Education, Secondary

Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale: Level 2 (lower secondary education, less commonly junior secondary education) is the second and final phase of basic education, and Level 3 (upper secondary education or senior secondary education) is the phase immediately preceding tertiary education. Every country aims to provide basic education, but systems and terminology remain unique to each country. Secondary education typically takes place after six years of primary education and is followed by higher education, vocational education or employment. In most countries secondary education is compulsory, at least until the age of 16. Children typically enter the lower secondary phase around age 12. Compulsory education sometimes extends to age 20 and further. Since 1989, education has been seen as a basic human right for a child; Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that primary education should be free and compulsory while different forms of secondary education, including general and vocational education, should be available and accessible to every child. The terminology has proved difficult, and no universal definition existed before ISCED divided the period between primary education and university into junior secondary education and upper secondary education. In classical and medieval times, secondary education was provided by the church for the sons of nobility and to boys preparing for universities and the priesthood. As trade required navigational and scientific skills, the church expanded the curriculum and broadened enrollment. With the Reformation the state began taking control of learning from the church, and with Comenius and John Locke education changed from being repetition of Latin text to building up knowledge in the child. Education was for the few. Until the mid-19th century, secondary schools were organised to meet the needs of different social classes, with the labouring classes getting four years, the merchant class five years, and the elite getting seven years. The right to secondary education was codified after 1945, and some countries are moving toward mandatory, free secondary education for all youth under 19.