or primary education
Traditionally, the first stage of formal education, beginning at age 57 and ending at age 1113.
Often preceded by some form of preschool , it usually includes middle school, or junior high school (ages 1113), though this is sometimes regarded as part of secondary education . Nearly all nations are committed to some form of elementary education, though in many developing countries many children are unable to continue full-time studies past the age of 10 or 11. The elementary curriculum usually emphasizes reading and writing, arithmetic, social studies, and science. A basic teaching strategy involves moving the student from the immediate and familiar to the distant and unfamiliar, an approach first formulated by Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi .