Find full details about the Australian education system for international students in this article. Education is the key to the future growth of any country. It is pertinent for the Government at all levels to invest massively in this sector since Education is very important.

In our previous post, we focused on the Canada Education system and how it compares with other countries. In this post, we shall focus on the Education system in Australia.

Australian Education System.

The quality of education in Australia is widely known among local and international students. Over the years, Australian schools have been grooming and impacting students with the needed knowledge to thrive and succeed by focusing on a more pragmatic and result oriented approach.

The Australian education system is supported by the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). AQG is a national policy set aside to regulate the qualification across all the levels of education ranging from schools, vocational education and training and higher education.

Schools in Australia.

• In Australia, the formal education journey begins from the foundation year. The foundation year provides basic academic ideas and knowledge for the child. The primary and secondary school levels last for 12 years and students attain this stage at 16 years of age.
• The secondary school leavers are required to study and write for the senior secondary certificate examination and they spend their secondary education years to prepare for the examination.
• The senior secondary school certificate is the required qualification for admission and entry into most of the Australian Universities. This is also applicable in Vocational schools, training institutions and polytechnics. The secondary school certificate is also regarded as the minimum entry requirements for international studies.
• The individual states in Australia have a specified system of operating preschools or kindergartens. Some operate independently while some are operated under the primary schools.
• Schools are administered by the government but some schools are owned and managed privately. Privately managed schools are registered with the educational authorities and are required to meet the government educational policies in terms of infrastructure and teachers registration and qualification.
• Just like several other countries, the Australian education system is mainly divided into three levels which are – Primary school, Secondary school and tertiary schools.
• Australian primary Education: Period for primary education in Australia starts from kindergarten and runs for 7 or 8 years.
• Australian secondary Education: The junior secondary education in Australia runs for 3 to 4 years. It starts from 7 years to 10 or from 8 years to 10. As for the senior secondary education, the period is two years for the 11th year and 12th year.
• Australian tertiary education: tertiary education in Australia involves vocational education and training (VET) as well as higher education.
• There is provision for Foundation studies in Australia for students who aim to attend the Australian university. This program is specifically arranged for international students. It is a pre-university period of one year where the student is taught in a full accredited specialized program.

Australian Education System – School Curriculum.

The subject and standard of education are regulated at the national level. They set out what the students are to be taught. This Implies that students from across all the schools in Australia are taught the same thing. Their achievement is judged based on consistent national standards. The curriculum in Australia addresses some very vital capabilities in the 21st century. Some of these areas include:

Literacy, Numeracy, information and communication technology, critical and creative thinking, ethics and morality, intercultural understanding, personal and social capability, etc.

The Australian curriculum also involves technologically oriented areas such as:

Digital technologies where students are taught how to make use of computational skills to offer digital solutions to problems. The students are also taught the use of technical designs and thinking to generate and design solutions for problems and create opportunities.

Australian education system curriculum is designed to address and promote digital learning. They have a variety of initiatives to increase the participation of students in the improvement of their digital skills and literacy.

Online computing challenge for students in class 5 and class 7 is inclusive in the curriculum.

There is a serious effort towards exciting the interest and curiosity of students in Mathematics and science at their early childhood stage.

The curriculum encompasses the organization of Information and communication technology (ICT) summer schools For year 9 and year 10 students.
There is ample support from the government for the school leaders to handle literacy and regulate the partnership between ICT companies and schools.

Related: United States Education System Compared to other countries

Technological invasion in schools

The Government of Australia from the national, state to the local government levels support the massive usage of technology in schools. Technological advancement is vastly applied in training and learning and equipping students with massive digital skills.

Australian schools are highly decorated with ICT resources and infrastructure. In addition to this, many of the schools have adopted the “Bring-your-device” policy. This is a policy that identifies that both students and teachers prefer using the same digital device at school and at their homes. The policy allows students to bring their own digital devices to school so as to boost learning.

English language in Australia.

When it comes to the English language, Australia ranks among the top countries as regards training services and quality assurance in English language training. English language training in Australia is taught in over 120 colleges. Statistics show that over 80% of international students choose to learn the English language in Australia. Records have it that Australia colleges had over 150,000 enrollments recorded in English language courses.

Vocational education & training in Australia.

In Australia, Vocational Education and Training (VET) is dependent on the partnership between the industry and the government. The industry and privates sector contributes to embedding the skills and policies in their workforce.

Higher education in Australia.

The Australian education system is made up of universities and higher schools. These schools all play vital roles in instigating and driving creativity, innovation and productivity in students. Australia has 43 universities. 40 out of this are owned by Australia while 2 is international and 1 is privately owned. Over One million students are enrolled in Australian universities and they collectively have a staff strength of over 100,000.

Choice of Schools in Australia

There are over 7000 Government schools in Australia. About 2000 schools are independent. This includes single-sex schools, coeducational schools and faith schools.

Australia is an English speaking country. Hence, the low number of international schools in the country. Even British International schools are very few in Australia as people are not interested in getting an English National Curriculum.