Education

The Education system in Australia consists of a total of 12 years. Primary schools and high schools are based on the age of the student, so that every room has the same age group, with a student hardly having to repeat a year.

The students with problems in their studies may be put into special classes to help with academic deficits. The majority of the children start in primary school at the age of 5 years (year 1) and the child studies in primary school until they are around 12 years old (year 6).

Primary and secondary schools in Australia

There are many types of education for children up to 5 years, but the main ones are the "Child Care" regulated centres or families in registered residences who take care of the kids in a system called "Family Day Care".

High School

The student goes for secondary school with 12/13 years (year 7), and is he/she is only compulsorily required to stay to year 10, receiving a junior high school certificate but not a high school certificate.

The year 11 (15/16 year olds) and 12 (16/17 year olds) are optional but are required to be successfully completed to attain a high school diploma.

Some of the options for those students leaving the school in year 10 include training – apprenticeship, to enter the work force or to study in any vocational course.

Year 11 and 12

The results of the last two years of high school are the most important ones, as they are the ones to be evaluated for entry levels in Universities. The results which you achieve for each subject (compared to the rest of the students) will then give you a rank.

The board of secondary studies then calculates an “OP” score (overall position) using a formula of your high school results and a test called “QCS” (in Queensland) which is taken by every year 12 in the State, which is used to compare students (schools) of the same year level between schools.

The last 2 years is where students begin to guide their education towards their chosen professions. The student will choose what to study depending on the career in which they intend to follow.

For example, a student who wants to do Engineering in University should chose subjects such as physics, and high level mathematics instead of subjects such as history, or biology. For international students there are options with easier level subjects inside the curriculum.

There is the easy level English, the easy mathematics etc, and they are the options for the students not going to apply for a academic career in an university course.

In general the subjects are divided in letters such as Maths type A, B, C or names such as Board English (harder one) and English Communication (easier one).