Freeway - Differences between school systems

Differences between school systems

Sweden and Italy are both members in the European union, but there are big differences between the two countries. And the school systems has some big differences.
We have worked and studied the Italian system and we have also studied Italy in general. After studying for many weeks we got the opportunity to go to Italy and visit some schools, in Monza to be exact. We visited schools of all levels, from nursery schools, which covers the ages 3-5, to an university in Milano.
In Sweden school starts with preschool which is one year at the age of 6. Preschool isn’t so hard, the meaning with it is simply to prepare the children for compulsory school. The children learns to read and do simple math. In Italy the school starts at the same age but they have what they call nursery school, which is almost only for playing. Nursery school isn’t obligatory, the children’s are often there when their parents are at work.

Compulsory school

In Sweden compulsory school is the levels 1-9, students begin at the age of 7 and finishes at the age of 16. It is only in the last two years that students get marks in the different subjects. Compulsory school is preparation for upper secondary school which isn’t compulsory and it’s also preparation for work-life.
In Sweden we have only four marks. And with the marks you get in the last year of compulsory school you can search to upper secondary school, the higher marks you have, the higher possibility you have to get in the program that you like. If you want to go to upper secondary school you have to have pass in Math, English and Swedish.
When you go to upper secondary school you can choose a work-related program, when you finishes the three years you are ready for work, for example the car repairs program. There is also the possibility to choose a program which prepares you for university, for example the social-science program.
In Italy the primary school starts at the age of 6 and ends at the age of 14. At the end of the year they have an exam. The next year they can go to high school where they can choose between professional schools or a preparation for university. At the end of the last year, when they are 19 years old, they have big state exams, where they got to have good marks to move on to university or work.

Differences

Another difference between Sweden and Italy is the grades. As we said earlier we have 4 grades in Sweden, but in Italy they have 10 grades where 6 is the mark you need to have to pass. The biggest difference between the countries is that in Italy they have state exams before they go to high school and university.
We feel that the italian school system is a little bit more complicated than the swedish system. The exams that they have in Italy doesn’t seem like a good idea, they are complicated, and what would happen if a student have a bad day.
One thing that is better with italian school system is that they have more marks than we have in Sweden.