lee/jane

Help, I have just been on the forum 'Moving back to the UK'. On there people are talking about how bad the education system is out in Oz. I have a 9year old and a 7 year old, both boys. The 9 year old is the youngest in his class over here, and out there he will be in the middle. I thought this would be good for him as he is of average standard, but the things I have just read about the schools out there, being so bad and way behind the UK school, makes me so worried. What I want to know is there any REAL evidence of this, or is it just people who are on their way back, remembering the UK as being all rosy.

Jane

Jirrupin

If you have been a member of the forum since March, you must have already seen lots of debates on this HOT topic. There was a thread as recently as last week, use the search facility and you will find this thread and many others..

There are lots of different opinions on this subject all based upon personal experience. Why not ask those posting on the moving back to the UK forum to explain the differences they found and find out if upon their return to the Uk, they had been too nostalgic about the education system.

lee/jane

I don't want people opinions, I want hard evidence. Does anyone know how to get it?

I might have been a member since March, but I don't live on here.

Graham & Kath

I think with regard to all this business about rubbish education is because everyone keeps comparing it with UK. People seem to forget that
a. the kids start a year later out there so obviously what they learn here their gonna do again out there
b. it cant be that bad there seems to be plenty of teachers, etc out there and
c. i reckon its all due to the individual child if they wanna put themselves out etc

Theres some right c...y schools in UK and no one seems to keep going on about them!!!(a couple of them by me!!)

Anyway, thats my opinion and i suppose someones gonna come back and give me grief!!!

Kath

teach

Hi Lee and Jane

I work in a school in Wales which is considered to be way behind England. In a lot of areas we are but then we are ahead of them in others. As a teacher I can't wait to go to Oz as (and I hope I'm not proved wrong) the curriculum seems far more balanced than ours. All we seem to do is prepare children for tests. It appears that Oz schools are more relaxed, surely that has to be a good thing for kids. I know it will be for me. I can't wait to get out there. Try having a look at qld.gov.au and searching for education. Many of their policies are similar to ours. Good luck.
Sarah

Madhouse!

I agree with you Kath, and that it is upto the indvidual child in how much they want to learn and are capable of taking in...and the way i see it the schools and there way of teaching cannot get anyworse than the ones my children attend now
My son is below average back here, and in my opinion does'nt get the extra help i think he deserves in school, and as far as homework is concerned im lucky if he brings back 1 piece a week. (he is 9yrs old)!
I buy the SATS revision books which you can buy from any bookshop or even supermarkets to give him the extra help he needs

Claire

Paul&Ann-Marie

I tend to agree with teach in that we seem to prepare kids for tests.
I also have to DISagree with Claire when it comes to homework.Our youngest brings back far more homework than our son did two years ago and i think the pressure will tell in the long run.
She is 6 years old and has 10 spellings a week to learn, last week's were:
Annoying
Enjoyed
Joining and boiled to name a few.

We find she hates school and is also under a great deal of pressure to do well with her spellings ( threatened with detention during breaks ) and to be honest i find this a harsh environment for children of such a tender age.

If anything, I would think a more relaxed environment and a smoother learning curve would prove more beneficial long term.

Just my personal thoughts, please correct me if you think i'm wrong.

Paul

lee/jane

Sarah

Thanks for that, it's nice to get a bit of inside information. Glad to read curriculum is more balanced out there and I agree, all our school seems to think about is SATS and not each childs ability. They want robots, all at the same level at the same time. I do want the best for my children, but above all I want them happy.

Jane

janeyray

My daughter has been in two schools since being here. The first was a state school with 20 in the class, 10 age 6 and 10 age 7. The second and current school is a private fee paying school, with around 30 in the class. The age range starts at 5 (pre-primary), 6 (year one) and 7 (year two).

I found that most schools in Perth had mixed age groups per class.

Just one question I keep asking myself is 'how can a 5 year old pre primary learn the same as a 7 year old year two, and vise versa?' I'am told its all about intergration and being able to mix with all age groups.

So it's not about learning and education then?

PeteY

My thoughts, as a non parent.....

You get good schools and bad schools anywhere in the world. Its not so much the education standard of the whole country you would want to look at, as the education standard in the school you have selected. Thats possibly why some parents in aus are happy with the schooling (i.e, kids went to good schools) and some parents are not (kids went to not such good schools....). Statistically....Australia does better than the UK in education standards, although i can't remember any links. Mrs Dagboy posted one a few days ago comparing maths, english and science, and Aus beat the UK on EVERY count.

My opinion also....is that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. My wife, and ALL of our Australian friends are very intelligent and come accross as being well educated. Read the posts of the aussies on this board for example, and you will see that the spelling, grammer and general literacy is, i believe, higher than many of the English who post here.

In summary.......find a good school.....and your kiddies will receive a good education. Wherever you are.

MrsDagboy

Lee/Jane, this is the thread that Donna was referring to. Are Aussie schools behind? .

The facts (as you put it) are that Australia ranked in front of the UK in the last International League Tables by a few places. Australia also ranks higher in the TIMSS table than the UK. If you read that thread that I posted it has a link to the TIMSS results & it will also give you a fairly good indication of what others on here think. Of course there are bad schools in Australia, just as there are in the UK, you also need to choose one that you think will suit your child. And define your idea of *better* to help you do the choosing.

I have to say, I doubt if you would get an honest answer from those who have returned to the UK whether the schools were better anyway. Ive read some posts, to say they are biased is putting it nicely!

Gibson

I don't post that often but this thread really got to me!

My son (who was 7 yesterday) really struggled with school in the UK. I was forever being asked to stay behind to talk to Bens teacher over his behaviour. He was never outright naughty just had huge concentration problems and was a slow learner. They did sod all to help and over the year he got further and further behind. He was in a split 1/2 class and he was in the bottom group in year 1. I spent a lot of the year in tears as we all want our children to do well. Anyway to cut a long story short, we have been in Perth 2 months. Ben will have only done 1 term of year 2 before they put him into year 3 in February. I am fighting to keep him down a year as I know that he just won't cope. We had an appointment with the school pyschologist who had assessed Ben thoroughly - she now agrees with me about keeping him down. We think Ben has something called CAPD - Central Auditory Processing Disorder, which means he cannot process information that he learns, he has a problems with his hearing which stem back to having glue ear and he only hears every second word when being spoken to. Now you tell me how come this was never picked up in the UK!!!!!! I am soooo chuffed that at last I know why he forgets everything I tell him and that when he says he never heard me he actually didn't!

That is only one story, yes the education system is different but so is everything else, thats why we left the UK. My daughter loves school here the pressure is off them whilst they are young.
But they still learn just in a different way.

Jane.

DianeOZ

Jane - I'm glad your sons problem is being recognised. My husbands little brother has the same thing and it took till he was 11 for them actually to say this was what it was.

Our kids are both really happy at school too, yes it's different to Uk but we didn't come here for things to be the same did we?

Diane

Beverley

Hi Jane,

The education system is 'different' to the UK. It is certainly not as formal, with teachers ticking boxes and drowning in mounds of paperwork to keep inspectors happy.

I'm not sure if in the UK we have become a bit anally retentive about education.

My 6 year old twins started school in Melbourne (state school) in October. Due to the cut off dates, ie a child has to be 5 by end April to start school the following Jan. This means that many children are almost 6 before they begin school. It is also common for parents to hold back children, especially boys until the following year. I had expected my twins to go into year one for the final term, they would have started year 2 in Sept, back in the UK. However they were put into Prep grade. I was concerned and to some point still am. They had already done 2 full years at school.

It seems to me so far, that less is expected of children in primary school than in the UK. However, my children are loving it, are definitely learning, but learning through doing. They are outdoors alot, play alot and do lots of sport. All the kids are very active, a real change from computer games bound kids at home.

I have been advised that depending on which area you live, it may be necessary to send ones kids to private school at secondary level. Checking fees, they range between $11,000-$16,000 per child per year!

It is still early days for us, the dury's out. I can't say yet whether it is a bad education system or just different. Certainly an Australian university educated adult compares with a UK university educated adult, I haven't thought god this nation is thick!

Hope that helps

Beverley

janeyray

I'am so glad your happy with your childrens school, it counts for a lot doesn't it. Hopefully now your son will cope a lot better at school.

I live in Ellenbrook, so we're almost neighbours!!