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 widened the intake.
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.
It aims to develop their intellectual, social, and emotional skills, while also fostering critical thinking, creativity, and independence.
These level definitions were put together for statistical purposes, and to allow the gathering of comparative data nationally and internationally.
(Upper) secondary education is likely to show these criteria: More subjects may be dropped, and increased specialism occurs.
Bede in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People (732) tells that the Canterbury school taught more than the 'intended reading and understanding of Latin', but 'the rules of metric, astronomy and the computus as well as the works of the saints' Even at this stage, there was tension, as the church was worried that knowledge of Latin would give the student access to non-Christian texts that it would not wish them to read.
Various invasions and schisms within the controlling church challenged the focus of the schools, and the curriculum and language of instruction waxed and waned.
The Reformation was about, among other things, allowing the laïty to interpret the Bible in their own way without the intervention of priests, and preferably in the vernacular.
After Gutenberg in 1455[5] had mastered moveable metal type printing and Tyndale had translated the Bible into English (1525),[6] Latin became a skill reserved for the catholic church and sons of conservative nobility.
Comenius (1592–1670),[7] a Moravian protestant proposed a new model of education- where ideas were developed from the familiar to the theoretical rather than through repetition, where languages were taught in the vernacular and supported universal education.
[9] Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693) stressed the importance of a broader intellectual training, moral development and physical hardening.
[12] The Newcastle Commission inquired "into the state of public education in England and to consider and report what measures, if any, are required for the extension of sound and cheap elementary instruction to all classes of the people".
[13] In the "1904 Regulations for Secondary Schools", the Board of Education determined that secondary schools should offer : a four year subject-based course leading to a certificate in English language and literature, geography, history, a foreign language, mathematics, science, drawing, manual work, physical training, and, for girls, housewifery.
It introduced the GCE 'O'level at 16, and the 'A' at 18, but only raised the school leaving age until 15, making the exam inaccessible to the majority.
The United Nations was strong in its commitment to education for all but fell into linguistic difficulty defining that right.
The purpose of the Organization is to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.
[20] Which is explained in Principals for Action that: addressing the basic learning needs of all means: early childhood care and development opportunities; relevant, quality primary schooling or equivalent out-of-school education for children; and literacy, basic knowledge and life skills training for youth and adults.'
[20]The assumption being made that basic knowledge and life skills training for youth was the function of secondary education.
[22] In 1996, the Council of Europe adopted the Revised European Social Charter, which guarantees secondary education.
[23] Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize winner in a said in a 2017 interview that: "My goal is to make sure every child, girl and boy, they get the opportunity to go to school."
"[24] In 2017, Human Rights Watch adopted a policy calling on states to take immediate measures to ensure that secondary education is accessible to all free of charge, and compulsory through the end of lower-secondary school.
[25] UNESCO believes that in order to prepare young people for life and work in a rapidly changing world, secondary-level education systems need to be re-oriented to impart a broad repertoire of life-skills.
These skills should include the key generic competencies, non occupation-specific practical capabilities, information and communications technology, the ability to learn independently, to work in teams, entrepreneurship and civic responsibility.
Secondary-level education policy should be under continuous review to keep in step with scientific and technological, economic and societal change.
Secondary schools play an important role in youth's socialization, development and forming their ideas and approach to justice, democracy and human rights.
[27] Education systems that promote education for justice, that is, respect for the rule of law (RoL) together with international human rights and fundamental freedoms strengthen the relationship between learners and public institutions with the objective of empowering young people to become champions of peace and justice.
Teachers are on the front line of this work and, along with families, play a formative role in shaping the future of youth's attitudes and behaviours.
Students' transition from study to work is important in Hong Kong and career education in senior secondary schooling in this country is hence provided.
