Levels of education

Terminology: descriptions of cohorts

Within the English speaking world, there are three widely used systems to describe the age of the child. The first is the 'equivalent ages', then countries that base their education systems on the 'English model' use one of two methods to identify the year group, while countries that base their systems on the 'American K-12 model' refer to their year groups as 'grades'. The Irish model is structured similarly to the English model, but have significant differences in terms of labels. This terminology extends into research literature. Below is a convenient comparison ^[4]

Theoretical framework

School building design does not happen in isolation. The building (or school campus) needs to accommodate:

Curriculum content
Teaching methods
Costs
Education within the political framework
Use of school building (also in the community setting)
Constraints imposed by the site
Design philosophy

Each country will have a different education system and priorities. ^[5] Schools need to accommodate students, staff, storage, mechanical and electrical systems, storage, support staff, ancillary staff and administration. The number of rooms required can be determined from the predicted roll of the school and the area needed.

According to standards used in the United Kingdom, a general classroom for 30 students needs to be 55 m², or more generously 62 m². A general art room for 30 students needs to be 83 m², but 104 m² for 3D textile work. A drama studio or a specialist science laboratory for 30 needs to be 90 m². Examples are given on how this can be configured for a 1,200 place secondary (practical specialism).^[6] and 1,850 place secondary school.^[7]

Building design specifications

The building providing the education has to fulfil the needs of: The students, the teachers, the non-teaching support staff, the administrators and the community. It has to meet general government building guidelines, health requirements, minimal functional requirements for classrooms, toilets and showers, electricity and services, preparation and storage of textbooks and basic teaching aids. ^[8] An optimum secondary school will meet the minimum conditions and will have:

adequately sized classrooms;
specialised teaching spaces;
a staff preparation room;
an administration block;
multipurpose classrooms;
a general purpose school hall;
laboratories for science, technology, mathematics and life sciences, as may be required;
adequate equipment;
a library or library stocks that are regularly renewed; and
computer rooms or media centres.^[8]

Government accountants having read the advice then publish minimum guidelines on schools. These enable environmental modelling and establishing building costs. Future design plans are audited to ensure that these standards are met but not exceeded. Government ministries continue to press for the 'minimum' space and cost standards to be reduced.

The UK government published this downwardly revised space formula in 2014. It said the floor area should be 1050m² (+ 350m² if there is a sixth form) + 6.3m²/pupil place for 11- to 16-year-olds + 7m²/pupil place for post-16s. The external finishes were to be downgraded to meet a build cost of £1113/m². ^[9]

Secondary schools by country

A secondary school locally may be called high school or senior high school. In some countries there are two phases to secondary education (ISCED 2) and (ISCED 3), here the junior high school, intermediate school, lower secondary school, or middle school occurs between the primary school (ISCED 1) and high school.

Argentina: secundaria or polimodal, escuela secundaria
Australia: high school, secondary college
Austria: Gymnasium (Ober- & Unterstufe), Hauptschule, Höhere Bundeslehranstalt (HBLA), Höhere Technische Lehranstalt (HTL)
Azerbaijan: orta məktəb
Bahamas, The: junior high (grades 7–9), senior high (grades 10–12)
Belgium: lagere school/école primaire, secundair onderwijs/école secondaire, humaniora/humanités
Bolivia: educación primaria superior (grades 6–8) and educación secundaria, (grades 9–12)
Bosnia and Herzegovina: srednja škola (literally middle school), gimnazija (gymnasium)
Brazil: ensino médio (officially), segundo grau (formerly)
Brunei: mostly sekolah menengah (English translation: secondary school), a few maktab (English translation: college)
Bulgaria: cредно образование (grades 8–12)
Canada: High school, junior high or middle school, secondary school, école secondaire, collegiate institute, polyvalente
Chile: enseñanza media
China: zhong xue (中学; literally, middle school), consisting of chu zhong (初中; 初级中学; literally low-level middle school) from grades 7 to 9 and gao zhong (高中; 高级中学; literally high-level middle school) from grades 10 to 12
Colombia: bachillerato, segunda enseñanza (literally second learning)
Croatia: srednja škola (literally middle school), gimnazija (gymnasium)
Cyprus: Γυμνάσιο (gymnasium), Ενιαίο Λύκειο (Lyceum)
Czech Republic: střední škola (literally middle school), gymnázium (gymnasium), střední odborné učiliště
Denmark: gymnasium
Dominican Republic: nivel medio, bachillerato
Egypt: Thanawya Amma (ثانوية عامة), (public secondary certificate)
Estonia: upper secondary school, gymnasium, Lyceum
Finland: lukio (Finn.) gymnasium (Swed.)
France: collège (junior), lycée (senior)
Germany: Gymnasium, Gesamtschule, Realschule, Hauptschule, Fachoberschule
Greece: Γυμνάσιο (3 years) (gymnasium), Γενικό Λύκειο (3 years) (~1996, 2006~present), Ενιαίο Λύκειο (3 years), (1997~2006) (lyceum)
Hong Kong: Secondary school (中學)
Hungary: gimnázium (grammar school), középiskola (comprehensive school, lit. "middle-school"), szakközépiskola (vocational secondary school, lit. "specified middle-school")
Iceland: framhaldsskóli (menntaskóli, iðnskóli, fjölbrautaskóli) from 11-13 Grade. You go first in 1 - 10 Grade then you change the school to Menntaskóla and take 3 years (11-13 Grade). But you can also take it 4 years.
India: secondary school, higher secondary school
Indonesia: sekolah menengah atas (SMA) (lit. "upper middle school"), sekolah menengah pertama (SMP) (lit. "first middle school"), sekolah menengah kejuruan (SMK) (vocational school, lit. "middle vocational school")
Ireland: Meánscoil or Secondary School
Iran: Madrese Rahnamaie (مدرسه راهنمایی), (public secondary certificate)
Israel: Bet Sefer Tichon (בית ספר תיכון) (literally middle school, but in reality grades 9-12)
Italy: scuola secondaria di primo grado (3 years) + scuola secondaria di secondo grado (5 years): Liceo, Istituto Tecnico and Istituto professionale
Japan: chūgakkō (中学校; literally middle school), kōtōgakkō (高等学校; literally high school), chūtōkyōikugakkō (中等教育学校; Secondary School) – In the pre-Meiji educational system, the equivalent was called "chūsei"
South Korea: 중고등학교(中高等學校・Chung'godŭnghakkyo), 중등교육 (Chungdŭng'gyoyuk; literally middle education), comprising 중학교 (Chunghakkyo; the Lower secondary school, years 7–9, though referred to as "middle school grades 1–3") and 고등학교 (Kodŭnghakkyo; the Upper secondary school, years 10–12, though referred to as "high school grades 1–3")
Latvia: vidusskola (literally middle school)
Liechtenstein: gymnasium
Lithuania: vidurinė mokykla (literally middle school), gimnazija (gymnasium), licėjus (lyceum)
Malaysia: secondary school or sekolah menengah, sometimes high school is used
Malta: skola sekondarja or secondary school
Mexico: educación secundaria y preparatoria
Mongolia: бүрэн дунд сургууль
Netherlands: middelbare school or voortgezet onderwijs
New Zealand: high school, college or secondary school
Nigeria: Secondary school, Junior or senior secondary school
Norway: videregående skole
Pakistan: secondary school, higher secondary school
Paraguay: educación media
Peru: educación secundaria or escuela secundaria
Philippines: high school or mataas na paaralan
Poland: gimnazjum (grades 7–9), liceum (grades 10–12)
Portugal: 2º Ciclo do Ensino Básico (5th and 6th grades), 3º Ciclo do Ensino Básico (7th to 9th grades), and Ensino Secundário, Liceu (10th to 12th grades)
Romania: gimnaziu (grades 5–8), liceu (grades 9–12)
Russia: средняя школа (literally middle school); grades 5–9 junior middle school (compulsory), grades 10–11 senior middle school (voluntary)
Serbia: gymnasium (4 years), professional schools (4 years), vocational schools (3 or 4 years)
South Africa: High School or Hoërskool
Spain: educación secundaria, composed of two cycles: E.S.O. (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, compulsory secondary education, 4 years, 7th to 10th grade) and bachillerato (non-compulsory secondary education, 2 years, 11th and 12th grade); formerly, primary education comprised up to the 8th grade and the secondary education was composed of two non-compulsory cycles: B.U.P. (Bachillerato Unificado Polivalente, 3 years, 9th to 11th grade) and C.O.U. (Curso de Orientación Universitaria, 1 year, 12th grade)
Sri Lanka: junior secondary school, senior secondary school
Sweden: gymnasium
Switzerland: gymnasium, secondary school, collègeorlycée
Taiwan: Junior High School(國民中學), Senior High School(高級中學), Vocational High School (高級職業中學), Military School (軍校), and Complete High School (完全中學).
Thailand: matthayommasueksa (มัธยมศึกษา; lit. "Secondary education")
Trinidad and Tobago: Secondary School, Forms 1 to 5 (5 years) or Forms 1-6 (7 years)
Turkey: Lise
Ukraine: середня освіта (transliteration: serednya osvita)
United Kingdom: Secondary School (May be referred to as High School)
United States: High school (North America) (usually grades 9–12 but sometimes 10–12, it is also called senior high school) is always considered secondary education; junior high school or intermediate school or middle school (6–8, 7–8, 6–9, 7–9, or other variations) are sometimes considered secondary education.
Uruguay: Liceo or Secundaria (3 years of compulsory education: Ciclo Básico; and 3 years of specialization: Bachillerato Diversificado, into: Humanities (Law or Economics), Biology (Medicine or Agronomy), Science (Engineering or Architecture), and Art
Venezuela: bachillerato
Vietnam: Trung học cơ sở (abbreviated THCS, lit. "basic middle school", equivalent to junior high school in the U.S.); trung học phổ thông (abbr. THPT, lit. "general middle school", equivalent to senior high school in the U.S.)

Levels of education

Terminology: descriptions of cohorts

Theoretical framework

Building design specifications

Secondary schools by country

See also