state primary school year 6, one in private secondary school year 8 and one in private secondary school year 10 and this is what I have found so far.

The schools are very different in Oz to the UK and it is difficult to compare. Compulsory schooling in Oz is two years shorter than the UK, ie children start one year later and can leave as soon as they are 15, although they are encouraged to stay at school until the end of year 10. Curriculum is comparable by the time they start secondary school, but obviously slower at first.

School is much more intense in that children have lots of homework and are tested almost daily. Some of my children were considered to be well above average in the UK but struggled at first over here. However, they are all enjoying school very much indeed.

I can very much recommend private school and fees over here are very low (about $3000 per year for Kindy rising to $5000 for year 10 and you get big discounts for more than one child). The main difference with primary school is size. There are over 600 children in Aus which is quite daunting for little ones at first.

So, in conclusion, I don't think Education is any worse in Aus and school discipline is much better. My two older children are experiencing their best educational experience to date, but I don't know if this would be the same in a state school. The children seem to do alot more presentations and sing the National anthem every Monday morning, and I hear children saying things to each other in the playground like "if you want Australia to be a better place, we need to learn how to get along!", so there is a great deal of National pride.

For non-acedemic children, they are encouraged to undertake vocational courses much earlier and often start apprenticeships at aged 15 in areas where there are skill shortages which makes alot of sense to me.

Hope this helps,

manxfamily

Surely it really depends on the child, if your son/daughter put the effort in then they will get on in school wherever it may be.

And who's ever heard of a company saying 'oh, you have an Australian education, then we can't take you on, goodbye.' again if your son/daughter is up for the job then they will get it.

Here on the Isle of Man there are lots of educated people working as top nurses and doctors at the local hospital, you can't walk down a corridor without hearing an Australian accent. And surely there have been lawyers, barristers, scientists and pilots etc who had the misfortune of suffering an Australian education without any hindrance to their careers.

In short, I wouldn't worry about it; your kids will be what they will be. Moving to Australia won't stop them being successful if they have it in them.

Vash the Stampede

I received an Australian state education from start to finish, and it's served me well in the UK. My wife is a high school teacher in a Birmingham suburb, so I also have some insight into the UK education system.

On the basis of my experience in Australia and the UK, I have no hesitation in saying that your kids will be fine in Australia.

There are plenty of very decent state schools out there, all of them perfectly capable of educating youngsters to a high standard.

Bollocks. If that was true, we wouldn't have more than 230,000 international uni students flooding into the country every year - many of them from places like Japan, where a superior education is highly valued, and nobody settles for anything less than the best.