In the United States, education is provided in public and private schools and by individuals through homeschooling. State governments set overall educational standards, often mandate standardized tests for K–12 public school systems and supervise, usually through a board of regents, state colleges, and universities. The bulk of the $1.3 trillion in funding comes from state and local governments, with federal funding accounting for about $260 billion in 2021 compared to around $200 billion in past years.
Tutoring is private academic support, usually provided by an expert teacher; someone with deep knowledge or defined expertise in a particular subject or set of subjects.
The education system in Northern Ireland differs from elsewhere in the United Kingdom, but is similar to the Republic of Ireland in sharing in the development of the national school system and serving a similar society with a relatively rural population. A child's age on 1 July determines the point of entry into the relevant stage of education in the region, whereas the relevant date in England and Wales is 1 September.
Education in the Republic of Ireland is a primary, secondary and higher education. In recent years further education has grown immensely with 51% of working age adults having completed higher education by 2020. Growth in the economy since the 1960s has driven much of the change in the education system. For universities there are student service fees, which students are required to pay on registration, to cover examinations, insurance and registration costs.
Kaplan, Inc. is an international educational services company that provides education and training services to colleges, universities, businesses and individuals around the world. Founded in 1938 by Stanley Kaplan, the company offers a variety of test preparation, professional training, career development, language training, university and student support services. The company is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company.
Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in separate buildings or schools. The practice of single-sex schooling was common before the 20th century, particularly in secondary and higher education. Single-sex education is practiced in many parts of the world based on tradition and religion; recently, there has been a surge of interest and the establishment of single-sex schools due to educational research. Single-sex education is most popular in English-speaking countries (regions) such as Singapore, Malaysia, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, South Africa and Australia; also in Chile, Israel, South Korea and in many Muslim majority countries. In the Western world, single-sex education is primarily associated with the private sector, with the public (state) sector being overwhelmingly mixed sex; while in the Muslim world public schools and private schools are sex-segregated. Motivations for single-sex education range from religious ideas of sex segregation to beliefs that the sexes learn and behave differently. As such, they thrive in a single-sex environment. In the 19th century, in Western countries, single-sex girls' finishing schools, and women's colleges offered women a chance of education at a time when they were denied access to mainstream educational institutions. The former was especially common in Switzerland, the latter in the U.S. and the U.K., pioneers in women's education.
Science Foundation Ireland is the statutory body in Ireland with responsibility for funding oriented basic and applied research in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) with a strategic focus. The agency was established in 2003 under the Industrial Development Act 2003 and is run by a board appointed by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. SFI is an agency of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.
The Institute of Education (IOE), is one of the largest private secondary schools in Ireland, teaching 4th, 5th and 6th year pupils. As well as preparing for the Leaving Certificate, fourth year pupils at the Institute have the option to study a selection of subjects from the Cambridge International GCSE programme (IGCSE) as well as CEFR Language exams.
Education in South Africa is governed by two national departments, namely the Department of Basic Education (DBE), which is responsible for primary and secondary schools, and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), which is responsible for tertiary education and vocational training. Prior to 2009, both departments were represented in a single Department of Education. Among sub-Saharan African countries, South Africa has one of the highest literacy rates. According to The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency as of 2019, 95% of the population age 15 and over can read and write in South Africa were respectively literate.
Before the arrival of European settlers, who introduced a formal education system addressed to the elites, education in Ghana was mainly informal and based on apprenticeship. Economic activities in pre-colonial Ghana were based on farm produce shared within households and members of each household specialized in providing necessities such as cooking utilities, shelter, clothing, and furniture, and trade with other households was therefore practiced on a very small scale. As such there was no need for employment outside the household that would have otherwise called for disciplines, values, and skills through a formal education system. After colonization, Ghana's economy became a hybrid of subsistence and formal economy.
Ashfield College is a private post-primary school founded in 1977 and located in Dundrum in Dublin, Ireland. The school offers preparation for the Leaving Certificate examination, both as a two-year leaving certificate senior cycle, but also as a one-year programme. The school also caters for overseas students wishing to study in Ireland for the Irish leaving certificate. Twenty one leaving certificate subjects are taught at the school, and the school uses e-learning facilities, and students can access course material, including recorded lectures online. As well as the popular subjects for the leaving cert some less common leaving cert subjects of Arabic, Agricultural Science and Classical Studies are also available at Ashfield. The school offers a career guidance service to students with advice on academic and career issues, such as advice on completing the Irish CAO college application process or the UK UCAS system.
Ormonde Education Group was a professional education provider based in Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland. Under the name Ormonde Business School or Ormonde College, the group ran a number of Business, Administration, Accounting(ACCA), Design and IT. The college also ran English language courses, and training for entrance to medical schools.
In the United States, elementary schools are the main point of delivery of primary education, for children between the ages of 4–11 and coming between pre-kindergarten and secondary education.
The COVID-19 pandemic affected educational systems across the world. The number of cases of COVID-19 started to rise in March 2020 and many educational institutions and universities closed. Most countries decided to temporarily close educational institutions in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19. UNESCO estimates that at the height of the closures in April 2020, national educational shutdowns affected nearly 1.6 billion students in 200 countries: 94% of the student population and one-fifth of the global population. Closures are estimated to have lasted for an average of 41 weeks. They have had significant negative effects on student learning, which are predicted to have substantial long-term implications for both education and earnings. During the pandemic, education budgets and official aid program budgets for education have decreased.
In March 2020, nurseries, schools, and colleges in the United Kingdom were shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. By 20 March, all schools in the UK had closed for all in-person teaching, except for children of key workers and children considered vulnerable. With children at home, teaching took place online. The emergence of a new variant of COVID-19 in December 2020 led to cancellation of face-to-face teaching across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales the following month.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, all secondary education examinations due to be held in 2020 were cancelled. As a result, an alternative method had to be designed and implemented at short notice to determine the qualification grades to be awarded to students for that year. A standardisation algorithm was produced in June 2020 by the regulator Ofqual in England, Qualifications Wales in Wales, Scottish Qualifications Authority in Scotland, and CCEA in Northern Ireland. The algorithm was designed to combat grade inflation, and was to be used to moderate the existing but unpublished centre-assessed grades for A-Level and GCSE students. After the A-Level grades were issued, and after criticism, Ofqual, with the support of HM Government, withdrew these grades. It issued all students the Centre Assessed Grades (CAGs), which had been produced by teachers as part of the process. The same ruling was applied to the awarding of GCSE grades, just a few days before they were issued: CAG-based grades were the ones released on results day.
On 12 March 2020, all schools, colleges, and childcare facilities in the Republic of Ireland were shut down in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The shutdown resulted in the cancellation of the 2020 Leaving Certificate and 2020–2021 Junior Certificate examinations, as well as all 2020–2021 Irish language summer courses in the Gaeltacht.
Events during the year 2021 in Ireland. As in most of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has dominated events in Ireland during this year.
In 2020, school systems in the United States began to close down in March because of the spread of COVID-19. This was a historic event in the history of the United States schooling system because it forced schools to shut-down. At the very peak of school closures, COVID-19 affected 55.1 million students in 124,000 public and private U.S. schools. The effects of widespread school shut-downs were felt nationwide, and aggravated several social inequalities in gender, technology, educational achievement, and mental health.
