K 12 Education
K 12 education is also known as elementary education. It is the education every person takes during their childhood, usually from about age 5 to 18. In most countries, this type of education is mandatory for all children, though not every child may have the opportunity, as in areas in third world nations, where schools may not even exist or where working to feed a desperate family may take priority over mandatory education. Sadly, in some countries, certain restrictions are applied to children, removing their right to be educated. One fine example was the Taliban regime of Afghanistan where girls and women were not allowed to be educated and kept as second class citizens.
Generally speaking K 12 education is divided into two parts: primary/elementary and secondary. This is usually not done because there is a definitive division, but it better aids teachers to focus on the needs of the children they are teaching based on their maturity levels. Obviously, a teenager has far different needs to a five year old.
Usually the transition between primary and secondary levels in K 12 education occurs at about age 13, the start of the secondary level, and students move into a different school. In some cases, as was common in North America before the 1990’s, the secondary level was further divided into junior and senior/high levels, with students starting the senior level at about age 16. In the United Kingdom, children will move up to the secondary level at age 11. However, today, most students will spend the majority of their secondary years at one school, up to their graduation at age 17 ½ or 18, dependant on when their birthday falls.
In the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and Ireland, the lower level of K 12 education is further sub-divided into two other levels, infant and junior. Again, most primary schools in these countries have both divisions under one roof, but there are some schools that only deal with either infants or juniors.
K 12 education is generally provided either publically or privately. Children make gradual progressions in each year, building on a foundation in the early years of reading, writing, math’s, language arts, science, music (not every school), art, physical education, and social studies (history and geography), or the basic core subjects. Classes are run by a single teacher, who may have a teaching assistant periodically, and this teacher is solely responsible within that classroom for the education, safety and well-being of each child in their care. The teacher may have a class size varying from 10 to as many as 35 plus students. However, due to the increase in technology and the ability it has given human beings to migrate to other parts of the world, the teacher may be further expected to deal with students who have little or no knowledge of the language of the class they are in. Other teaching responsibilities in K 12 education have now extended to include administration, resource funding, psychology, counseling, second language educator and special needs education.