The following vocabulary is useful for understanding and discussing types of school and qualification.

Types of schools

• Boarding school – where the students live, eat and sleep during the school term
• Private school – where parents have to pay for their child to enrol
• Public school [US English] – a school which is free and paid for by the government
• Public school [UK English] – an exclusive, expensive school, run independently
• Co-education – where male and female students study together (also referred to informally as a co-ed school)
• Single-sex school – where only male or only female students attend

Types of education

• Primary education
• Secondary education
• Tertiary education (also referred to as Higher education) – this is the first level of schooling that is not compulsory (you don’t have to go). This includes universities and colleges

Types of certification

• A certificate – issued for a short course
• A diploma – issued for a course that is shorter than a degree
• A degree – issued by a university at the end of longer course of study
• A masters (degree) – issued by a university when the students has completed further study beyond a degree (often in a more specialised field than a degree)
• A doctorate – this is the highest level of study issued by a university