EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

the formal institutions, agencies, and organizations of a country that transmit knowledge and cultural heritage and that influence the social and intellectual growth of the individual. This generally includes legislation and policy making, administration, facility maintenance, curriculum planning, and teacher preparation and selection. A country's educational system typically is influenced by a variety of factors. Racial and ethnic attitudes, for example, can play an important role in policy formation and school administration. Language is a significant factor as well, especially in countries like India that have more than one official language. Political and religious ideologies also are potent influences on educational objectives and content. China's is an example of an educational system controlled by a single political party or ideological group, while religious influences are strong in Spain, Ireland, and Pakistan. Most countries have a centralized governmental agency that organizes, administers, finances, and controls the formal and cultural aspects of education. The laws, curricula, personnel, and materials and methods of instruction generally are determined in the central office. Examples of countries with centralized systems are France, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, The Netherlands, Greece, Argentina, Brazil, and El Salvador. Decentralized educational systems are found in such countries as Switzerland, the United States, Germany, India, Canada, and Australia. Local administration generally is found in countries where public schooling originated in grassroots or separatist movements or where political unity was achieved through the confederation of sovereign states. Decentralized systems are characterized by the limited participation of central authorities in policy making, largely locally derived funding for education, and administrative power lodged in local boards of education. Countries such as Canada, Germany, and Australia have appointed state ministries of education and state systems of inspection. In the United States, individual states are responsible for providing education and, in the delegation of power, states may tend toward either centralization or decentralization. Most state school boards disburse funds, certify teachers, recommend curricula, and supervise the building and maintenance of schools. Actual administration, however, usually is carried out by local school boards. Members of these boards usually are elected officials who carry out the wishes of the community in formulating policy and drawing up budgets. A third type of system is a hybrid of the other two: administration and control are shared by national and local authorities. Such is the case in England, where education laws originate in Parliament but actual administration is in the hands of local government. The Japanese system also is jointly controlled, though it differs considerably from the English system. In some cases, private schools and other educational facilities may be controlled but not financed by the central authority, while in others they may receive full or partial subsidies with varying degrees of autonomy. Two factors increasingly have challenged educational systems during the 20th century: industrialization and population growth. The spread of industrialization and of technological advancement in many parts of the world has required a more complicated division of labour and more extensive formal educational preparation than in the past. Concurrently, worldwide population levels have risen dramatically, especially since 1950, and it has been necessary to allocate more resources in order to maintain or increase levels of educational attainment. The more industrially developed nations generally have been able to meet this twofold challenge, but the developing countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin Americawhere population growth has been the greatest and educational resources less plentifuloften have encountered great difficulty raising literacy and skills levels.