Education
Our educational system is administered wholly by the University of Novaltia, which is presided over by the High Rector, of ministerial rank.
The entire structure is based on the tutorial method made famous at Oxford and Cambridge universities in England, wherein a small group of students are assigned to one scholar who shepherds their learning journey.
The educational system is explained at length in the sections below.
The Tutorial System
Each student is given state-funded payment voucher credits which may be used to hire or dismiss a tutor or tutors; this ensures that each tutor is personally hired by the child's family, and accountable to them. Children interact not only with the other students of their tutors, but with many other students at the Shire schools, where the tutors maintain their classrooms and offices. Unlike teachers at a conventional school, however, the tutors are accountable to their students and parents first, their subjects second, and the academic hierarchy down the list at third. For this reason some tutors may operate primarily in the house of the student, some in private classrooms, and some may prefer teaching outdoors in, say, a park - or some combination of these.
This tutorial education is richly supplemented by specialist teachers and larger group activities offered (though not mandated) through the school. The tutors themselves are given rigorous qualifications via the University, and are certified and rated for their competence in teaching various subjects. Some families may hire one gifted tutor for their child, and others might hire two or three tutors so that all the subjects are addressed between them.
Children learn under this system (called the Curriculum) until about age fourteen, at which time they take a series of interviews and, if successful, receive a Diploma, with possible honours endorsements. The Curriculum is flexibly punctuated throughout with objective learning assessments to ensure a certain basis of knowledge, but the final interviews seek to confirm that the student has benefited from the education in practical and more subjectively well-rounded terms.
Colleges and Academies
After receiving their Diploma, the students enter either a College (arts), an Academy (sciences), or an Institute (trades), from about ages fourteen through seventeen. These too are tutorial in fundamental nature, but include more broad classroom training and centralised study.
The Novaltic educational system supports and encourages independent learning and initiative.In any case upon graduation the student receives the equitable Baccalaureate degree - either the A.B. (Artium Baccalaureus, 'Bachelor of Arts') for those who attended a College, the S.B. (Scientić Baccalaureus, 'Bachelor of Science') for those who attended an Academy, or the C.B. (Commercii Baccalaureus, 'Bachelor of Trades'), for those who attended an Institute.
A gifted student who attends an extra year or two might find it possible to earn a degree from two such institutions.
Colleges focus upon the humanities, liberal arts, and social sciences, the Academies on the hard sciences, mathematics, and engineering, and the Institutes on skills, crafts, and trades.
Despite being in a subject-intensive environment, general education does proceed, but does so in the context of the subject being learned. For example, a student learning history in pursuit of an A.B. degree will learn statistics as they apply to the field of history, whilst a student of statistics will study about historiography in the scope of learning about the history of maths.
The University Proper
Upon graduation from the College, Academy, or Institute, at approximately the age of eighteen or nineteen, the student may apply directly for employment, or may further pursue his education.
Those with C.B. degrees will do so by becoming apprentices to a qualified Master of their particular trade, with such apprenticeships being uniformly coordinated and qualified by the University. Those with A.B. degrees will begin tutorial study with an expert in their chosen field, also under the purview of the University. Most of those with S.B. degrees will also go the University route, but some, like the engineers and architects in particular, will enter apprenticeships.
Upon graduating the University study programme, the student will receive a Master's Degree appropriate for their particular area. Years of further devoted scholarship may, in the fullness of time, also yield the conferment of a Doctoral degree. All of the particular types of Novaltic degrees are listed below:
Doctoral Degrees
Master's Degrees
Bachelor's Degrees