Education in Great Britain

                                1.Education. 

The British education system has much in common with that in Europe,

that :

      . Full-time education is compulsory for all children  in  the  middle

        teenage years. Parents are  required  by  law  to  see  that  their

        children receive  full-time  education,  at  school  or  elsewhere,

        between the ages of 5 and 16 in England, Scotland and Wales  4  and

        16 in Northern Ireland.

      . The academic year begins at the end of summer.

      Compulsory education is free  charge,  though  parents  may  choose  a

      private school and spend their  money  on  education  their  children.

      About 93% of pupils receive free education from  public  funds,  while

      the others  attend  independent  schools  financed  by  fees  paid  by

      parents.

      . There are three stages of  schooling  with  children,  moving  from

        primary school  to  secondary  school.  The  third  stage  provides

        further and higher education, technical college of higher education

        and universities.

There is, however, quite a lot that distinguishes education in Britain  from

the way it works in  other  countries.  The  most  important  distinguishing

features are  the  lack  of  uniformity  and  comparatively  little  central

control.  There  are  three   separate   government   departments   managing

education: the Departments for Education and Employment is  responsible  for

England and Wales alone; Scotland and Northern Ireland retain  control  over

the education within  their  respective  countries.  None  of  these  bodies

exercises much control over  the  details  does  not  prescribe  a  detailed

program of learning, books and materials to be used,  nor does  it  dictate

the exact hours of the school day, the  exact  days  of  holidays,  school’s

finance management and such lick. As many details possible are left  to  the

discretion of the individual institution.

          Many distinctive  characteristics  of  British  education  can  be

ascribed at least partly, to public school tradition. The present-day  level

of “grass-root” independence as well as different approach to education  has

been greatly  influenced  by  the  philosophy  that  a  school  is  its  own

community. The 19th century public schools educated the sons  of  the  upper

and upper-middle classes and the main aim of schooling was to prepare  young

men to take up positions in the higher ranks of the  army,  the  Church,  to

fill top-jobs in business,  the  legal  profession,  the  civil  serves  and

politics. To meet this aim the emphasis  was  made  on  “character-building”

and the development of “team spirit” rather than on academic achievement.

    Such schools were (and still often are) mainly boarding  establishments,

so they had a deep and lasting  influence  on  their  pupils,  consequently,

public-school leaves  for  formed  a  closed  group  entry  into  which  was

difficult, the ruling elite the core of the Establishment.

    The 20th century brought education  and  its  possibilities  for  social

advanced within everybody’s reach, and new, state schools  naturally  tended

to copy the features of the public schools. So today, in  typically  British

fashion, learning for its own sake, rather than for  any  practical  purpose

is still been given a high value. As distinct from most other  countries,  a

relatively stronger emphasis is on the  quality  of  person  that  education

produces rather than helping people to develop useful knowledge and  skills.

In other words, the general style of teaching is  to  develop  understanding

rather  than  acquiring  factual  knowledge  and  learning  to  apply   this

knowledge to specific tasks. 
 
 

                        2.Public Schools – For Whom? 

          About five per cent of children are educated privately in what  is

rather confusingly called public schools. These  are  the  schools  for  the

privileged. There are about 500 public schools in England and Wales most  of

them single-sex. About half of them are for girls.

          The schools, such as  Eton,  Harrow,  Rugby  and  Winchester,  are

famous for their ability to lay the foundation of  a  successful  future  by

giving their pupils self- confidence, the  right  accent,  a  good  academic

background and, perhaps  most  important  of  all,  the  right  friends  and

contacts.  People  who  went  to  one  of  the  public  schools  never  call

themselves school-leaves. They talk about “the old school tie” and “the  old

boy network”. They are just old boys or old girls. The  fees  are  high  and

only very rich families can afford to pay so much.  Public  schools  educate

the ruling class of England. One  such  school  is  Gordonstoun,  which  the

Prince of Wales, the elder son of the Queen, left in 1968. Harrow School  is

famous as the place where Winston Churchill was educated,  as  well  as  six

other Prime Ministers of  England,  the  poet  Lord  Byron,  the  playwright

Richard Sheridan and many other prominent people.

          Public schools are free from state control. They are  independent.

Most of them are boarding schools. The education is of a high  quality;  the

discipline is very strict. The system of education is  the  same:  the  most

able go ahead.

          These schools accept pupils from preparatory schools at  about  11

or 13 years of age usually on the basis of an examination, known  as  Common

Entrance. There  are  three  sittings  of  Common  Entrance  every  year  in

February, June and November. Scholarships are rarely awarded on the  results

of Common Entrance. The fundamental requirements are very high. At  18  most

public school-leaves, gain entry to universities. 
 
 

                                3.Schooling. 

          Great Britain does not have a written constitution, so  there  are

no constitutional provisions for  education.  The  system  of  education  is

determined by the National Education Acts.

          Schools in England are supported from public  funds  paid  to  the

local  education  authorities.  These  local   education   authorities   are

responsible for organizing the schools in their areas.

          Let’s outline the basic features of public education  in  Britain.

Firstly, there are wide variations between  one  part  of  the  country  and

another. For most educational purposes England and Wales are treated as  one

unit, though the system  in  Wales  is  a  little  different  from  that  of

England. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own education systems.

          Secondly,  education  in  Britain  mirrors  the  country’s  social

system: it is class-divided and selective. The  first  division  is  between

those who pay and those who do not pay. The majority of schools  in  Britain

are supported by public funds and the education provided is free.  They  are

maintained schools, but there are  also  a  considerable  number  of  public

schools. Parents have to pay fees to send their children to  these  schools.

The fees are high. As matter of fact,  only  very  rich  families  can  send

their children to public schools. In some parts of Britain they  still  keep

the old system of grammar schools, which are selective. But  most  secondary

schools  in  Britain,  which  are  called  comprehensive  schools,  are  not

selective – you don’t have to pass an exam to go there.

          Another important feature of schooling in Britain is  the  variety

of opportunities offered to schoolchildren. The English school  syllabus  is

divided into  Arts  and  Sciences,  which  determine  the  division  of  the

secondary school pupils into  study  groups:  a  Science  pupil  will  study

Chemistry, Physics,  Mathematics,  Economics,  Technical  Drawing,  Biology,

geography; an Art pupil will do English Language  and  Literature,  History,

foreign languages, Music, Art, Drama. Besides these subjects  they  must  do

some general education subjects like Physical Education, Home Economics  for

girls, and Technical subjects for boys, General Science. Computers  play  an

important part in education. The system of options exists in  all  kinds  of

secondary schools.

          The National Curriculum, which was introduced in  1988,  sets  out

detail  the  subjects  that  children  should  study  and  the   levels   of

achievement they should reach by the ages of 7, 11, 14, and  16,  when  they

are tested. Until that year headmasters and headmistresses of  schools  were

given a great deal of freedom in deciding what subjects to teach and how  to

do it in their schools so that there was really no central, control  at  all

over  individual  schools.  The  National  Curriculum  does  not  apply   in

Scotland, where each school decides what subjects it will teach.

          After the age of 16  a  growing  number  of  school  students  are

staying on at school, some until 18 or 19, the  age  of  entry  into  higher

education in universities, Polytechnics  or  colleges.  Schools  in  Britain

provide careers guidance. A specially trained person called careers  advisor

or careers officer helps school students to decide what job they want to do

and how they can achieve it.

          British university courses are  rather  short,  generally  lasting

for 3 years. The cost of education depends on the college or university  and

special which one chooses. 

                           4.Education in Britain. 
 

|class                 |school                |age                  |

|                      |nursery school        |3                    |

|                      |playgroup or          |4                    |

|                      |kindergarten          |                     |

|reception class       |                      |5                    |

|year 1                |infant school         |6                    |

|year 2                |                      |7                    |

|year 3                |primary school        |8                    |

|year 4                |junior school         |9                    |

|year 5                |                      |10                   |

|year 6                |                      |11                   |

|year 7                |                      |12                   |

|year 8                |                      |13                   |

|year 9                |secondary school      |14                   |

|year 10               |                      |15                   |

|year 11               |                      |16                   |

|year 12               |sixth form college    |17                   |

|year 13               |                      |18                   |

|first year (fresher)  |                      |19                   |

|second year           |University or         |20                   |

|third/final year      |Polytechnic           |21                   |

|postgraduate          |University            |23                   | 
 
 

                    5.Pre-primary and Primary Education. 

          In some of England there are nursery schools for children under  5

years of age. Some children  between  two  and  five  receive  education  in

nursery classes or in infants’ classes in  primary  schools.  Many  children

attend informal  pre-school  playgroups  organized  by  parents  in  private

homes. Nursery schools are staffed with teachers and students  in  training.

There are all kinds of toys to keep the children busy from 9 o’clock in  the

morning till 4 o’clock in the afternoon while their  parents  are  at  work.

Here the babies play, lunch and sleep.  They  can  run  about  and  play  in

safety with someone keeping an eye on them.

          For day nurseries, which remain  open  all  the  year  round,  the

parents pay according to  their  income.  The  local  education  authority’s

nurseries are free. But only about three children in 100  can  go  to  them:

there aren’t enough places and the waiting lists are rather long.

          Most children start school at five in primary  school.  A  primary

school may be divided into two parts-infants and juniors. At infants  school

reading, writing and arithmetic are  taught  for  about  20  minutes  a  day

during the first year, gradually increasing to about 2 hours in  their  last

year. There is usually no written timetable. Much time is spent in  modeling

from clay or drawing, reading or singing.

          By the time children are ready for the junior school they will  be

able to read and write, do simple addition and subtraction of numbers.

          At seven children go on from the infants’  school  to  the  junior

school. This marks the transition from play to  “real  work”.  The  children

have set periods of  arithmetic,  reading  and  composition  which  are  all

Eleven Plus subjects. History,  Geography,  Nature  Study,  Art  and  Music,

Physical Education, Swimming are also on the timetable.

Pupils are streamed, according to their ability to learn into, A, B,  C  and

D streams. The least gifted are in the D stream. Formerly  towards  the  end

of their fourth year the pupils wrote their  Eleven  Plus  Examination.  The

hated 11 + examination was a selective  procedure  on  which  not  only  the

pupil’s future schooling but their future careers  depended.  The  abolition