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Primary or elementary education consist of the first years of formal, structured education that occurs during childhood. In most countries, it is compulsory for children to receive primary education (though in many jurisdictions it is permissible for parents to provide it). Primary education generally begins when children are four to seven years of age. The division between primary and secondary education is somewhat arbitrary, but it generally occurs at about twelve years of age (adolescence); some educational systems have separate middle schools for that period. Primary and secondary education together are sometimes (in particular, in Canada and the United States) referred to as "K-12" education, (K is for kindergarten, 12 is for twelfth grade), while in the United Kingdom schools teaching primary education are simply referred to as Primary schools.

Contents 1 General information 2 Primary, Prep or Elementary schools 2.1 Reception, Kindergarten, Prep or Primary 2.2 The rest 3 See also 4 External links

General information

Typically, primary education is provided in schools, where (in the absence of parental movement or other intervening factors) the child will stay, in steadily advancing classes, until they complete it and move on to secondary schooling. Children are usually placed in classes with one teacher who will be primarily responsible for their education and welfare for that year. This teacher may be assisted to varying degrees by specialist teachers in certain subject areas, often music or physical education. The continuity with a single teacher and the opportunity to build up a close relationship with the class is a notable feature of the primary education system. Over the past few decades, schools have been testing various arrangements which break from the one-teacher, one-class mold. Multi-age programs, where children in different grades (e.g. Kindergarten through second grade) share the same classroom and teachers, is one increasingly popular alternative to traditional elementary instruction.

The major goals of primary education are achieving basic literacy and numeracy amongst all their students, as well as establishing foundations in science, geography, history and other social sciences. The relative priority of various areas, and the methods used to teach them, are an area of considerable political debate.

Traditionally, various forms of corporal punishment have been an integral part of early education. Recently this practice has come under attack, and in many cases been outlawed, in Western countries at least.

Primary, Prep or Elementary schools

A school teaching primary education usually consists of the first seven years of school, that is, the years spent in school through the first to the 5th or 6th, as well as a preliminary year of school before the first year (or "grade" in US terminology):

Reception, Kindergarten, Prep or Primary

Main article: Kindergarten

The preliminary year of school before the first year or (or grade in the US and Canada) has a number of different names in different regions:

• In the United Kingdom and Australia as Reception
• In the United States and Germany as kindergarten - The term originated from Germany, the "kinder" being German for "children" and "garten" being "garden"
• In Victoria, Australia as Prep
• In Nova Scotia, Canada as Primary.

Originally, in the 19th century, it was studied after primary school.

The rest

Primary education schools are referred to by a number of different names in different regions:

• In the United Kingdom as Primary school
• In the United States, Elementary school or sometimes Grammar school
• In Canada, Grade school

It is a major segment of compulsory education. Until the latter third of the 20th century, however these schools included grades 1 through 8. After leaving this school, one usually begins Secondary education.

In many districts, grades 5-8 or 5-9 are called "middle school", or further separated into "intermediate school", "middle school", and/or "junior high school".

See also

• Secondary education
• Education by country
• Cuisenaire rods

External links

• Elementary School Blog
• Differentiation of Instruction in the Elementary Grades
• Recess in Elementary School: What Does the Research Say?
• Multicultural Children's Literature in the Elementary Classroom
• Ability Grouping in Elementary Schools
• Cognitive Learning in the Environment: Elementary Students

Stages of formal education
				Higher education
Preschool	Kindergarten	Primary	Secondary	Post-secondary	Tertiary	Quaternary	Continuing

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