Talk:Education in Australia

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[edit] Initial comments

Hi everyone! This page is slowly starting to take shape, although I see a few problems with it. Firstly, different states have different lengths of schooling. Here in WA, kids go to kindergarten, then pre-primary, then primary school for Years 1 to 7, then to high school from Years 8 to 12. Only a select few private boys schools start high school earlier than Year 8. Can the article be modified to reflect this? - Mark Ryan 11:54, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Be bold and take the lead! --Menchi (Talk)â 11:57, 8 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I'd like to see more information about the different types of Catholic and private schools in Australia. I thought there were two categories of Catholic schools: "systemic" and "private", with systemic being run by the church and changing low fees. Further, I think there's been a substantial growth in low-fee "independent" schools (obviously they're private, but don't have the eliteness that goes with that word), and there are hard-core religious schools (Jews, Muslims, etc.). My knowledge of all this is extremely shaky, NSW-specific, and thoroughly incomplete, so I couldn't possibly contribute to the article. Hopefully someone can. -- Gavin Sinclair, 2 March 2005

In South Australia, the first year of primary school is called reception, followed by years 1 - 7, then years 8 - 12 are taken in secondary school. The first section of this article makes it sound like everyone but New South Wales uses the Victorian system. -- Troyac, 1 April 2005

Also, the majority of Law degrees are undertaken as combined degrees and yes, there are ample places for students finishing year 12. The LLB on its own, is usually taken after an initial undergradauate degree and credit can be gained.

The article doesn't reflect the changes to the first years of schooling in WA, with full-time school starting at five years. I don't know enough about this to add it. Sera 05:23, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

I'm not quite sure about the statistic that 1 in 5 Australians do not have the literacy to effectively participate in normal daily life. 80% Literacy sounds more like a third world country, not Australia which has world class standards of education. All sources I've found put lieracy between 98% and 100% (Microsoft Encarta puts it at 100%), I don't think 100% is realistic but it certainly is not below 97.5%. Statistics Canada and the OECD might have some strange far-fetched idea about literacy, but as it is no one can agree on a standard; Nations have different ideas to their own states who have different ideas to other countries and then there is NGO's each with their own definitions! My point is that Australia's literacy is certainly not as poor as it is made out to be in this article. Does anyone else have any insight on this topic? Patrick M 07:00, 18 October 2005 (UTC)

In the section on Universities its states that there are 36 public universities and 2 Catholic universities. This is not teachinically correct as Australian Catholic University is a Public, Catholic university. This section should be changed Soundabuser 04:55, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

In ACT, in years 11 and 12, students go to college, not high school, could someone edit that? (i'm i.t illiterate XD) Bubzie29 06:44, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Template:Education infobox

I created a template, Template:Education infobox which can give a quick at a glance demographics table for education articles. See its implementation at Education in the United States and feel free to help improve the template.--naryathegreat | (talk) 00:59, August 7, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Qld 2007 Primary 1-6

Can someone provide cites on this. 2006 sees widespread introduction of prep year replacing preschool in Qld. I've not personaly heard about the loss of year 7s to Highschools. Alex Law 10:51, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

I checked with my local primary school (Toowoomba South State School), and the headmaster told me that the P-6 and sending 7s to highschool had been raised, but discarded. Alex Law 00:23, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Prep actually starts in 2007. All my local schools move Grade 7 to high school that same year. Aleksei 11:58, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Is this a trial, and/or is this verifiable? All sites I can find suggest no change to year 7 is afoot. Orderinchaos78 00:22, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Special education and adult options for those with disabilities

Hello everyone! I was wondering: what is the current status on Australian special education and the adult options that people explore, and can we put it in Wikipedia? How much should we put in and from what sources? It would be great to have an article on Wikipedia about Victoria's Futures for Young Adults, particularly the changes that have taken place between 2003 and 2005 (when I myself exited from the programme, and probably shouldn't have been in it in the first place as I was going to university or TAFE independently!). Other adult options should be covered too, like supported employment and the Adult Training Services. And Certificates I-IV have specially designed options, like the NMIT Ignite Programme which is now Live Performance and funded by FFYA. Also the way the states fund inclusion and other options, as well as specialist schools, should be covered, particularly in regional and remote areas. I don't know how to add this with a neutral point of view or without mucking up the development of the rest of the article. Also, special schools are 'ungraded' - well, many of them. I would really love to know more about the schools for different needs. I know the ones in Victoria, for autism spectrum conditions and intellectual disabilities, and have an interest in them. Two schools of excellence are Wantirna Heights School in the Eastern Region (and I'm not just saying this because I'm close to home!) and Western Autistic School in Glenroy, the Western Region, which is close to Scienceworks and Autistic Pride Day. --Bronwyn Gannan 12:12, 12 May 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Names for years table

While this is a good way of representing the data, it leaves out some data that was in the text that preceded it. Such as the two systems in the NT, and that SA has a Year 13. I also suspect that not all WA's high schools are called "senior high schools". Adding the varying names of preschools would be adventagous as well. matturn 06:14, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

And could someone with better HTML skillz than I please separate ACT and NSW in the table? They have different school systems - ACT has senior college for Years 11 and 12. Please don't replace text with tables without retaining important information. Natgoo 08:33, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks 203.173.7.153! Natgoo 09:13, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Infobox information

In the infobox it states that the federal education system was established in 1895, clearly this cannot be true considering that Australia did not federate until 1901. Does anyone know what year it should be?? Soundabuser 00:31, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

The National Schools date back to before the split between NSW and Qld (before 1850?). In Qld National Schools became State Schools. Some Commonwealth departments came into existance before Federation, education may have been one of them.Alex Law 09:38, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

Seeing that the "National Gallery of Victoria" doesn't relate to the nation of Victoria, nor does the "South Australian National Football League" relate to the South Australian nation, I suspect the system of NSW "National Schools" at best relates to a NSW nation, but most likely to the nation of Great Britain and Ireland.

The date "1895" may come from [1] or it's derivatives. At that date, the last state school system was established. matturn 13:52, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Primary and Secondary

 Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (January 2007)

I have noticed that the information on primary and secondary education has been Coming Soon for about 4 months now. Maybe someone needs to actually complete those sections. TKLM 10:07, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] School year and day

Is the school year typically August/September to May/June as in the United States, does it follow the Southern Hemisphere seasons, or is it all-year? -- Beland 00:15, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

Oh, and is the primary and secondary school day typically 6 hours, as in the U.S.? -- Beland 00:16, 22 October 2006 (UTC)
Late January to mid December. If it's not in there, it should be - I'll check. Orderinchaos78 00:24, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
Done. Orderinchaos78 00:28, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Grades in different states

It should be remembered here that, because of the differing regulations in different states, different systems of grades (years) are employed. For example, in New South Wales, there are two systems in play, each of which overlaps the other: A stage system (Early Stage 1 and Stages 1 to 6) and the standard grade (year) system (Kindergarten, Grades (Years) 1 to 12), with Grade 7/Stage 4 signalling the beginning of high school. In Queensland, high school starts at Grade (Year) 8, and so forth. Analyses of each individual state needs to be brought into focus, as well as what subjects are taught (and how) in each state and level. --JB Adder | Talk 01:55, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

2 year "stages" also exist in the Victorian system, if not other states and territories, though have little practical impact. By all means mention them, but I recommend not trying to add them the "school years" table. matturn 13:35, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Attainment?

What is the source for the Attainment rates quoted on this page 91% have a secondary diploma and 69% have a post secondary diploma? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.33.164.230 (talk) 00:12, 30 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Use of term "Independent"

While Catholic schools are as independent of the government as any other non-government school, I am yet to see them referred to as (big-I) "Independent Schools" anywhere but this article. If someone doesn't defend this choice of nomenclature here, I'll likely change the article back to the more standard usage. matturn 13:38, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Some Catholic Schools in Australia are "Independent" Schools and are called "Independent Schools" even though they are Catholic. Many of the Independent Catholic Schools are high-fee paying such as St Ignatius, Sydney and Loreto, Melbourne. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Steve Stefan (talk • contribs) 22:35, 6 May 2007 (UTC).
So a minority of Catholic schools are independent of the larger Catholic education bodies, pitch themselves at the same social strata as the most prominent "Independent" schools (unlike the majority of Catholic schools), and call themselves "Independent" on occasion. Looking at the websites of the two schools Steve has mentioned, the first calls itself a "Catholic" school, while the send calls itself an "Independent Catholic" one. I will update the article accordingly. matturn 10:29, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Juniors separated in NSW?

The article states that juniors are separated in primary school in NSW for several years. This just does not tally with my personal experience. Mattabat 13:33, 8 October 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Minimum 'starting school age' table

The column showing the minimum age for beginning school was not correct for some of the states. It did not match the data from the original source, nor the column next to it, nor what the situation is in reality (at least in the ACT). So, I corrected it. Please feel free to revert my edit, if you believe I am wrong. Rai27 13:22, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] References

The infobox needs referencing. Auroranorth (!) 13:12, 12 November 2007 (UTC)