Fyi: it’s called post secondary because, I think, UK calls it primary, secondary, and after that is post secondary.
Scotland:
Primary school P1-P7 (~5-11) Secondary school S1-S6 (~12-17)
Czech Republic, and it’s pretty much the same as Slovakia (and perhaps other countries around here.)
Základní škola (elementary, ages ~6+), Střední škola (high school, ages ~15+), Vysoká škola (college, ages ~19+).
Střední škola is sometimes replaced with 4 or 8 years of Gymnázium starting after ZŠ (4-year G.) or after 5th grade (8-year G.) Střední škola is normally focused on a particular field, whereas Gymnázium is more generic and is normally followed by Vysoká škola.
Canada:
Elementary: grades 1-8
High School: grades 9-12
Which province?
Ontario
Same, but we have middle school where I am. It’s grades 6~8 or just 7 and 8 depending on who you ask.
But primary and secondary are also recognized and used in some official circumstances. Tertiary is something I’ve heard only once, and I’m surprised it doesn’t get used more often.
I went to French immersion, so I also heard a lot of “primary” and “secondary” school. Never heard tertiary, only “post-secondary”
I heard “tertiary education” from an international student. It made me wonder why we call it “post-secondary” when “tertiary” makes more sense.
US - specifically Michigan. The naming convention and splits most commonplace around me seem to be
Kindergarten - 4th grade | “Elementary School”
5th grade - 8th grade | “Middle School”
9th grade - 12th grade (referred to as Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior years) | “High school”
But there is a bit of variance depending on district size. For example my school district downsized. So currently we have
Kindergarten - 6th grade | “Elementary School”
7th grade - 12th grade | “Secondary School”.
The former setup seems to resemble most of what other Americans would recognize.
Regarding “postsecondary education”, at least here, that specifically refers to any education past the standard 12 year education program, be it medical school or trade school or what we call college and many other places call uni/university.
Gonna just piggyback on your comment because I am also US, Georgia for me.
Primary: Pre-K thru 2nd
Elementary: 3rd thru 5th
Middle: 6th thru 8th
High: 9th thru 12th
UK:
- Pre-school
- Primary school
- Secondary school (BUT my old HS literally has “high school” in the name so it’s interchangeable with “HS”)
- College (16-18)
- University
It can vary on area though. Some people have middle schools but I’ve no idea what ages they are since I’ve never seen one. Also, some UK people will hear me say “HS” and assume I’m American, not realising some secondary schools are called “high school”
To complicate matters more a “public school” is private.
ETA: I think US grades are off by one to UK “years”. Though I’ve got into arguments with Brits about this I can only reference my own life. So our “Year 7” kids starting high/secondary school are 11yo. I believe that’s 6th grade in the US?
I grew up in an area with middle schools, and went to one, I think they were age 8 to 12. So people went up to secondary school a year later than most regions. I have no idea why it was like that. We also had spam fritters for lunch which no-one else I know from my generation (Gen X) had to endure. We were just fucking weird I guess.
Weirdos make the world interesting. 🙂
I’ve heard of spam fritters but never had one. I’ve eaten a lot of ‘old fashioned’ foods though like toad int’ hole, kippers, faggots, etc.
Lithuania
1-8 progimnazija 9-12 gimnazija 11-13 profesinė (vocational)
1-10 pagrindinė (basic) and 1-12 vidurinė (middle) used to exist but almost none of these exist now.
In Russia it was for me just 1-11 grades with the last 2 being optional and the 4th one being suspiciously absent.
