I think it started when I got an email from Vivienne, a lady who has moved from Australia to the UK. She felt quite strongly that educational standards in the UK were better than here in Australia.
I promised to look into it.
Then, in a post I wrote about the cost of education in Australia, Waleed asked….
“Here in the UK during year 10 and 11 (secondary school) we take GCSE examination. 62.4% get A*-C Grades (college only accepts you if you have A* TO C) with 20% GETTING A*/A.
I would like to know what’s the equivalent in Australia and percentage.
Thanks”
I promised to look into it again. Today I do.
Firstly, let me get my cynical statement about statistics out of the way. When I was a lad, we used to take “O” levels and “A” levels. I left school, one week shy of my 16th birthday, with four “O” levels tucked under my arm.
Where I lived, this was regarded as near genius at the time. These days, kids can often come away with 10 to 12 “A” grade GCSEs when in our day we never knew there were that many subjects!
So, have educational standards improved over the years? Or is it the case that governments and education authorities have learned how to better present themselves to the public?
Cynicism aside, here’s what I found.
Firstly, I cannot answer Waleed’s question directly. Why? Because in Australia, each separate state runs its own school system and therefore each has a different exam at the end, like this:
The BobinOz Rough Guide to Education
In Australian Capital Territory, each student gets a year 12 certificate which lists the subjects they have taken and the results are achieved.
In New South Wales, a student’s achievements are based on a combination of the results of Higher School Certificate (HSC) exams along with their accumulated subject results.
In Northern Territory they have the Northern Territory Certificate of Education, exams which tests student’s abilities in various subjects.
In Queensland students who graduate in year 12 received a Queensland Certificate of Education (QCE), based mainly on tasks submitted throughout the relevant years.
In South Australia they do a similar thing as QLD, but theirs is called a South Australian Certificate of Education.
In Tasmania it is, yes you’ve guessed it, the Tasmanian Certificate of Education, again based on students accumulative results.
In Victoria, they call it the Victoria Certificate of Education (VCE), but this one is an actual exam at the end of year 12.
Finally, in Western Australia, students are encouraged to take the Western Australia Certificate of Education, which are individual subject exams similar to those in Victoria and NT.
On top of all that, Queensland call their highest achievers VHA’s, Very High Achievers whilst NSW call theirs DA’s, Distinguished Achievers. I didn’t bother to see what the others do. But hopefully, everyone can now see how impossible it would be to answer Waleed’s question.
We’re talking grids, matrixes and headaches! But there is an easier way.
TIMSS
This stands for “Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study” and it’s a bunch of really clever people that have worked it all out for us. Every four years they look at the educational standards achieved in countries all around the world.
They look at both maths and science for year 4 and year 8 students. Here’s a snapshot of their results for 2007.
Year Four Maths.
- Hong Kong: 607 points: Top.
- England:541 points: 7th.
- USA: 529 points: 11th.
- Australia: 516 points: 14th
- Scotland: 494 points: 22nd.
Year Eight Maths.
- Chinese Taipei: 598 points: Top.
- England:513 points: 7th.
- USA: 508 points: 9th.
- Australia: 496 points: 14th
- Scotland: 487 points: 17th
Year Four Science.
- Singapore: 587 points: Top.
- England:542 points: 7th.
- USA: 539 points: 8th.
- Australia: 527 points: 13th
- Scotland: 500 points: 23rd.
Year Eight Science.
- Singapore: 567 points: Top.
- England:542 points: 5th.
- USA: 520 points: 11th.
- Australia: 515 points: 13th
- Scotland: 496 points: 15th.
The result is clear-cut, almost. Educational standards in England are certainly better than here in Australia with the USA somewhere in between. But education in Scotland is not as good as it is here in Australia, casting doubt over whether an argument about education in Australia versus the UK has a clear winner.
So England wins!
But hold on one cotton picking minute.
PISA
This stands for “Programme for International Student Assessment” – another bunch of really clever people and this lot look at the educational achievements of 15-year-olds around the world. Every three years they give their results for science, reading and mathematics. Here’s their results for 2006:
Science.
- Finland: 563 points: Top
- Australia: 527 points: 8th.
- UK: 515: 14th
- USA: 489: 29th.
Mathematics.
- Chinese Taipei: 549 points: Top.
- Australia: 520 points: 13th.
- UK: 495: 24th
- USA: 474: 35th
Reading
- Korea: 556 points: Top
- Australia: 513 points: 7th.
- UK: 495: 17th
- USA: Do not appear to have been assessed in 2006. But in 2000 they came 15th with 504 points.
So, now you have all the facts, but if you need more, visit the US Department of Education and look at TIMSS and PISA . If you can work out which country has the best educational system between the UK, the USA and Australia, you’re a smarter man than me. All I could get from all this was that Chinese Taipei are pretty good at maths.
So I’m calling it a draw.
Related posts:
- Australian Education: A Half Term Report
- Schools in Australia and NAPLAN
- State Education in Australia: Year 2 Homework
- Australia versus USA: Snakes, Sharks and Crocodiles.
- Cost of Living in Australia and UK: Cities Compared
{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
Very interesting all those ‘State Qualifications’. Reminds me of the time when my cousins’ husband and his partners , who owned a couple of private hospitals in Melbourne , employed a new accountant . They were unhappy with his work so re-interviewed him and enquired what a Q.B.E. was ( they’d assumed at the original interview that it stood for a Queensland quaification – perhaps Queensland Board of Examiners ). No , it stood for ( don’t laugh ) Qualified By Experience . Just as well they hadn’t been employing a surgeon ! Maybe we should look at how professional qualifications stand-up Worldwide . I would say U.K. / U.S.A. equal top and the same when it comes to universities .
One last thing , you promised me a drink when I am over there but I would be living in Victoria…..probably. So bearing that in mind , could you see your way to sending me the money instead , as I’d have more chance of getting ‘legless’ on it in the U.K. ‘CHEERS’
Don’t laugh? HaHa! QBE – that’s great. Is that what’s called creative accounting?
Not so sure UK/USA would be top of todays list of best worldwide professional qualifications – maybe 20 or 30 years ago. As for that drink, sorry, I only have Aussie dollars these days.
All depends if you go private or lucky enough to be in the catchment of a good state school. Australia has many equivalent run down London comprehensives just as it has expensive first rate private schools. Most are in between and similar to UK – not everyone goes to Eton and Harrow there. There are Red Brick Universities in Oz that are highly regarded internationally, but my personal observations is that Australian children, whatever the school, appear confident and fairly happy, it may be the sunshine but its as good a start as any certificate.
Yes, I think that’s pretty much the same anywhere. I know that in England, some parents have even resorted to giving false addresses to place them in a different catchment area so their kids can go to a school with a better reputation. It is often down to the luck of the draw.
We do now have the controversial my school website which publishes the supposed performances for all schools in Australia and you can click here to read my post about how to use myschool.
And the sunshine just makes everything more pleasant, probably including school.
Having 2 daughters at school in two different states in Oz, I think I’m “qualified” to make an ‘educated’ addition to this thread (pardon the puns, it has been a long day
When we were in QLD, my daughters were at a state school (Public school) on the gold coast. It was a fairly modern school, having been built around 5 years earlier.
The school was well structured with its program and they encouraged a lot of outdoor activities, which both the climate and the curriculum supported.
Now, its been quite a while since I last attended a primary school, But, back in the day back home (Northern Ireland) we were given free school dinners, milk and although I do recall being given Christmas cards to sell and the odd sponsored walk form being sent home, requests for money was a rare occurrence. Not so with QLD public school, first of all they sent us a list of what our daughters would need. My eldest was going into grade 1 (primary one) and youngest was going into “Prep” (In QLD terms, I guess this was like a Nursery level, or somewhere between nursery and primary 1 perhaps?) my grade 1 daughter had a list which was more than extensive, it was phenomenally big! in total it amounted to $376 worth of stationary that the school said she would need for the year. This included a calculator and an atlas – two items which the school openly said she would not use in grade one, but “the curriculum requires her to have one” why? (still waiting on an answer to that)
my youngest wasn’t much better in terms of what she’d need. $225 of stationary was needed for her. These things included items such as soaps, hand tissues and sunblock/mosquito spray.
so, we got all those and the teacher of their respective classes did the administration and stored the items away for use throughout the year.
next, we got a letter asking us for a “voluntary contribution”, this was, as the name suggests, a ‘voluntary contribution’ to the school of $110 per child (when my kids were there) and this allowed the school to cover costs such as printing and photocopying.
we decided at this time that we would forego the contribution considering that we had just paid almost $600 on stationary for our kids and $220 more on top was a little our of our reach, at this stage anyway.
that was ok, we thought. Every month we received a letter from the school, with “invoice” at the top, “reminding” us of the “Voluntary Contribution” and “reminding” us that we have not yet paid it.
by the time we got to the final term of the first year, the school had appointed a ‘collections officer’ whose main task was to seek out parents who had not paid the ‘voluntary contribution’ as I stood outside my youngest daughter’s class one afternoon waiting for her to finish, This lady appeared in the area outside her class with a sheet of paper, and read out a list of parents names. Asking if those parents were available. Some parents did announce their presence and this lady practically pounced on them and asked them publicly to explain why they hadn’t paid the ‘voluntary’ contribution. Some parents were extremely embarrassed of course, others got very defensive.
We decided at that stage that amongst the average of 10 requests per month for donations of one thing or another (average of around $20 a month for 2 children) we were being essentially ‘forced’ into paying a ‘voluntary contribution’
about 2 weeks before the end of the school year we got a letter from the school. It informed us that if we didn’t pay the ‘voluntary contribution’ that it would be sent to a collections agency for attention.
Now, suddenly the ‘voluntary contribution’ was no longer ‘voluntary’ it was enough to warrant debt collectors being brought in.
We had to contact the Queensland education and report the matter to them. We were told they had already received reports and would investigate and to ignore the demand for payment. It seems that this is not a widespread practice then, but do expect a “voluntary contribution’ request… and Don’t take the word “voluntary” in the literal sense.
we then moved to NSW (for a number of reasons, not related to education).
In NSW the system is slightly different. Rather than doing 12 years of school as in QLD, you actually do 13 Years of school, so my eldest child going into what would have been year 2 in QLD, had to go back to year one in NSW, even though it was classed as the equivalent of QLD’s year 2.
We have noticed that schools in NSW don’t appear to be as ‘demanding’ as public schools in QLD, at least from our own personal experience. The list of stationary we were asked to purchase was not even 1/4 of that of QLD’s lists, and the school provided some stationary on top (as opposed to QLD where we had to provide our own printing paper also)
My daughters are thriving in school here in NSW. The curriculum is very well structured, we feel they are learning things that at their age they should be learning, and the support seems to be there for them.
Having just come back from a parent/teacher meeting a short while ago, I’ve discovered that both my daughters are at the top of their classes respectively. I am a happy (and proud) father.
Of course all children are different and will learn at different rates. I feel that the NSW educational system is up there with the rest of the world, However, given that I am returning to Ireland with my family in the next few months, it will be interesting to see where the system over there is at with regards to what my daughters have learned here and how they will be taught.
I can update this thread at that time and give a more balanced opinion then.
Jon
It’s great to hear that your two daughters of doing so well at school, you are entitled to be proud. I’m even going to forgive you for the puns. I have to, have you seen my jokes?
For sure, the states “free” education here isn’t free. There are things that need to be bought. Our little girl is only in year one but we had to fork out about $130 for stuff, and we were also asked for $50 “voluntary contribution”. We did pay it.
But we do know of people who didn’t pay and they too did get reminders. One lady we knew complained about the reminders and they stopped. Sounds like your old school were a little enthusiastic in trying to collect the money. A collections agency! What’s all that about? It all sounds totally out of order to me. I hope they got their knuckles rapped.
It’s early days for us, but we have been really pleased with the quality and standard of education and our daughter has received. It’s encouraging to hear that you feel the same. I’d be really interested to hear how your daughters slot in when you get back to Ireland and whether you feel they are ahead of their peers or they’re behind.
If you can keep in touch, it’d be great.
Cheers
Bob
Regarding the PISA and TIMMS education comparisons the PISA one is the survey which is considered to be the most accurate and the only one anyone really take notice of. It is run by the OECD and covers mathematics, science and literacy. When Oprah did a show on the low standards of education and schooling across he USA she mentioned the PISA study and lamented how the USA was either average or below average in every area. Australia does better than the USA and UK in the PISA study but even Australia has been slipping since the survey first started. Australia was top 5 in each of the 3 areas but has slipped to top 10 or below in mathematics.
Useful information Jane, thank you. I wonder why it is major countries like the US, UK and Australia have slipped down the ranks? Is it because other countries, traditionally not as well educated, are now seeing the opportunities presented by the global village known as the Internet and are now working harder to educate themselves so they can join in?
The OECD list – as mentioned earlier is the best guide – I am a teacher here in Queensland and it certainly depends on the school you go to but overall last year Australia on the OECD data in the world – better than the UK and certainly better than the USA.
Sorry – I didn’t finish – last time I checked Australian ranked 6th overall ahead of the UK.
Thanks Linda, certainly it is the OECD that appears to have the most credence. Many people seem surprised when they hear that Australian education standards are ahead of both the UK and the USA. We’ve been very impressed with the schools around here though.
Thanks!
I am afraid that I am rather shocked at the arrogance of some of these comments, please people, wake up to the truth that the UK system is unfair, inconsistent just like everything else in the current UK society. Postcode lotteries, two faced policies and so on, some people get everything while others get nothing!!
All you have to do is take a look around at the youth of this country and in one second flat you can work out that something with these kids is severely wrong.
At least in Australia every child gets an even break(within reason) from when they start school until they finish, the rest is up to the individual how they progress, lets do a maths and spelling survey on 15 yr olds to prove this, who cares if the kids are pushed harder in early years in the UK, just makes kids resentful later on.
Tom, I’m really not sure what you mean about arrogance in some of the comments, but I do take your points about the state of the youth in the UK at the moment.
I think there are some serious problems in certain areas which need to be addressed, it’s why I didn’t want to bring my daughter up in England.
After being here for 4 years Bob,i cant wait to get home to England. I would never bring up my children in Oz even if you paid me,this is an expensive,overregulated nanny state and my children hate it here,as do i!
Well Australia isn’t for everyone, sounds like it’s not for you. Personally, wild horses couldn’t drag me back to England, even if they could walk on water.
i am an ozzy in the uk and i have to say i cant wait to get back to oz. My child ended up in a public school here in london which was not even one of our 6 preferences of school which the council required us to submit before taking 6 weeks to offer our child a place at a school. Our first 6 choices of school here were also compromises for us but we cannot afford the private school tuition fees here in the UK.
I find the UK to be much more of a nanny state than oz. here i cannot even take my 2 children to the pool at the same time on my own, i need to have a 1:1 ratio regardless of the fact that my older child can swim freestyle and can i swim too. the cost of living is as high if not higher than australia here in the uk and the wages even for professionals is far lower than in australia. the lifestyle is substandard comparatively and formal schooling here starts too early and pushes too hard. 12 months to go and counting before we can get back home . I cant wait! Australian school system here we come voluntary contributions and all! After all council tax in australia is very low compared to the UK and council tax in the UK helps to fund schools. So even paying a voluntary contribution to the school the total cost of schooling is less in australia.
It’s good to hear the views of somebody coming from the opposite direction, if you see what I mean.
I couldn’t agree with you more Cherrie, that’s why I moved here. We have been more than impressed with the school system and the quality of schooling here.
Some people complain about all sorts of things here, from schools to tax, from cost of living to traffic jams and that its a nanny state here in Australia. Well, I say “try the UK”.
I’m glad that, as an Aussie, you have tried the UK and you don’t like it either. So I hope those final 12 months go by quickly and we look forward to you returning back down under soon.
Personally, between the UK and Australia, I think it’s all swings and roundabouts when it comes to taxes, schooling, cost of living and all that stuff. There’s really not much in it when you look at it all. But the one thing the UK can’t give its people that Australia can is the lifestyle. That is priceless.
Thanks for sharing your views Cherrie.
Bob – your stats are out of date. Latest TIMMS Year 4 Maths Scores…England (17th) well below Australia(11th) and USA (12th). Similar strory in Year 8.
It’s an old post Herb, 18 months old at the moment. It’ll get older as well. So yes, now the stats are out of date. But they weren’t when I wrote it.
I never “update” old posts unless I discover something that might be misleading in it or have something incredibly interesting to add. But I often write new posts about the same subject matter when information is updated, maybe I’m due to write another one about these worldwide education tables.
Cheers!
Im an Australian in the U.K and i totally DISAGREE with Cherrie. The U.K is so much better than Australia. For starters its a damn sight cheaper for everything,including groceries,cars.travel and insurance. Australia lacks culture,and its cities are boring,danegerous and very ugly in my opinion. I also find the people to be very friendly in the U.K,while in Australia they are quite cold. Cherrie,Council Tax is not lower in Australia,its higher,and the taxes are growing. I also find your comment about swimming pools to be very odd,as i can do what you cant do apparently very easily. As for education,well the British nail the Australian to the ground,our education in OZ is DIABOLICAL to say the least. Bob,you mention the lifestyle you cant get in the U.K,well thats rubbish mate. Here in Devon the lirfestyle is way better than what horrid Tasmania ever did for me,give me the U.K any day over Oz!!!!
Well there is a good point Scot You are comparing your life in Tasmania to life in Devon and I Sydney to London. Apples and Oranges.
Local Government authorities in the UK manage facilities like schools and pools etc and set their own rules regarding admissions and rules at pools etc. They also set their own council tax where I pay $3192 AUD in Uk council tax as apposed to $832 AUD for a similar inner city house in Sydney.
But I digress, the real issue when considering any move to another country is understanding the location/city or town within the country. Tasmania while being very beautiful, does have a lot less to offer culturally and services wise including schools and universities and is very different to where i grew up in NSW and have lived in Sydney. And there are huge differences between Devon and London too.
Importantly individuals are just that – individual, with personal preferences for lifestyle, weather, visual aesthetics etc etc. We did a lot of research in order to make our decision to to move to the UK for 2 years. However its just not the same as actually living here. Similarly for those looking to move to Australia – the personal preferences of people expressed on this blog site are only part of the picture and they may have a completely different take on issues and situations when they are actually living there.
Scott, as they say, “one mans meat is another man’s poison”. It’s okay for you to prefer the UK, but I really don’t see how you can describe Tasmania as horrid, Australian cities as dangerous or the Australian people as cold whereas people in the UK are friendly.
That’s certainly not my experience or the experience of many others. As for Australian education being diabolical, the people whose job it is to study the quality of worldwide education (see my post above) certainly don’t agree with you.
Cherrie, as you say, we are all individuals with different preferences, each to his own. Thank the Lord for that, otherwise we’d all be living in the same place and it would be awfully overcrowded
I will try not to get into the debate too deeply..LOL..Cherrie, I pay $2900 council tax here in a small country town in Queensland..with NO services, no sewerage (and water rates are another $400 on TOP of my rates, a separate account)..and no kerb and gutters etc..
Have lived in four states, and all pretty similar..
Have educated four children..Firstly at a very tiny school inthe country, 45 kids altogether, nice school, but shocking education. Moved to the city and they went to a very lovely primary school of 150 children, good at the time for young children, but not a lot of learning happening. My personal thoughts are that parents need to take a lot of responsibility for their children, ie. teach them to read, write, maths, science LIFE skills, even before they ever start school, and make it fun..By the time the youngest was in year one, they were all in private education. This can still be iffy, as really the quality of the school and the culture depend on the morals and ethics of the Principal. We were very lucky, had a fantastic Principal and the school was very small, again, and had students from aged 4 to aged 18. Having had hundreds of exchanges students over the years, my observations are that USA education concentrates on USA..and we ony had one or two students who had any idea that the rest of the world existed, UK were very aware, European students were amazingly educated, and so were South Americans, although this would be skewed as we only had the very fortunate and wealthy who had many advantages (obviously the rest cannot afford exchanges)…..
My wife, daughter, and I moved to Sydney from the U.S. – Florida -about 3 months ago. We love much about the place, but for the cost of living. It certainly is a unique country. One thing I notice about the schools here is that the children seem less exposed to some of the coarser aspects of culture to which American kids are exposed. In other words, there seem to be a bit less drugs, sex, and rock and roll. Not a whole lot less, but enough to be noticeable. We like that : ) Cheers, you have a great site!
Yes, Sydney would seem expensive compared to Florida. Sydney seems expensive compared to the rest of the country
Schools here do look and feel more like the kind of school I used to go to when I was a kid. Fewer gangs, less violence and drugs. I’m sure Australia will catch up at some point, but we (and our kids) should enjoy it while we can.
Sorry Bob i agree with Scot. I am an Australian and i find Australia to be a rather insular country. The people in the UK are a lot more warmer than here,ive noticed when ive been there that people say good morning to you even if they have never seen you before.while in Sydney they are more interested in themselves. I do prefer the history of Britain,and i dont like the way you seem to think the U.K is somewhat terrible,i find it beautiful,and the comments on the cities is Valid i feel,certainly on Tasmania,i dont how anyone could compare Launceston or Hobart to Bath,York,Winchester or London! as for comments on experience,im afraid ive had the opposite. Many brits i know have gone back home,and the people i meet over there (Sister emigrated there 4 years agon and loves it) dont have much to say in a positive light about Australians,but then thats my experience!
I love Australia the country, been here 20 years but the people are definitely insular and parochial. Here, is all about the climate (Melbourne excepted for obvious reasons) and if you find some welcoming Australians to socialise with, then you’ve been blessed. It is very difficult to gain social acceptance here, as people never come to visit when invited and never invite home people they did not go to school with. Just a note for any prospective migrants, do not think that Australia is an egalitarian place, it has a well bedded class structure that is immediately apparent and very ugly.
As I said, spectacular country with glorious weather in parts but don’t expect much joy from the locals.
Mark and Meispod, it seems everybody’s experience is different. My experience is totally opposite to that of you both. Maybe that is because of where I live, maybe I’ve been lucky.
We’ve only been here four years and we have already made strong friendships with about 15 families, so 30 adults and about 20 children. Probably half of them are from the British Isles somewhere, and the other half are Australian. We have even more peripheral friends through other activities, like my football or our work or through our daughters school.
Mark, I don’t know what part of the UK you are living in where people still say good morning to you even if they don’t know you, but I suspect you are in a small village somewhere, certainly not a major city. And I have never anywhere on this blog suggested that the “the U.K is somewhat terrible”. The UK is a pretty good country, it’s just that I prefer many things about living in Australia.
But, as I said in response to comments before these, each to their own. It’s what makes the world go round.
Hello, thought I might as well join the party and give my 2 cents.
I went to oz with my family aged 13 so was obviously enrolled in both primary and high school during my 2 years there. We achieved citizenship status and went back to uk where I finished off my schooling (was put back a year as my oz qualifications were not understood by the school). I can put my hand on my heart and honestly say that Australian standards of education are, or were at the time, lower than the uk’s. So much emphasis was put on sporting activities in oz, homework was almost non-existent and uniform/books/equipment expenses had my poor parents quaking at the thought of sending two kids to school.
I remember being totally horrified when the kids back chatted teachers and generally, how lax the rules were. Things may have changed now, for the better I hope. and yes, uk schools seem to be more accepting of foul mouthed adolescents now also.
Ironically, I’m hoping to go back to oz to teach science and maths, subjects I felt were not taken seriously enough when I was a student there.
I am glad that the majority of my education has happened in the uk, I’m just gutted my teaching qualification probably won’t be recognised in oz when I go back on the other side of the educational fence!
anyway, that’s my view on the subject!
Hi Rachael
I’m not sure how long ago that was, but I’m guessing at least 10 years or maybe 15 years ago? I was speaking to a guy in the pub on Saturday night, and he first came to Australia 43 years ago.
He tells me it is absolutely astonishing how much Australia has achieved in those years, saying it is a totally different country today. So I believe it is fair to say that things in the world of education have also improved vastly since you were last here.
Meanwhile, back in the UK, the education authorities will claim standards have improved and that students are getting better pass marks than ever. Many others claim though, that the exams have been so dumbed down that it’s hard not to achieve those better pass marks.
So I prefer to trust the work of PISA and TIMMS, above, because I do believe that they are unbiased and make every effort to accurately assess each country’s performance. And if they are saying Australia has a better educational assessment than the UK and the USA, I’m more inclined to believe them than anecdotal stories from parents and students from each country.
Although, I do still thank you for your opinion and I hope you are out here teaching our children soon. Then, surely, you will be able to judge for yourself if things have improved or not since your time in school here.
Cheers
Bob
Hi
i live in Australia for last 2 years and found that schools are much better with kids from almost all culture.They are treated equally.my son is very happy here.I was there in United States and UK for almost 5 years.As some one said..they may say good morning or Hi with a wide smile as if they know us for years even though it is a first time meeting, but it is only from their lips not from from their heart.Here in Sydney life is more faster and people don’t show that showoff but when we come closer to them we can see they are sincere.
Thanks catchmeifyoucan, that’s another vote for the Australian education system over the UK and the USA.
Oh, and I agree with you entirely.
Sorry Bob,here is another vote for the Australian education system is rubbish. Its quality of subjects,teaching experience and results of producing educated youngsters is poor and lacks way behind most countries. And like it or not,Australian universities are utter tripe compared to the UK ones,would rather send my kid to Cambridge than godawful Melbourne! Also,you mentioned you never had anyone say hello to you in the UK in the morning. You must have come from London. As an Australian i lived in 4 cities apart from London in the U.K (Leeds,Newcastle,Liverpool,Edinburgh) and everyone would say hello to me in the morning,ask me how i was doing,etc and yes everyone in the British countryside is fixed on good community spirit. I never had that in Sydney or Perth and the Australian regional towns? forget it,perhaps a rock to the face or a ‘Go home filthy Canadian’ to my girlfriend but never a ‘Good Morning’
Gosh! What a life you have had. Persecuted and threatened with rocks in Australia, now everyone says good morning to you, whether you are in Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool or Edinburgh.
I am glad you have found happiness. But I still prefer the schools here to those in the UK