Exams Around The World.

There are many different education systems around the world. As we discovered in my previous post, they are not all created equally. Today I am going to be looking at the different exam systems around the world and how they compare to the Irish system. 


First, let's look at the Irish system, the Leaving Certificate. The average age to take this two-year examination are 16 - 20. Over 80% of this age group go through this exam, this means that approximately 55 000 students undertake this set of tests every year. The mandatory subjects are Irish (unless an exemption is granted by the state), Mathematics and English. Pupils then have a choice of 4 to 5 other subjects. These subjects can be chosen from a variety of topics such as Modern or Classic languages, Applied Sciences, Laboratory Sciences, Business Studies and Art and Humanities. The Irish system, unlike many other countries, continues to have many subjects be taken right up until University. This is beneficial in some ways but may also hinder students who have a definite idea of what they want to do later on in University or otherwise. What makes the Irish system unique is the mandatory language of Irish. The national language is a place of pride for many Irish people. It has stayed as a mandatory language to help the effort to keep Irish a living language.  

Now the UK system, (apart from Scotland where a slightly different system is used). The A level course is usually over two years with typically 3-4 subjects being chosen. Unlike the Irish system, no subject is mandatory. This allows or depending on how you look at it, requires all students to have quite a definite idea of what they want to do in University at 16. Whereas systems like the Leaving Cert leave more space for decision later on. Due to the small amount of subjects being taken each goes into much more detail than a Leaving Cert or IB subject can. This system is different from many others because after GSCE's students decide whether they will continue into Academics or do something more vocational. This process allows the A levels to be much more narrow and aimed at a smaller audience than the some of the other systems we are looking at. Systems like the A levels can be seen all over the world most notably in past and present members of the British Empire. 

https://www.ibo.org/communications/schools/downloads/logos.cfm

The International Baccalaureate is an educational system founded in Geneva Switzerland in 1968. The IB Diploma programme is for students age 16-19. Students chose " 6 subjects from 6 subject groups, complete an extended essay, follow a theory od knowledge( TOK ) course and participate in Creativity, Action, Service ( CAS )". According to the International Baccalaureate website (www.ibo.org)  On 17 October 2016, there were 5,890 IB programmes being offered worldwide, across 4,537 schools. In a variety of countries including Ireland. It is recognised worldwide and is often the system used by students who move country frequently due to its international status. It has some similarities to the Leaving Certificate in its number of subjects. The IB course is also similar to the A-level system as it two branches into Academic or vocational at 16. It has two programmes the Diploma programme which I am concentrating on and the Career-related Programme which helps students who are looking into apprentice based work later on. You can see how international this cousre is when you look at the wide range of subjects, languages and countries it is used in around the world.

I have only covered the three systems I come in contact with the most in this post, and I look forward to learning more about different systems more as I continue with this blog. Thank you for reading.

Sources: www.ibo.org, www.Examinations.ie, www.RTE.ie, www.cie.org, www.ucas.com 

Education standards around the world.

Education is, in my opinion, one of the most important things we can do for the world. To give someone education can set them for life. As the saying goes catch a man a fish you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for life. Education is the building block of society, but it varies greatly from country to country due to wealth, culture, history, geographical location and many other factors.

in 2015/16 it was the east Asian countries that performed the best. With South Korea coming first, followed by Japan (2nd), Singapore (3rd) and Hong Kong (4th). So what are these countries doing differently? For one nearly all children go to school 7 days a week compared to the western average of 5. Homework is assigned at a much younger age. However many countries have attempted to replicate the Asian systems to very little effect. The key difference is the culture and mentality of education in these areas. For example, in Asian countries, a teacher is treated with respect equal to how a lawyer or a doctor would be in the west.

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A study was done by Dr John Jerrim for the Guardian newspaper, in Australia of children taking the 'Pisa maths test' an internationally taken test. The results showed that there was a 102 point gap between East Asian and Native Australian immigrants. They found that family background factors such as parental education make up almost 20% of the 102-point achievement gap between East Asians and native Australians –  almost 50% of the 276 second-generation east Asian children had at least 1 graduate parent , compared with only a 25% of the 6,837 Australian-born children. A further 40% of the gap between east Asian and native Australian children was accounted for by a number of school-based factors. For one on average more East Asian children were sent to higher performing schools then Native Australians. While the exact reason cannot be determined it was suggested this is down to the East Asian mentality of placing a higher value on education than some of the Native Australian descent. A further combination of out of school and personal factors account for 25% of the score difference. For example in regards to studying East Asian children spent an average 6 hours longer studying each week compared to the Native Australian children. They also had a stronger work ethic again this is believed to be due to the culture and emphasis put on education by East Asian parents –although the results showed that there was no evidence to suggest that east Asian children put more effort into the Pisa Test. They all also had far higher aspirations with over 94% expecting to go onto third level education compared to 54% of the Native Australian children.

Photo by Tania Malott.
 © 2015 Twentieth Century Fox
 Film Corporation All Rights Reserved

However something  I observed whilst researching this and from my own interest was that these top four countries who are the best for primary and secondary education are much lower for tertiary education. It was here that countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America excelled. With the top 5 overall universities being M.I.T (1st), Harvard (2nd) ,Oxford (3rd),  Stanford (4th), Cambridge (5th) according to the QS World University rankings 2015/16.

Now that we have covered the best education systems around the world lets talk about the worst. According to the UNESCO World education ranking the world's worst education systems in the world are 10. Algeria, 9. Gambia, 8. Pakistan, 7. Guinea, 6. Eritrea, 5. Ethiopia, 4. The Central African Republic, 3. Mali, 2. Burkina Faso, 1. Niger.  This list is made analysing countries Adult Literacy Rate, Education Development Index, and Human Development Index and comparing it to the other countries. In this list, Niger is rated to have the worst national education system in the world. It is tied with Burkina Faso for the lowest adult literacy rate in the world at 28.7%, Only 5.1% of the population have secondary education and its gross enrolment ratio is only 1.5%. However, it is hardly surprising to see these African countries on this list as they are all full of much larger problems, such as civil wars, genocide, corruption, tribal conflict, extreme poverty, widespread

disease, desertification etc, many of which are due to a lack of education and resources. A movie which highlights this lack of education in Pakistan is the movie "He named me Malala" which chronologies this girl's struggle for equal education.<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NKckKStggSY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Sources: www.guardian.com www.irishtimes.com www.mbctimes.com www.topuniversities.com www.globalgoals.org http://en.unesco.org/

Hello, my name is Claire. This blog will be centring on education and studying and how it varies around the world. I will be looking at education systems around the world and exams around the world and how they compare to the Irish system. I hope you enjoy this blog and learn something more about education. Thank you for reading.
Claire.