Patreon Insights: Education in Llen Færa

Hello Everyone! With my recovery from COVID nearly over, we will be starting back with an Insight into the education systems that are in place for the youth of Llen Færa. All in all, it it a fairly basic system that is notably different in style to what many of you might expect. For the most part, I will be focusing on education within towns and cities as the villages tend to vary a fair bit in how they approach teaching their youth.

Either way, I will start by breaking the system down by a selection of key ages. First off, most children will start their formal education at the age of five. Lessons at this point are very basic with a focus on literacy and figuring out what kind of learning the child is most receptive to. Furthermore, the lessons tend to be highly dynamic and engaging with games and practical activities woven in.

By age 7, the schools will typically have a solid grasp of how the children learns best and they are organised into groups based on their learning styles. At this age, wealthier families will look into hiring private tutors to supplement the public education that is made available to everyone. For the more gifted students, the town may sponsor them with a scholarship with a private tutor, though most of these are granted after the child reaches adolescence at 11.

Lessons at this point expand to cover a wider range of subjects, though the style is of the same dynamic and interactive style seen in the introductory years. The school day also grows to encompass both late morning and early afternoon so that enough time can be devoted to each subject. The last hour of the school day is also devoted to a physical activity with the students having a choice of which activity they engage in. In cases where a student has limited physical ability, they are instead granted special access to the library.

For private tutoring at this point, there are three programs that they utilise with their students. The first is very hands off and by far the cheapest option. For this program, the tutor spends some time getting to know the student and then they create a study plan for the student to follow along with giving them access to the resources they will need. At that point, it's mostly on the student to utilise the resources and study plan granted to them with the tutor checking in on them every so often to check their progress and make any adjustments deemed necessary for the study plan.

The intermediate program takes the form a small focused study group. For this program, the tutor takes a more active role in the learning of each student within the group. The exact nature of these study groups and the style of teaching depends mostly on the tutor as each one has a different approach. Master Idyr, for example takes a very academic approach, focusing on a mix of expanding on what he deems to be universal and whatever scholarly pursuits that his students find interesting. He also jumps between being incredibly dry and highly engaging.

Finally we have the most expensive program for tutors which is the the one to one tutoring that you see Master Idyr provide for Rowan. This program follows a similar approach to the previous one only it is more focused and intimate. As with the group program, the exact nature of the solo depends on the tutor in question, though a certain level of academic acumen is typically required as the tutor is expected to draw upon the student's full potential.

At age 7 Rowan spent the first hour of lessons each day with Master Idyr with the rest of her time being spent at the schoolhouse. For her hour of physical activity, she spent it learning to dance. At 9, she shifted to having her dance and music lessons with Hæra in the morning followed by her lessons with Master Idyr. She also stopped going to the schoolhouse for the most part as she didn't do well learning as part of a large group.

Going back to general education, the next key age is 11 as children are granted a lot more freedom in their adolescence. At this age, the standard school day returns to being only a half day with the second half being a lot more freeform. Some students at this age will opt for an apprenticeship, though their options are restricted to the less physical professions. Other students will seek other ways of bettering themselves independently of the public education system. This is what Kiriin and Kyr did as offered them the flexibility to do more with Rowan. The last subset of students capitalise on the services made available by the school to explore subjects such as history, mathematics, or navigation. The exact list of available subjects is dependant on the school, but most offer a reasonably wide range.

The last key age before most public schooling programs come to a close at 17 is 13 as this is the age that most other apprenticeships are made available to the various children. This is also the age where adolescents may start helping with other labour intensive jobs such as farming or wood cutting. Granted, any workplace that accepts labour from adolescents must ensure that they are safe environments and they are liable for any workplace injuries. The other big change at 13 is that adolescents that are in apprenticeships may be granted a full-time apprenticeship instead of the part-time apprenticeship granted to them at the start of their adolescence.

Finally we have the age of 17 which marks the final year of a child's public education and the start of their majority. At this age, a person is considered an adult. The one exception to this is when an individual is granted the Protections of Extended Minority. This is a legal protection that is given to those that are deemed to have experienced certain developmental issues that might offer certain challenges that people might exploit. Such individuals receive some of the benefits of being an adult but they are also considered minors in regards to the protections that are extended their way. They are also granted some special considerations on a case by case basis.

In regards to everyone else, most will either start working as adults or they will enter higher education. Alas, such topics are beyond the scope of this Insight and this is a good place to close. As such I shall bid you all farewell for now. The next Insight will be much sooner than this one was, though the exact release will depend on how deep I end up with work on Book 2. Until then, have a great weekend!