We saw the equivalent of a few other English speaking countries around the world last time. And I hope it was interesting to see how high school differs A LOT for your counterparts around the world. This must tell you that there is bound to be varied schooling systems and traditions for Year 12s around the world. Hence let’s take a look at What year 12 looks like in a few other countries.

New Zealand

Our very own neighbours follow suit with UK of having a fifth year of high school, Year 13. To determine entrance into Uni, these guys must complete the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA). Credits for the NCEA are racked up over the course of 3 years – between Year 11 to 13. Also, these guys don’t have the formals at the end of Year 13 like Aussie schools (in year 12). They address their formals as a ”ball”, which is held between June-August of each year. Moreover, while private schools here tend to be fancier than the rest, kiwi private school balls tend to be less ”formal” than the others, if that makes sense.

Japan

First of all, these guys are one of the highest ranked in maths and science around the world. In order to understand Year 12 in Japan, we must first look at their general school structure. Students first graduate from “junior high school”, which consists of Years 7,8,9. Once you are a junior school Graduate, its not compulsory to pursue “Senior high school”, although the majority do. They then sit an exam to get into senior high school where they sit a final exam that determines university entrance. Getting a job after graduating from uni depends more on the senior school they attended than the uni attended. All students must do home econimics, which basically teaches about family life to all. FUn right? These guys also have nothing called a formal. They do hold school festivals throughout the final year of high school, but nothing else. Some have a memorial dinner after graduation but nothing where there is dancing involved in general. Students also generally do not date until after high school.

This goes to show the vast differences between countries from opposite corners of the planet. The Kiwis are our neighbours, yet their system is Completely different. We will be back next week to look at more Year 12 systems from around the world. Peace out!