How similar is the British education system to the Canadian education system?

Is the british education system similar to the Australian education system?

• are teaching methods in the UK [England especially] and the education system similar to the education system in Australia. Would a year 10 student be able to handle continuing studies in the UK and will year 7 and 8 students adapt to school in UK too. The students here went to a public primary school and private secondary school.

• Answer:

  As comparative systems go around the world, they are pretty similar to each other. They are much more alike than, say, the UK and US systems. In the UK: Primary school (5-11) Secondary/High School (12-16) 'Sixth Form'/FE Colllege (16-18) Depending on the school district, the 16-18 level may be part of the secondary school you attended, or may be a huge, separate institution that caters to all the 16-18 year olds in that area, from various secondary schools. All 16 year olds (Year 11) have to pass GCSEs. The British system is one of the least 'didactic' in terms of style. By this I mean that traditional schooling where the teacher stands at the front and talks and everyone takes notes and remembers is very uncommon and considered old-fashioned. The emphasis in the UK is for kids to be analytical and work stuff out given X, Y or Z. This can be very problematic for some kids coming here who are used to simply being given all the info and answers by their teachers and simply remembering it. But my knowledge of the Aussie system is that it also encourages independence, autonomy etc. My only other advice would be to select schools really carefully. Schools are very much a 'market' in the UK. There is a LOT of official data available showing you just how good schools are. Some schools are fantastic, others not so good. But you can find this out easily yourself online.