GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

• Three levels can be distinguished in British education:

• school education system (pre-primary/pre school education → primary education → secondary education → general upper secondary education/sixth form)

• further/adult education

• higher education

• There is no single school education system for the United Kingdom. Formally, there are two different systems of education in the country (one in England/Wales/Northern Ireland - broadly similar; the other in Scotland). In fact, school education is a devolved matter in all parts of the United Kingdom.

• There are two school sectors in the United Kingdom:

• state school sector (publicly financed)

• independent (fee-paying) school system (privately financed) - mostly in England

• further/adult and higher education have generally the same structure all over the United Kingdom

LECTURE 9 ATTACHMENT 1 Ages of compulsory education

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

Long tradition of private and church schools and late state involvement in education systems - Britain was one of the last states to organize universal education for all

1840 - Ragged Schools - charity schools for the poor

1870 - Elementary Education Act (Forster Act) - state-funded free and compulsory primary education (ages 5 to 10 - to 12 years in 1899) is introduced in England and Wales

• financing local schools

• establishment of local school boards

Similar acts for Scotland (1872) and Northern Ireland (1923)

1902 - the Balfour Act abolishes local boards of education and transfers the control of schools to the local authorities

1944 - Education Act (Butler Act) - free and compulsory state education all over the country (1947 in Scotland and Northern Ireland)

• free and compulsory secondary education (up to age of 15)

• introduction of a decentralized system:

• central government - policy guidelines

• local education authorities (LEAs) - practical control

• division of state secondary schools - placement depending on the results of special Eleven Plus exams:

• grammar schools (11+ passed) (more academic)

• secondary modern schools (11+ failed) (non-academic)

1951 - the General Certificate of Education is introduced: O-levels (ordinary levels exams at the age of 16) and A-levels (advanced levels exams at the age of 18).

1960s and 1970s - secondary state comprehensive schools introduced (non-selective - children admitted on the basis of common entrance)

1988 - the Education Reform Act introduces the National Curriculum in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - General Certificate of Secondary Education replaces O-levels exams

STATE SCHOOL SECTOR

sixth form (16-18)

(can be part of a secondary school or a separate sixth form college)

↑

secondary schools (age 11 - 16)

state comprehensive schools

grammar schools

secondary modern schools

↑

primary schools (age 5-11)

↑

pre-school education (age 3-5) (non-compulsory)

(e.g. nursery schools, play groups, kindergartens)

ENGLAND and WALES:

Secondary school types:

• state comprehensive schools (vast majority, non-selective)

• grammar schools (minority, selective - 11+ passed)

• secondary modern schools (minority, selective - 11+ failed)

Control and responsibility:

• Department of Children, Schools and Families (the Welsh Assembly also decides some aspects of the educational system in Wales)

• policy guidelines

• financing

• LEAs

• planning of schools in local areas

• employment of staff

• admission procedures

• headteachers

• school budgets

• management and organization

SCOTLAND:

• historically independent system of education

• all schools are comprehensive and non-selective

• supervised by the devolved Scottish government

NORTHERN IRELAND:

• schools supervised by the devolved Northern Ireland government

• mostly divided on religious grounds into Catholic and Protestant

• often single-sex

• about 40% of secondary schools are selective high-quality grammar schools (eleven plus exam required)

• no comprehensive school system

INDEPENDENT (FEE-PAYING) SCHOOL SECTOR

public schools and other independent schools (age 13 - 18)

↑

preparatory schools (age 8-13)

↑

pre-preparatory schools (4-8)

• independent schools are mostly in England (7% of school children in the UK)

• about 2,400 independent schools, including about 240 so-called “public schools”

• charitable and tax-exempt status

English public schools

• are private not public

• single-sex, mostly (and historically) for boys only

• originally established by English kings and queens to offer education to the sons of aristocratic families

• predominantly boarding schools

• public schools are members of the prestigious Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC)

• very expensive - from 10,000 to 20,000 pounds a year

• criticized for being elitist, socially divisive

After 1840 first public school for girls are introduced

Examples of famous public schools:

Charterhouse School

Eton College

Harrow School

Merchant Taylors' School

Rugby School

Shrewsbury School

St Paul's School

Westminster School

Winchester College

SCHOOL ORGANIZATION

• school year divided into three terms (autumn, spring and summer)

• school day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

National Curriculum (NOT in Scotland)

• introduced in 1988 by the Education Reform Act in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

• applicable only to state-sector schools

• divided into Key Stages 1-4

• 5-7 Key Stage 1

• 7-11 Key Stage 2

• 11-14 Key Stage 3

• 14-16 Key Stage 4

ALL KEY STAGES	England	Wales	NI
English	█	█	█
Welsh/Irish		█	█
Mathematics	█	█	█
Science	█	█	█
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)	█
Physical education	█	█	█

KEY STAGES 1 TO 3	England	Wales	NI
History	█	█	█
Geography	█	█	█
Art and design	█	█	█
Design and technology	█		█
Technology		█
Modern foreign language	█	█	█

KEY STAGES 3 to 4	England	Wales	NI
Citizenship	█
Humanities			█

• attainment tests known as Standard Assessment Tests (SAT) are held at the ages of 7, 11 and 14 allowing measurement of students' progress against national standards

EXAMINATIONS

ENGLAND, WALES, NORTHERN IRELAND:

• General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) - at the age of 16

• uniform grades: A to G

• Advanced Subsidiary (AS) “lower sixth” - in the first year of the sixth form

• General Certificate of Education at Advanced Level (GCE A-level) “upper sixth”- at the end of the sixth form at the age of 18

• National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ)

HIGHER EDUCATION

Types of institutions:

• universities

• independent bodies created by royal charter

• deciding about their own degrees, staff and admissions

• relying in large part on government money

• colleges (institutes) of higher education since the 1970s, e.g. Royal College of Art, Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, etc.

UNIVERSITIES IN THE UK

Types and examples

ancient universities

founded before the 19th century

England: Oxbridge

• University of Oxford (1167)

• University of Cambridge (1209)

Scotland:

• University of St Andrews (1413)

• University of Glasgow (1451)

• University of Aberdeen (1495)

• University of Edinburgh (1582)

Ireland:

• University of Dublin (Trinity College, Dublin) (1592)

early 19^th-century English universities

• Durham University (1832)

• University of London (1836)

redbrick universities

civic universities chartered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in industrial cities of northern England

• University of Birmingham

• University of Bristol

• University of Leeds

• University of Liverpool

• University of Manchester

• University of Sheffield

plate glass universities

chartered in the 1960s

• University of East Anglia

• University of Essex

• University of Kent

• University of Lancaster

• University of Sussex

• University of Warwick

• University of York

new universities

created after 1992 from polytechnics and colleges of higher education through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992

QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the impact of the Butler Act of 1944 on the education system in Britain.

2. What are types of state secondary schools England?

3. Name four features of the school system in Northern Ireland.

4. List five characteristics of English public schools. Name three famous English public schools.

5. What are the four types of exams in the English state school system?

6. What are the types of universities in the United Kingdom?

Dr Tomasz Skirecki

Wiedza o krajach angielskiego obszaru językowego: WIELKA BRYTANIA

LECTURE 9: Education in the United Kingdom

11

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