Educational system of Cyprus

Pavlos sent this information from Cyprus.
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The schools in Cyprus are divided into Elementary school (6 years), Gymnasium (3 years) and Lyceum (3 more years) or Technical school (3 years). Public schools are mainly chosen from those students that want to study to a university in Cyprus or Greece (i.e. in the Greek language) whereas students choosing the private schools mainly target in studying in U.K. or the States as in a private school most of the classes are tutored in English (except Greek, Math and History). Also, in a private school one has to pay so only students that their parents can afford to pay the tuition choose to go there. Throughout these 12 years the school years starts in September and ends in early July. Furthermore, all schools require their students to wear a particular uniform to school; public schools have a unique uniform whereas each private school has its own. During the first six years in the Elementary school students are taught Greek, arts, math, music, religion, general science, geography and physical education. All students are to progress to Gymnasium. In Gymnasium students are taught Greek literature, foreign language (English), Art, Music, Religion, History, Chemistry, Argent Greek, Math, Physics and Biology. From Gymnasium students can either choose to go to Lyceum or to the technical school. In a Technical school students major mostly in technical jobs like plumbing, building, e.t.c. but they also have classes in the same subjects as in gymnasium but, of course, more advanced. Would a student choose to go to the Lyceum he should choose a specific sector to which they want to major in; they can go to (a) Practico where they are taught Advanced Physics, Advanced Math, Advanced Chemistry (b) Klassiko where they are taught Latin, philosophy, European Literature (c) Oikomiko where the students have many classes abut economics and mathematics (same level of mathematics as in Practico) and (d) Emporiko where students take classes aiming to teach them how to manage a corporation. In all sectors, as well and in the last 3 years in the technical school, students also take French as a second foreign language but also some computer classes. Teachers only get to teach in elementary school. In Gymnasium and Lyceum only people with University degrees are allowed to teach. For example math is taught by mathematicians, physics by physicists, e.t.c. Same holds in a Technical school but there only people that graduate from technical institutes get to tech (in Cyprus we have ATI, the Superior Technical institute). Both in the gymnasium and Lyceum but also in the technical school, every student is required to take an examination (in major courses) after each year around July. Should they fail, they should take an additional examination in the course they have failed in September. If they fail again (even in one course) they should attend once again the whole year.

At the end of the last year of Lyceum and the Technical school, students who choose to continue for a university degree have to give an additional examination at the end of July. The pool for these exams is all the students throughout Cyprus who choose to have a university degree. All students have to fill out a list in which he should write the possible degrees he would like to major in along with the town they would like to study at. For example I chose Chemical Engineering in Athens, Thessalonica and Patras and Physics in Cyprus, Athens, Thessalonica and Patras. The sequence in which the degrees and cities are written is very important. For example assume that all three Chemical Engineering schools choose to take only 50 students each this year. If 150 students throughout Cyprus score a higher grade than me then I would not be able to attend a Chemical Engineering school and my name would be included in the list for a placement in the Physics departments; if I scored 145 in this list I would be able to attend Chemical Engineering but it would have to be in Patras. However, not all students are allowed to choose all degrees. As an example students from Practiko are allowed to apply for Physics, Math, Chemistry and for a Medical degree but can not apply for Greek literature or Philosophy degrees. Students from Oikonomiko can apply for all economic degrees and also for math departments (as they had advanced math in Lyceum) but can not apply for a Physics or Chemistry department. The duration of the undergraduate studies lasts either 4, 5 and 6 years. Polytechnic schools (Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, e.t.c) last for 5 years, a Medical degree lasts for 6 years whereas everything else for 4 years.

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from Pavlos

Pavlos's introduction from Cyprus

This is the introduction that Pavlos sent from Cyprus/Greece.

- Your name: Pavlos S.
- Where you live: Nicosia, Cyprus
- Your Position/Title: Graduate student, Patras, Greece
- The grade or level, subject you are teaching or taught: I have been a teaching assistant at the University of Patras in 3 undergraduate classes. However, I had no teaching experience in the secondary education level
- Interests/hobby I am interested in reading books, reading and writing poetry and painting
- And anything else about you
For the past 8 years I have been living in Patras, Greece since there I had my undergraduate but also graduate studies.

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from Pavlos

Problems and Issues in Britain

This is from James who was a professor in Britain.
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I will have a think about what I can say about schools in Britain. My
work has been in a university, teaching environmental studies. I still
do a little teaching but am mostly retired. I am
not even a parent so I have no experience of schools except as a
school student, and in meeting my university students.

We are,
however, at an interesting time. (1) For 20 years the government has been
saying, "teachers are no good, we must watch them and we must test the
school students. Test, test, test". Now people realise that, if you
ask teachers and students to do tests, that is all they know about,
how to do tests, how to give the right answers. What about creativity,
what about loving to learn? (2) For 20 years,
governments have been trying to create schools that are not run by the
local governments, but by other organisations, such as businesses. The
government wanted schools to do better through competition. (3) We now
have in the last few years all the new techologies and trying to learn
what they can do to make teaching and learning easier and better. I am
trying to learn what difference these technologies make to a university.

Do you have these problems?

--
James

Nick Vujicic - Life Without Limits

I would like to share this movie with all of you. I think it can be a great educational resource for students.



"No Arms, No Limbs, No Worries"

-Motivator speaks at St. Mary's High School.

Reggie Robbins- ESL tutor- was a teacher for 20 years

- Why did I choose to be an educator? When I was in college I worked part time in a school for juvenile delinquent girls. As I got to know the girls I was deeply moved by their struggle to find their place in this world and how they probably would never have a good life. How difficult their lives had been. I use to think if only a teacher had touched their lives in a positive way when they were younger...maybe they would not be locked up know. At that time I changed my major and got my masters degree in education. -
How satisfied are you with your job? I taught elementary school for a time and then got involved in teaching ESL. I love teaching ESL. I have learned more from my students than I have ever taught them. My next step is that I hope to begin teaching English in Haiti (for 2 or 3 months a year).
Are you glad you chose teaching as a profession? Absolutely!!!!
Is your job rewarding to you? Very much Why?- I really like all my students. And I have learned so much from all of them.
What level of stress do you feel at your job? When I first started teaching a TOEFL class I felt a lot of stress but now almost no stress at all.
Do you ever feel burn-out?- Not now that I am tutoring and not teaching in the classroom.
What age do you plan to retire? I plan on retiring when I am too old to be able to hear my students or I fall asleep in the middle of a lesson.

Regina

The Crisis of the Korean Public Education

Korean has higher education fever than any other nations. It is a social atmosphere and gradually increasing. About 90% of secondary school students take out-of-school lessons such as English, math, science, and other subjects for preparations of school classes. Young elementary school students are also in the same situation. After school they study in each institute or with tutors to get good GPA. The tuition is not cheap. Therefore, much of a family income is spent in private education for their children. (In Korea, the regular school education including public and private schools is called the public education, and individual out-of-school lessons such as tutoring or private institutes are called the private education.)

However, the private education fever has caused the collapse of public education. Students who already studied the curricula feel bored by the school classes. Some of them stealthily study other materials in the classroom. Several students even sleep or doze in class because they take out-of-school lessons until late night so are tired. Many students think that they don’t need to concentrate in class because they already know the classwork. As a result, teachers’ job satisfaction is decreasing, and the will to teach is also weakening. Most teachers feel that their professional teaching ability is not respected by their students. The most serious problem is that these students cannot study by themselves. They tend to depend on lectures of instructors out of school, so that young students cannot make their own study plan and do not even know how to study by themselves.

How about your country's public schools? Do you have any problems similar to South Korean schools?

Korean school system and curriculum

The Korean public education structure is divided into three parts: six years of primary school, followed by three years of middle school and then three years of high school.

The primary curriculum consists of nine principal subjects: moral education, Korean language, social studies, mathematics, science, physical education, music, fine arts, and practical arts. English-language instruction now begins in the third grade, so that children can start learning English in a relaxed atmosphere through conversational exchange, rather than through rote learning of grammatical rules as is still the practice in many middle and high schools.

Upon completion of primary school, students advance to middle school, which comprises grades seven through nine. The curriculum consists of 12 basic or required subjects, electives, and extracurricular activities. While elementary school instructors teach all subjects, middle school teachers, like their colleagues in the United States, are content specialists. High schools are divided into academic and vocational schools. A small number attended specialized high schools concentrating in science, the arts, foreign languages, and other specialized fields. Most of these specialized schools are so-called elite schools. Only top students in middle schools can enter into these schools.

Education in India

This is from Myvizhi who are from Southern part of India. She is studying in a doctor course in the U.S.

School education in India is broadly classified into four levels
1) Preprimary
2) Primary
3) Secondary
4) Higher secondary

Overall, schooling lasts for 12 years and the medium of instruction can be English or the regional state language. However, most private schools offer English as their medium of instruction. Schools will usually begin in the month of june/July and end in the month of march or april with approximately 45 to 60 days of summer holidays. All schools require their students to wear a particular unform to school.The schools are controlled by governing bodies such as
- The state government boards, in which the vast majority of Indian school
-children are enrolled, - The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) board,
- The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) board,
- National Open School and
- "International schools."
These schools mimic the schools in the West in pattern and syllabi and are considerably more expensive than regular schools. The exams conducted have the syllabus of any one of the above-mentioned Councils or Boards.

Preprimary schooling can also be called nursery schooling where the children are admited at age 3 and has two years of schooling (lower kindergarden and upper kindergarden levels). Preprimary is not a mandatory but most private school insist on admitting only children with preprimary schooling into primary school.Primary schooling system has class levels from 1 to 5 (in India grade is usually reffered as class). Most public (state schools) admit children at the age of five into class 1 and most public school do not have mandatory preschooling requirements.

Secondary schooling system has lass levels from 6 to 10. Unlike, the flexibilty in selecting subjects that American school system offer student at this level, the Indian system does not offer such flexibility. All the students are required to take all the subjects (e.g. physics, biology etc.) which is stipulated by the governing body. At the end of the secondary schooling, every student is required to take a comprehensive exam.

Higher secondary system has two classes (class 11 and 12). This system however offers some form of flexibility in choosing the subjects based on the governing board and the school. There are limitations on the combinations and permutations of the subjects a student can choose.The governing body may have ten more combinations of subjects commonly called groups (each group offers a set of subjects) and some schools may not offer all the groups. For example, Physics, Chemistry, Computer Science and Advance Math can be in one group while bussiness sccountancy, economics, finance can be in another group and there may not be a group that may offer Chemistry, Finance, Biology as one group . There is also a limitation on the number of the students that can be admitted into one group and hence the score (in class 10) that the student secures determine if he can choose a particular group. For example, Smith is a 10th class student who has a score of 58% (overall) and wants to take advanced math, physics and chemistry (let us assume this to be Group 1)and Ron has a score of 68% (overall). Prefernce will be given to Ron by the school to select group 1 and if group 1 get filled then Smith may have to change schools to get his preferred group (this school may not be as good as the current school Smith like to join). Hence, the class 10 exam carries a lot of weightage and the students are under a lot of pressure to obtain high scores. Once a student chooses a group in class 11 he cannot change his group in class 12. At the end of class 12, all the students have to take a comprehensive exam and the scores in this exam can be used by Universities to determine admission.

The Indian universities may admit students based on the entrance exam that they may conduct or solely based on the class 12 scores or a combination of both. Unlike the American University system, Indian Universities do not admit students with undecided majors. The University can state the it will admit students to engineering major only if they have taken physics, chemistry and advance math as subjects in the higher secondary schooling. This requirement will change with each major that is offered by the University. Since there are limited number of students that the University may accept into a particular major, class 12 scores and entrance exam scores are of vital importance to the career of a student. Therefore to be succesfull in obtaining the desired major in the best ranked university, a student has to be focussed from his class 10 (class 8 in most cases) and has to be consistently securing high scores. Most parents take a lot of interest in their child's career and therefore guide their children throughout the entire process of selecting their career.

This is my subjective thoughts and experiences in the education of India.The teachers in India have lot of authority and the students are bound to listen to them. Unlike in US you can not drink or eat during lectures. During your undergraduate it is bit more relaxed but still these rules reply.I love the syllabus in Indian school. It is well organized. We learn a lot at our young age like differential calculus in our higher secondary school rather than in colleges over here. But I have to admit the facilities here for education is very good. The online features like blackboard and the usage of projectors during the classes are not available in India.The American professors are bit lenient with the students I guess. They do not expect the students to work on holidays and weekends (I am not sure about this). But a college undergrad student takes a maximum of 12 credits while we Indians take like 22 - 28 credits. I don't find anything problem with an American professors but I am really impressed with the projects they allow to the students and a lot more open book exams (which means you have to be strong in your fundamentals to answer the questions). It tests our knowledge rather than just reproducing what is exactly in the book. We used to memorize a lot of formulas which are not required here. They take it slow and easy here. We start schooling at the age of 3 and here it is at 5. And students are allowed to explore outside world during their college education. We have something similar but it is very minimal and mostly we go for research assistant rather than just go to Paris to learn French. And most of the Indians finish their undergraduate college education at the age of 21 - 22. And graduate studies are done later but mostly we try to finish our education at the earliest.

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from Myvizhi

I'm an art teacher from South Korea

Hi, All!

I am Seri Son. I am an art teacher in a middle school in South Korea. I am temporally retiring for several years from 2007. I have taught just for a year as an art teacher. But, I love teaching and my students!
In the fall of 2008, I entered the University of Tennessee and am pursuing an M.S. degree in Instructional Technology. This is my second semester and I think this field of study is very interesting.
After starting this study in the U.S., I have been concerned with diverse cultures, and education in various countries. Because, I have met many people who have a various skin color, different cultures, and values, so that I realized that a much bigger world than my thought before exists.

I hope we meet many people in different countries and share various opinion and information about our education.

Art Class in Teahwa Middle School, South Korea

Overview of this project

1. Title: Educational Systems and Issues in the World

2. Participants: Educators from various countries

3. Language: English

4. Communication tools: a blog and email

5. Overview: Educators (teachers, people who work in schools) from different countries will write about their country’s educational systems and issues on the project blog or share these information and their own opinions by e-mail. They may talk about anything they want to or answer some questions which a project coordinator already created on the blog. They also would discuss about global educational issues and trends. For example, home schooling, the role of current public schools, students’ behaviors, bilingual education, and teacher’s social status, new technologies applied in school, etc. Participants would post their digital photos or video in education.

6. Through this project, all participants can understand and learn about their own and other countries’ different educational circumstances, and recognize and consider global issues through sharing each opinion. Also, they will get a wider view point of the world as an educator. Additionally, they will be able to learn about internet communication skills through participating in this project.