By Andrew Mackinnon
Last updated: 19th February, 2024
In Australia, as far as I’m aware, there are fourteen years of school altogether – one year of preschool, one year of kindergarten, six years of primary school from Years 1 to 6 and six years of secondary school from Years 7 to 12.
I believe that fourteen years of school from preschool and kindergarten to Year 12 under the current school system in Australia is too long. Under the current school system, students complete Year 11 at the age of 17 years and Year 12 at the age of 18 years. I believe that keeping students in secondary school after the age of 17 years confines them to an environment that is stultifying and ill-suited to their development as human beings. By the middle of Year 11 under the current school system, students can’t wait to finish secondary school and by the time Year 12 has commenced, they’re virtually comatose from having to remain in school for more than the thirteen years from preschool and kindergarten to the end of Year 11.
This fourteen years of school under the current school system should be shortened by one year to thirteen years of school comprising one year of preschool and twelve years of school from Years 1 to 12. The one year of kindergarten under the current school system should be abolished.
Students should commence preschool at the same age of 4 years at the start of the year.
The following year, students should commence Year 1 of primary school at the age of 5 years at the start of the year instead of commencing kindergarten at the age of 5 years at the start of the year under the current school system.
Students should complete Years 1 to 12 of school one year earlier than they do under the current school system.
Students should complete Year 12 one year earlier at the age of 17 years instead of the age of 18 years under the current school system.
This proposed school system can be summarised as follows:
> Preschool for students aged 4 years at the start of the year
> Year 1 in primary school for students aged 5 years at the start of the year
> Year 2 in primary school for students aged 6 years at the start of the year
> Year 3 in primary school for students aged 7 years at the start of the year
> Year 4 in primary school for students aged 8 years at the start of the year
> Year 5 in primary school for students aged 9 years at the start of the year
> Year 6 in primary school for students aged 10 years at the start of the year
> Year 7 in secondary school for students aged 11 years at the start of the year
> Year 8 in secondary school for students aged 12 years at the start of the year
> Year 9 in secondary school for students aged 13 years at the start of the year
> Year 10 in secondary school for students aged 14 years at the start of the year
> Year 11 in secondary school for students aged 15 years at the start of the year
> Year 12 in secondary school for students aged 16 years at the start of the year
The School Certificate that early school leavers rely upon as their leaving qualification would be held at the end of Year 10 in secondary school when the students have mostly attained the age of 15 years under this proposed shortened school system, instead of the age of 16 years under the current school system. This means that early school leavers would be one year younger under this proposed shortened school system than under the current school system.
Students would complete Year 12 in secondary school at the age of 17 years under this proposed shortened school system instead of the age of 18 years under the current school system.
Students should no longer apply for a place at university before they finish their last year of school, being Year 12 in secondary school. It is completely unrealistic for students to be expected to know what they want to study at university before they have even finished Year 12. Applying for a place at university before they finish Year 12 also places extra, unwelcome pressure on them at a time when they’re already under a lot of pressure studying for their final examinations in Year 12. Applying for a place at university before they finish Year 12 also psychologically commits them to further study at university, often commencing in the following year, at a time when they have almost finished fourteen years of school under the current school system, including the year of preschool and the year of kindergarten. It is grossly unfair to place a cultural expectation on students in Year 12 of further study at university, often commencing in the following year, when they’ve almost finished a marathon run of fourteen years of school under the current school system.
Under the current school system, many of the students who apply for a place at university while they’re in their last year of school, being Year 12 in secondary school, do so not because they actually want to attend university in the year following Year 12, but because they feel pressured to conform to an expectation placed on them by their school and their parents to apply for a place at university while they’re in Year 12. It is very important that students in their last year of school, being Year 12, are relieved of this expectation and pressure that has been unreasonably and unfairly placed upon them.
Students should be prohibited from attending university before they have attained the age of 18 years, which will mostly occur in the year following their last year of school in Year 12.
This would mean that students would be prohibited from attending university in the year following their last year of school in Year 12.
This would provide students with the opportunity to do something unrelated to study during the year or years between finishing Year 12 in secondary school and commencing study at university, if they choose to attend university. After all, they will have spent thirteen years from preschool to Year 12 at school under the proposed school system, so it is important for them to spend at least a year away from study for the sake of their emotional, psychological and physiological health.
Students are notified of their final results for Year 12 in secondary school in December of Year 12 or in the month following in January of the following year.
Students who want to attend university in the second year after Year 12 in secondary school would apply for a place at university during the second half of the year following Year 12, which is at least several months after they have been notified of their Year 12 final results in December of Year 12, or in the month following in January of the following year. Importantly, this provides them with sufficient time to consider which university course they want to apply for. Their first experience of life outside of school in the first year following their last year of school, being Year 12, will assist them in deciding which university course they want to apply for.
Naturally, students do not have to attend university in the second year after their last year of school, being Year 12. They can choose to attend it in some future year or not attend it at all and embark on some other form of vocational training other than a university course or simply work, save and invest, which is the shortest route to prosperity.
For your consideration…
Proposed secondary school curriculum…