Secondary school A secondary school is an organization that provides secondary education and the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both lower secondary education and upper secondary education (levels 2 and 3 of the ISCED scale), but these can also be provided in separate schools, as in the American middle and high school system. Secondary schools typically follow on from primary schools and prepare for vocational or tertiary education. Attendance is usually compulsory for students until the age of 16. The organisations, buildings, and terminology are more or less unique in each Tóth Árpád Gimnázium, a secondary school in Debrecen, country.[1][2] Hungary Contents Levels of education Terminology: descriptions of cohorts Theoretical framework Building design specifications Secondary schools by country See also References External links Levels of education In the ISCED 2011 education scale levels 2 and 3 correspond to secondary education which are as follows: Lower secondary education- First stage of secondary education building on primary education, typically with a more subject-oriented curriculum. Students are generally around 12-15 years old Upper secondary education- Second stage of secondary education and final stage of formal education for students typically aged 16–18, preparing for tertiary/adult education or providing skills relevant to employment. Usually with an increased range of subject options and streams. Terminology: descriptions of cohorts Within the English speaking world, there are three widely used systems to describe the age of the child. The first is the 'equivalent ages', then countries that base their education systems on the 'English model' use one of two methods to identify the year group, while countries that base their systems on the 'American K-12 model' refer to their year groups as 'grades'. The Irish model is structured similarly to the English model, but have significant differences in terms of labels. This terminology extends into research literature. Below is a convenient comparison [3] Secondary cohorts- description used in US, UK and ROI Equivalent ages 11–12 12–13 13–14 14–15 15–16 16–17 17–18 U.S. (grades) 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 U.S. (nicknames) Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior England/Wales First Second Third Fourth Fifth Lower Sixth Upper Sixth (forms) England/Wales 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 (year) Ireland (Other Junior Junior Junior Transition Senior Senior Names) Cycle Cycle Cycle Year Cycle Cycle Ireland (Class & 6th 1st Year 2nd Year 3rd Year 4th Year 5th Year 6th Year year) Class Scotland S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 (secondary) ISCED level 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 [3] Theoretical framework School building design does not happen in isolation. The building (or school campus) needs to accommodate: Curriculum content Teaching methods Costs Education within the political framework Use of school building (also in the community setting) Constraints imposed by the site High school in Bratislava, Slovakia Design philosophy (Gamča) Each country will have a different education system and priorities. [4] Schools need to accommodate students, staff, storage, mechanical and electrical systems, support staff, ancillary staff and administration. The number of rooms required can be determined from the predicted roll of the school and the area needed. According to standards used in the United Kingdom, a general classroom for 30 students needs to be 55 m2, or more generously 62 m2. A general art room for 30 students needs to be 83 m2, but 104 m2 for 3D textile work. A drama studio or a specialist science laboratory for 30 needs to be 90 m2. Examples are given on how this can be configured for a 1,200 place secondary (practical specialism).[5] and 1,850 place secondary school.[6] Building design specifications The building providing the education has to fulfil the needs of: The students, the teachers, the non-teaching support staff, the administrators and the community. It has to meet general government building guidelines, health requirements, minimal functional requirements for classrooms, toilets and showers, electricity and services, preparation and storage of textbooks and basic teaching aids. [7] An optimum secondary school will meet the minimum conditions and will have: The first taxpayer-funded public adequately sized classrooms; school in the United States was in specialised teaching spaces; Dedham. a staff preparation room; an administration block; multipurpose classrooms; a general purpose school hall; laboratories for science, technology, mathematics and life sciences, as may be required; adequate equipment; a library or library stocks that are regularly renewed; and computer rooms or media centres.[7] Government accountants having read the advice then publish minimum guidelines on schools. These enable environmental modelling and establishing building costs. Future design plans are audited to ensure that these standards are met but not exceeded. Government ministries continue to press for the 'minimum' space and cost standards to be reduced. The UK government published this downwardly revised space formula in 2014. It said the floor area should be 1050m2 (+ 350m2 if there is a sixth form) + 6.3m2/pupil place for 11- to 16-year-olds + 7m2/pupil place for post-16s. The external finishes were to be downgraded to meet a build cost of £1113/m2. [8] Secondary schools by country A secondary school locally may be called high school or senior high school. In some countries there are two phases to secondary education (ISCED 2) and (ISCED 3), here the junior high school, intermediate school, lower secondary school, or middle school occurs between the primary school (ISCED 1) and high school. Names for secondary schools by country Argentina: secundaria or polimodal, escuela secundaria Australia: high school, secondary college Austria: Gymnasium (Ober- & Unterstufe), Hauptschule, Höhere Bundeslehranstalt (HBLA), Höhere Technische Lehranstalt (HTL) Azerbaijan: orta məktəb Bahamas, The: junior high (grades 7–9), senior high (grades 10–12) Belgium: lagere school/école primaire, secundair onderwijs/école secondaire, humaniora/humanités Bolivia: educación primaria superior (grades 6–8) and educación secundaria, (grades 9–12) Bosnia and Herzegovina: srednja škola (literally middle school), gimnazija (gymnasium) Brazil: ensino médio (officially), segundo grau (formerly) Brunei: mostly sekolah menengah (English translation: secondary school), a few maktab (English translation: college) Bulgaria: cредно образование (grades 8–12) Canada: High school, junior high or middle school, secondary school, école secondaire, collegiate institute, polyvalente Chile: enseñanza media China: zhong xue (中学; literally, middle school), consisting of chu zhong (初中; 初级中学; literally low-level middle school) from grades 7 to 9 and gao zhong (高中; 高级中学; literally high-level middle school) from grades 10 to 12 Colombia: bachillerato, segunda enseñanza (literally second learning) Croatia: srednja škola (literally middle school), gimnazija (gymnasium) Cyprus: Γυμνάσιο (gymnasium), Ενιαίο Λύκειο (Lyceum) Czech Republic: střední škola (literally middle school), gymnázium (gymnasium), střední odborné učiliště Denmark: gymnasium Dominican Republic: nivel medio, bachillerato (public secondary certificate) ,(ﺛﺎﻧوﯾﺔ ﻋﺎﻣﺔ) Egypt: Thanawya Amma Estonia: upper secondary school, gymnasium, Lyceum Finland: lukio (Finn.) gymnasium (Swed.) France: collège (junior), lycée (senior) Germany: Gymnasium, Gesamtschule, Realschule, Hauptschule, Fachoberschule Greece: Γυμνάσιο (3 years) (gymnasium), Γενικό Λύκειο (3 years) (~1996, 2006~present), Ενιαίο Λύκειο (3 years), (1997~2006) (lyceum) Hong Kong: Secondary school (中學) Hungary: gimnázium (grammar school), középiskola (comprehensive school, lit. "middle-school"), szakközépiskola (vocational secondary school, lit. "specified middle-school") Iceland: framhaldsskóli (menntaskóli, iðnskóli, fjölbrautaskóli) from 11-13 Grade. You go first in 1 - 10 Grade then you change the school to Menntaskóla and take 3 years (11-13 Grade). But you can also take it 4 years. India: secondary school, higher secondary school Indonesia: sekolah menengah atas (SMA) (lit. "upper middle school"), sekolah menengah pertama (SMP) (lit. "first middle school"), sekolah menengah kejuruan (SMK) (vocational school, lit. "middle vocational school") Ireland: Meánscoil or Secondary School (public secondary certificate) ,(ﻣدرﺳﮫ راھﻧﻣﺎﯾﯽ) Iran: Madrese Rahnamaie (literally middle school, but in reality grades 9-12) (בית ספר תיכון) Israel: Bet Sefer Tichon Italy: scuola secondaria di primo grado (3 years) + scuola secondaria di secondo grado (5 years): Liceo, Istituto Tecnico and Istituto professionale Japan: chūgakkō (中学校; literally middle school), kōtōgakkō (高等学校; literally high school), chūtōkyōikugakkō (中等教育学校; Secondary School) – In the pre-Meiji educational system, the equivalent was called "chūsei" Latvia: vidusskola (literally middle school) Liechtenstein: gymnasium Lithuania: vidurinė mokykla (literally middle school), gimnazija (gymnasium), licėjus (lyceum) Malaysia: secondary school or sekolah menengah, sometimes high school is used Malta: skola sekondarja or secondary school Mexico: educación secundaria y preparatoria Mongolia: бүрэн дунд сургууль ; (preparative qualificative school / ﻣدرﺳﺔ إﻋدادﯾﺔ ﺗﺄھﯾﻠﯾﺔ) "Morocco: Junior : Madrasa I'dadia Ta'hilia (preparative secondary school / ﻣﺪرﺳﺔ إﻋﺪادﻳﺔ ﺛﺎﻧﻮﻳﺔ) "Senior : Madrasa I'dadia Thanawia Netherlands: middelbare school or voortgezet onderwijs New Zealand: high school, college or secondary