John Dominic N.

Romero

Critique or comment on educational systems of schools in the world

Education is a social institution through which a society’s children are taught basic academic knowledge,
learning skills, and cultural norms. Every nation in the world is equipped with some form of education
system, though those systems vary greatly. The major factors that affect education systems are the
resources and money that are utilized to support those systems in different nations. As you might
expect, a country’s wealth has much to do with the amount of money spent on education. Countries
that do not have such basic amenities as running water are unable to support robust education systems
or, in many cases, any formal schooling at all. The result of this worldwide educational inequality is a
social concern for many countries, including the Philippines.

Education in the Philippines

As Philippines could still be categorized as an ‘newly-industrialized’ country, problems in the educational

system persists as inequality and wealth distribution still exists. Reforms were then initiated by then
Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro in 2013 and called it ‘the most comprehensive basic education
reform initiative ever done in the country since the establishment of the public education system more
than a century ago.’ Structural changes were done in the basic education system that significantly
boosted education expenditures. Crucially, the “Kindergarten Education Act”, passed in 2011, enacted a
mandatory pre-elementary year of Kindergarten education, while the “2013 Basic Education Act”,
extended the elementary and secondary education cycle from 10 to 12 years. The importance of this
new 12-year education cycle (K-12), which adds two years of mandatory senior secondary schooling for
every Filipino student, cannot be understated.

Until the reforms, the Philippines was one of only three countries in the world (the other two being
Angola and Djibouti), with a 10-year basic education cycle. As such, the K-12 reforms are an essential
step to improve the global competitiveness of the Philippines and bring the country up to international
standards. Implementation of the new system is progressing on schedule and the first student cohort
will graduate from the new 12-year system in 2018.

Education in Finland

Over the course of thirty years, Finland has pulled itself from among the lowest rankings by the
Organization of Economic Cooperation (OEDC) to first in 2012, and remains, as of 2014, in the top five.
Contrary to the rigid curriculum and long hours demanded of students in South Korea and Singapore,
Finnish education often seems paradoxical to outside observers because it appears to break a lot of the
rules, we take for granted. It is common for children to enter school at seven years old, and children will
have more recess and less hours in school than Filipino children—approximately 300 less hours. Their
homework load is light when compared to all other industrialized nations (nearly 300 fewer hours per
year in elementary school). There are no gifted programs, almost no private schools, and no high-stakes
national standardized tests.

Prioritization is different in Finland compared to what we have here in the Philippines. There is an
emphasis on allocating resources for those who need them most, high standards, support for special
needs students, qualified teachers taken from the top 10 percent of the nation’s graduates and who
must earn a Master’s degree, evaluation of education, balancing decentralization and centralization.

There are no mandated standardized tests in Finland, apart from one exam at the end of students’
senior year in high school. There are no rankings, no comparisons or competition between students,
schools or regions. Finland’s schools are publicly funded. The people in the government agencies
running them, from national officials to local authorities, are educators, not business people, military
leaders or career politicians. Every school has the same national goals and draws from the same pool of
university-trained educators. The result is that a Finnish child has a good shot at getting the same quality
education no matter whether he or she lives in a rural village or a university town. The differences
between weakest and strongest students are the smallest in the world, according to the most recent
survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). “Equality is the most
important word in Finnish education. All political parties on the right and left agree on this,” said Olli
Luukkainen, president of Finland’s powerful teachers union.

Ninety-three percent of Finns graduate from academic or vocational high schools, 17.5 percentage
points higher than the United States, and 66 percent go on to higher education, the highest rate in the
European Union.

Education in Japan

The Japanese education system is modeled on and heavily influenced by its American counterpart. The
Fundamental Law of Education, passed in 1947 under American occupation, introduced the 6+3+3+4
structure of Japanese education: six years of elementary education, three years at lower secondary
school, three at upper secondary school followed by four years at university for those in the academic
stream.

Japanese school children consistently achieve impressive results in international benchmarking tests
such as the OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which is testimony to a high
school system that enrolls over 97 percent of junior school students and graduates close to all of them.

With approximately three million students enrolled at over 1,200 universities and junior colleges, Japan
provides a wealth of opportunities for students wishing to pursue tertiary education. Yet despite these
opportunities, the nation’s universities are widely considered to constitute the weakest component of
the education system. For students, the battle lies in gaining admission to a prestigious school; once
admitted, students typically breeze through the first three years of their undergraduate program and
spend the final year job hunting.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), in conjunction with
university professors and the Central Council for Education, establishes broad guidelines for the content
of each school subject from preschool education through senior high school. The curriculum for each
grade level is carefully calibrated to pick up each year where the previous grade left off, and to ensure
preparation for the following grade. Ministry specialists prepare teacher guidebooks in each subject with
input from experienced teachers. While teachers may make adaptations, they are expected to follow
the national curriculum.
This national curriculum is revised about once every decade. It is currently being revised and a new
curriculum will be rolled out in stages starting in 2020. The current curriculum was revised in 2008 and
was fully implemented in 2013. That revision represented a shift from the previous decade when
curriculum was “loosened” and requirements reduced to allow more flexibility for schools and to reduce
the “burdens” on students. After a dip in both PISA and TIMMS scores following those changes, the 2008
revisions reversed direction and added more instructional time and increased the content and
complexity of subject matter. It also required students to begin English in primary school. While the
reform did move Japan back towards its more traditional curriculum, it also maintained teaching of
integrated subjects and a focus on applying knowledge. The latest proposals for revision include adding
history, geography and public affairs as compulsory subjects in senior high schools and adding an
optional course for high school students that allows students to choose themes from mathematics and
science for independent research.

Textbook publishers produce books that adhere very closely to the national curriculum, and MEXT must
examine and approve each book before it is made available for schools. Local boards of education then
select which Ministry-approved texts will be used in schools.

Currently, Japan’s primary school curriculum is divided into three main categories: compulsory subjects,
moral education and special activities. Compulsory subjects are Japanese language, Japanese literature,
arithmetic, social studies, science, music, arts and handicrafts, programming and PE. English is currently
required in fifth and sixth grade, but it is taught through informal activities rather than as a graded
subject. Beginning in 2020, English will be a graded subject for fifth and sixth graders, with informal
activities starting earlier in third and fourth grade. Moral education is intended to teach students to
respect one another and the environment, to understand the importance of life, to respect the rules of
society and to learn general self-control. Special activities refer to activities and ceremonies that
emphasize teamwork and cooperation such as graduations, field trips or school concerts. The
compulsory subjects are continued in lower secondary school, with the addition of fine arts, foreign
languages and a greater array of electives.

Education in Germany

The German primary and secondary school system is a rather complicated one in which there are
sometimes as many as five different kinds of secondary schools (usually starting at grade 5) and various
paths leading to academic higher education, advanced technical training or a trade.

In addition to Germany’s extensive public school system, there are also some private and parochial
schools, but far fewer than in the US and most other countries. Among the private schools, Montessori,
Waldorf, Jena and other alternative education models are popular. But in all of Germany, a country of 82
million people, there are only about 2,500 private and parochial schools, including boarding schools
(Internate). There are also a good number of international schools all across Germany, which can be a
good option for English-speaking expats.

Part of the reason for the dearth of private or church schools is the German conviction that public
education is a vital element that contributes to a well-educated citizenry and a sense of common
purpose. Germany has a compulsory school attendance law. The law requires school attendance
(Schulpflicht), not just instruction, from age 6 until age 15. This helps explain why homeschooling is
illegal in Germany.
Although most Germans claim to be against elitism and favoring any social class, their entire educational
system is basically a three-class system that divides students into three different tracks: (1) Gymnasium
for bright students headed for college, (2) Realschule for the next step down, kids headed for average or
better white-collar positions, and (3) Hauptschule for the bottom tier, generally aimed at the trades and
blue-collar jobs. By the age of 10 most pupils in Germany have been put on one of these three
educational tracks. But it has become easier to switch tracks, and this is now more common in Germany
than it used to be.

Efforts over the past several decades to reform this system, with its emphasis on tracking, have largely
been unsuccessful. Essentially the same tracking system also exists in neighboring Austria and
Switzerland, which also have resisted educational reforms. Citizens of the German-speaking countries
seem to feel that the current system produces good results – despite a poor showing in recent PISA
rankings and other educational studies that indicate German schools don’t always produce the best
educated students.

German secondary schools have a class schedule that resembles a US college schedule, with different
classes offered each day. Some subjects are taught three days per week, with others taught only twice a
week. On Monday a typical schedule might offer four 45-minute classes (and sometimes double 90-
minute classes) in (1) math, (2) history, (3) art and (4) English, while on Tuesday a student might have
five classes: (1) German, (2) religion, (3) calculus, (4) French and (5) PE. There are also break periods,
usually a short and a long break (große Pause), during the school day. Most students eat lunch at home,
since schools usually have no cafeteria, and the school day ends fairly early. Although there is some
physical education, German schools are more academic in nature. Competitive sporting events between
schools are rare. Athletics is usually done outside of school by belonging to a sports club.

For a long time in many parts of Germany the school week included Saturday. In the 1980s schools in
Baden-Württemberg still had classes every other Saturday. In East Germany Saturday was a school day
nationwide. Since the early 1990s most German school students, including those in Baden-
Württemberg, have enjoyed a full weekend. Only a very few local schools still have Saturday classes
(Samstagsunterricht).

Education in Canada

Education in Canada is a very high priority of the government. The country boasts a state-run system of
public education, one that is provided, funded and administered by federal, provincial and local
governments. Jurisdiction of the public education system, as well its curriculum, is overseen by each
province. As a result, one can expect to see slight variations in the educational systems of each province
(the type of programs offered, minimum and maximum age requirements, etc.), but the similarities in
those systems far outweigh the differences.
Education across Canada is generally divided into four stages: pre-school or early childhood education;
primary or elementary education; secondary education and post-secondary or tertiary education, which
includes college and university programs and vocational/technical schooling.

Education is compulsory up to the age of 16 in every province in Canada, except for Ontario and New
Brunswick, where the compulsory age is 18. Canada generally has 190 total school days in the academic
year, typically starting in September (after Labor Day) and concluding near the end of June—usually the
last Friday of the month, except in some cases in the Province of Quebec, when the last day of school
occurs just before June 24, a holiday in the province.

In terms of educational attainment, about 90 percent of all Canadians possess at least a high school
diploma, and one in seven individuals hold a university degree of some type. The ratio of high school
graduates versus non-diploma holders is changing rapidly in the country, partly due to changes in the
labor market that require people to have a high school diploma and, in many cases, a university degree.

In addition to public schools, there are also thousands of private schools in Canada, both secular and
religious-based institutions. When Canada was first formed, all the provinces originally had education
systems divided by religion, but most provinces have now abolished these “public-religious” systems.
The provinces of Ontario and Alberta, the Northwest Territories, and certain cities in Saskatchewan are
exceptions to this, as they still maintain publicly-funded separate district school boards (usually Catholic
but occasionally Protestant). In Quebec, the Catholic/Protestant divide was replaced with a
French/English one in 1998. Quebec students must now attend a French school up until the end of high
school unless one of their parents previously attended an English-language school somewhere else in
Canada. Likewise, access to French school in most of the other provinces is limited to children having at
least one French-speaking parent, or a parent who is a Canadian citizen having received French-language
primary instruction in Canada.

Most Canadian education systems continue up to grade 12 (age seventeen to eighteen). In Quebec, the
typical high school term ends after Secondary V/Grade 11 (age sixteen to seventeen); following this,
students who wish to pursue university education must attend college.

For each type of publicly-funded school, the province is divided into school districts or divisions. For
each district or division, board members, known as “trustees,” are elected by voters within that specific
district only. Normally, all publicly-funded schools are under the authority of their local school district
board. In turn, the school boards typically follow a curriculum set up by the province in which the school
district is located. Only Alberta allows public charter schools—schools which are independent of any
district school board. Instead, these schools have their own board of trustees, which reports directly to
the province.