Primary school

A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom,[1] Australia,[2] New Zealand,[3] Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary education of children who are 4 to 10 years of age (and in many cases, 11 years of age). Primary schooling follows preschool and precedes secondary schooling.

"Elementary school" and "Grade school" redirect here. For grad school, see Graduate school.

Childcare
At home
Outside the home
Educational settings
Institutions and standards
Related
An elementary school class in Japan
Elementary school in Višňové (Slovakia)
An aerial photo of a primary school in Hayesville, North Carolina
Classroom with chairs on desks in the Netherlands

The International Standard Classification of Education considers primary education as a single phase where programmes are typically designed to provide fundamental skills in reading, writing, and mathematics and to establish a solid foundation for learning. This is ISCED Level 1: Primary education or first stage of basic education.[4]

Levels of education
This section is an excerpt from International Standard Classification of Education § 2011 version.[edit]
ISCED 2011 levels of education
LevelLabelDescription
0 Early childhood education (01 Early childhood educational development)Education designed to support early development in preparation for participation in school and society. Programmes designed for children below the age of 3.
Early childhood education (02 Pre-primary education)Education designed to support early development in preparation for participation in school and society. Programmes designed for children from age 3 to the start of primary education.
1Primary educationProgrammes typically designed to provide students with fundamental skills in reading, writing and mathematics and to establish a solid foundation for learning.
2Lower secondary educationFirst stage of secondary education building on primary education, typically with a more subject-oriented curriculum.
3Upper secondary educationSecond/final stage of secondary education preparing for tertiary education or providing skills relevant to employment. Usually with an increased range of subject options and streams.
4Post-secondary non-tertiary educationProgrammes providing learning experiences that build on secondary education and prepare for labour market entry or tertiary education. The content is broader than secondary but not as complex as tertiary education.
5Short-cycle tertiary educationShort first tertiary programmes that are typically practically-based, occupationally-specific and prepare for labour market entry. These programmes may also provide a pathway to other tertiary programmes.
6Bachelor's or equivalentProgrammes designed to provide intermediate academic or professional knowledge, skills and competencies leading to a first tertiary degree or equivalent qualification.
7Master's or equivalentProgrammes designed to provide advanced academic or professional knowledge, skills and competencies leading to a second tertiary degree or equivalent qualification.
8Doctorate or equivalentProgrammes designed primarily to lead to an advanced research qualification, usually concluding with the submission and defense of a substantive dissertation of publishable quality based on original research.

Comparison 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". Canada also follows the American model, although its names for year groups are put as a number after the grade: For instance, "Grade 1" in Canada, rather than "First Grade" in the United States. This terminology extends into the research literature.[5]

In Canada, education is a Provincial, not a Federal responsibility. For example, the province of Ontario also had a "Grade 13", designed to help students enter the workforce or post-secondary education, but this was phased out in the year 2003.

Equivalent ages4–55–66–77–88–99–1010–11
U.S. (grades)Pre-KK12345
IrelandJunior InfantsSenior Infants1st Class2nd Class3rd Class4th Class5th Class
England (forms)ReceptionInfantsTop infantsJunior 1Junior 2Junior 3Junior 4
England (year)R123456
England (keystage)EYFS/FSKS1KS1KS2KS2KS2KS2
Jamaica Pre-K K-1 Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5
ISCED level0111111[5]
IndonesiaTK ATK BSD Kelas 1SD Kelas 2SD Kelas 3SD Kelas 4SD Kelas 5
Equivalent ages11–1212–1313–1414–1515–1616–1717–18
U.S. (grades)6789101112
Ireland6th Class1st Year2nd Year3rd Year4th Year5th Year6th Year
England (forms)FirstSecondThirdFourthFifthLower SixthUpper Sixth
England (year)78910111213
England (keystage)KS3KS3KS3KS4KS4KS5KS5
Jamaica (forms) First Second Third Fourth Fifth Lower Sixth Upper Sixth
Jamaica (grades) 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
ISCED level2223333[5]
IndonesiaSD Kelas 6SMP Kelas 7SMP Kelas 8SMP Kelas 9SMA Kelas 10SMA Kelas 11SMA Kelas 12

Primary schools
A current classroom for 6–7-year olds in Switzerland
School rooms/classrooms of the private Catholic elementary school in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz

In most parts of the world, primary education is the first stage of compulsory education, and is normally available without charge, but may also be offered by fee-paying independent schools. The term grade school is sometimes used in the US, although both this term and elementary school may refer to the first eight grades, in other words both primary education and lower secondary education.[6][7][8]

The term primary school is derived from the French école primaire, which was first used in an English text in 1802.[9] In the United Kingdom, "elementary education" was taught in "elementary schools" until 1944, when free elementary education was proposed for students over 11: there were to be primary elementary schools and secondary elementary schools;[lower-alpha 1] these became known as primary schools and secondary schools.

  • Primary school is the preferred term in the United Kingdom, Ireland and many Commonwealth nations, and in most publications of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).[11]
  • Elementary school is still preferred in some countries, especially in the United States and Canada.

In some parts of the United States, "primary school" refers to a school covering kindergarten through to second grade or third grade (K through 2 or 3); the "elementary school" includes grade three through five or grades four to six. In Canada, "elementary school" almost everywhere refers to Grades 1 through 6; with Kindergarten being referred to as "preschool."

  • In South Africa, primary school starts from Grade R (age 5-6) till Grade 7 (age 12-13). It typically comes after preschool and before secondary school.

Elementary schools

Though often used as a synonym, "elementary school" has specific meanings in different locations.

Theoretical framework of primary school design

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.[19] 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 reception class or infant (Keystage 1) students needs to be 62 m2, or 55 m2 for juniors (Keystage 2).[20] Examples are given on how this can be configured for a 210 place primary with attached 26 place nursery[21] and two-storey 420 place (two form entry) primary school with attached 26 place nursery.[22]

Building design specifications
The first taxpayer-funded public school in the United States was in Dedham
SJK (C) Keat Hwa H Primary School in Alor Setar
SJK (C) Chi Hwa Eco-Nature Primary School in Sandakan, Malaysia
A classroom library in the US

The building providing the education has to fulfill 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.[23] An optimum school will meet the minimum conditions and will have:

  • adequately sized classrooms—where 60 m2 in considered optimum but 80 m2 for the reception class
  • specialised teaching spaces
  • a staff preparation room
  • staff welfare facilities
  • an administration block
  • multipurpose classrooms
  • student toilet facilities
  • a general purpose school hall
  • adequate equipment
  • storage
  • a library or library stocks that are regularly renewed
  • computer rooms or media centres
  • counselling, sick and medical examination rooms[23]

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 for primary schools in 2014. It said the floor area should be 350 m2 + 4.1 m2/pupil place. The external finishes were to be downgraded to meet a build cost of £1113/m2.[24]

Governance and funding

There are three main ways of funding a school: it can funded by the state through general taxation, it can be funded by a pressure group such as the mosque or the church, it can be funded by a charity or it can be funded by contributions from the parents or a combination of these methods. Day to day oversight of the school can through a board of governors, the pressure group, or the owner.

The United Kingdom allowed elementary education to be delivered in church schools, whereas in France this was illegal as there is strict separation of church and state.

Accountability

This can be through informal assessment by the staff and governors such as in Finland, or by a state run testing regime such as Ofsted in the United Kingdom.[25]

See also

Notes
  1. Secondary elementary school: A term already used by London County Council from 1921 to describe some 11–14 schools,[10] and term still in use in Florida, Ohio and Brazil.

References
  1. to-8-years "elementary education (4 to 8 years)". Cambridgeshire County Council. Retrieved 21 February 2021. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  2. Technology, Elcom. "Education system overview". www.studyinaustralia.gov.au. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
  3. "Changes to schools and the network: Options for managing changes in growth". www.education.govt.nz. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
  4. Annex III in the ISCED 2011 English.pdf Archived 25 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine Navigate to International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED)
  5. Ward, Ken. "British and American Systems (Grades)". trans4mind.com. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  6. "Definition of GRADE SCHOOL". www.merriam-webster.com.
  7. "Definition of ELEMENTARY SCHOOL". www.merriam-webster.com.
  8. "American Heritage Dictionary Entry". Ahdictionary.com. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  9. "Online Etymology Dictionary". Archived from the original on 2 July 2017. Retrieved 9 November 2007.
  10. "Hadow Report (1926)". educationengland.org.uk. Archived from the original on 25 June 2019. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  11. "Britannica Academic". academic.eb.com. Archived from the original on 14 March 2020. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  12. Gerald L. Gutek (14 December 1994). A History of the Western Educational Experience: Second Edition. Waveland Press. p. 203. ISBN 978-1-4786-3010-4. Archived from the original on 2 September 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  13. "Historical Timeline of Public Education in the US". Race Forward. 13 April 2006. Archived from the original on 3 July 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  14. "Digest of Education Statistics, 2001" (PDF). National Center for Education Statistics. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  15. Snyder, Thomas D.; Hoffman, Charlene M. (2001). Digest of Education Statistics 2001 (PDF). Institute of Education Sciences, Washington: National Center for Education Statistics. p. 7, fig. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  16. "Secretary Riley Reignites the Math Wars". hoover.org. Archived from the original on 29 March 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  17. ESEA. "No Child Left Behind Act". www.k12.wa.us. Archived from the original on 26 March 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  18. "The Establishment of Elementary Schools and Attendance". JAPAN'S MODERN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan. Archived from the original on 20 December 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  19. Liew Kok-Pun, Michael (1981). "Design of secondary schools:Singapore a case study" (PDF). Educational Building reports. Voume 17: UNESCO. p. 37. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  20. "Mainstream schools: area guidelines". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  21. "Baseline design: 210 place primary school with a 26 place nursery". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  22. "Baseline design: 420 place primary school with 26 place nursery". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 18 April 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  23. "Guidelines relating to planning for public school infrastructure". Department of Basic Education, Republic of South Africa. 2012. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  24. "Baseline designs for schools: guidance - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Education Funding Agency. 11 March 2014. Archived from the original on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  25. "Standards and Testing Agency". GOV.UK. Archived from the original on 18 March 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
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