Random interest in other country's education systems

[Muskys]

To me I've had this interest for a while. When I was 16/17 I wondered what my equivalents "across the pond" were doing.

I love watching school swap episodes and really enjoyed the Chinese school series back in 2015. Been really fascinated by the east Asian countries teach for example maths.

Does anyone else have this?

this came up on my instagram feed yesterday and i found it very interesting

comparison between Swedish and Finnish schools from the 90s to now.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DWiu8aQCE7P/?img_index=3&igsh=NXRxcjEwYnYwczJ3

South Korea is an interesting one. From the age of 12 the vast majority of children finish school in the afternoon at about the same time as English children do, and are then bussed to a private school where they have several more hours of lessons.

In 2008 a law was passed in Korea that the private cram schools (hagwons) must shut by 10pm - otherwise some of the children would be there until even later and then have to go to school in the morning.

I was always, as a kid/teen, fascinated at the thought of what it was like in other countries.

We now live abroad and my kids are going through the local system here (my username is a giveaway as to where that is!) and whilst there’s pros and cons compared to the uk, they are happy and doing well so overall we’re happy too.

Class sizes have been between 16-21 kids, great facilities, lots of focus on “learning how to learn”, the early years were about fine and gross motor skills, independence, following protocols, socializing etc. As they’ve got older it’s more rigorous with frequent tests and A LOT depends on the teachers overall.

Sometimes I feel it’s all a bit dry, lacking creativity or critical thinking, and a sense of school community is missing too, but in general I’d say it’s a good system.

I was honestly obsessed with thinking what my fellow teens across the world were doing day to day at school.

There are 4 different school systems in the UK - England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland. They are not the same - in fact there are very big differences. So this is one area where talking about "the UK" is very unhelpful.