Primary education

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article relates to primary schools (also known in some parts of the world as elementary schools or grade schools). For the American educational institution in São Paulo, Brazil, see Graded School.

Primary or elementary education consists of the first years of formal, structured education that occur during childhood. In most countries, it is compulsory for children to receive primary education (though in many jurisdictions it is permissible for parents to provide it). Primary education generally begins when children are four to seven years of age. The division between primary and secondary education is somewhat arbitrary, but it generally occurs at about eleven or twelve years of age (adolescence); some educational systems have separate middle schools with the transition to the final stage of secondary education taking place at around the age of fourteen. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, schools which provide primary education are referred to as primary schools. Primary schools in these countries are often subdivided into infant schools and junior schools.

In Canada and the United States, schools providing primary education are more often referred to as elementary schools or grade schools. Canada and the United States also group together primary and secondary education under the header of K-12 education (K is for kindergarten, 12 is for twelfth grade). In America and Canada a system of grades is used to describe the various stages of education. Americans tend to call grades by the ordinal number and Canadians by the cardinal, i.e., 12th grade (American), grade 12 (Canadian).

In the United Kingdom children are educated in year groups. In England and Wales primary education covers the period from Reception (ages four to five) to Year 6. Secondary education commences in Year 7 at the age of eleven. (See Education in England). In Scotland and Northern Ireland primary education covers the period from primary 1 to primary 7. Secondary education commences with Secondary 1/S1 (First year) at approximately 12 years old. (See Education in Scotland and Education in Northern Ireland).

[edit] General information

Typically, primary education is provided in schools, where the child will stay in steadily advancing classes until they complete it and move on to secondary schooling. Children are usually placed in classes with one teacher who will be primarily responsible for their education and welfare for that year. This teacher may be assisted to varying degrees by specialist teachers in certain subject areas, often music or physical education. The continuity with a single teacher and the opportunity to build up a close relationship with the class is a notable feature of the primary education system.

Over the past few decades, schools in the USA have been testing various arrangements which break from the one-teacher, one-class mould. Multi-age programs, where children in different years/grades (e.g. Reception/Kindergarten through to year three/second grade) share the same classroom and teachers, is one increasingly popular alternative to traditional elementary instruction. An alternative is that children might have a main class and go to another teacher's room for one subject, such as science, while the science teacher's main class will go to the other teacher's room for another subject, such as social studies. This could be called a two-teacher, two-class mould, or a rotation, similar to the concept of teams in middle school. Another method is to have the children have one set of classroom teachers in the first half of the year, and a different set of classroom teachers in the second half of the year.

The major goals of primary education are achieving basic literacy and numeracy amongst all their pupils, as well as establishing foundations in science, geography, history and other social sciences. The relative priority of various areas, and the methods used to teach them, are an area of considerable political debate.

Traditionally, various forms of corporal punishment have been an integral part of early education. Recently this practice has come under attack, and in many cases been outlawed, especially in Western countries.

[edit] See also

• Education by country
• Universal Primary Education

[edit] External links

• Differentiation of Instruction in the Elementary Grades
• Recess in Elementary School: What Does the Research Say?
• Multicultural Children's Literature in the Elementary Classroom
• Ability Grouping in Elementary Schools
• Cognitive Learning in the Environment: Elementary Students
• Online Resources for Primary Students