Schools in Dorset, England include state schools under the local education authorities, most of which operate a two-tier comprehensive system whereby pupils attend a primary school before completing their education at secondary school.^[1] Some of the county's schools are academies—self-governing state schools which have become independent of their local education authority and are maintained directly by the Department for Education.^[2]

Dorset also contains a range of privately funded independent schools. Many are boarding schools which also take day pupils, such as the co-educational Canford School which is built around a 19th-century Grade I listed manor house; and Sherborne School, a boys' school founded in the 16th century.^[3]

Four of the county's five largest towns contain a further education college: Weymouth College, Kingston Maurward College in Dorchester and Bournemouth and Poole College which is one of the largest in the UK.^[4] Dorset has two higher education establishments situated in the heart of the county's south east conurbation. Bournemouth University has facilities across Bournemouth and Poole and over 17,000 students.^[5]