Education in the United Kingdom

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Education in the United Kingdom. Education is compulsory for all children between the ages of five and sixteen, though the UK Government announced in January 2007 to change this to 5 - 18. Most English, Welsh and Northern Irish state (but not independent) schools usher students through nursery school, one of two primary school tracks, and one of two secondary tracks, of which sixth form is optional. Most children in the UK are educated in state funded schools financed through the tax system and so parents do not pay directly for the cost of education.

1 Curriculum
2 Operations
3 History
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Curriculum

Main articles National Curriculum, Education in Scotland

England, Wales and Northern Ireland follow the National Curriculum which was introduced by the British government under the Education Reform Act 1988.

The Scottish curriculum has emphasised breadth across a range of subjects, while the English, Welsh and Northern Irish system has emphasised greater depth of education over a smaller range of subjects at secondary school level.

The United Kingdom as a whole follows a policy of In Loco Parentis in which all teachers are to assume the role of the parents once a child is in the school territory. The fairly common punishments at schools are detention and exclusion. Corporal punishment has been effectively illegal for several years.

The UK School System

[edit] Primary school

A single teacher teaches the pupils all subjects, which are art, analysis, drama, English, geography, history, mathematics, Scottish Gaelic for some pupils in Scotland, and science. In some Primary Schools, an introduction to a Modern Foreign Language such as French is introduced, where pupils will learn basic language such as saying what day it is, and what pets they have, etc. The teachers are also responsible for teaching them independent thought, group work and develop their social conscience, meaning to teach them how to behave well in society. There are tests known as SATs and are taken at the end of Key Stage 1 [Infants] and Key Stage Two [Juniors]. However, these are not examinations. These are for the government's statistics use. Nevertheless, the schools receive criticisms if the pupils do not do well in the tests.

[edit] Secondary School

In some schools, especially for subjects such as Mathematics and Modern Languages, schools stream pupils on ability, otherwise pupils are taught with the other members of their form; all students study the same subjects and they are English, modern Foreign Languages, usually French, Spanish or German, geography, history, social education, religion, cooking, music, and physical education. In Grammar and Public schools, it is more common for traditional subjects- such as Greek and Latin, to be additionally taught. All students between the age of fourteen and sixteen in England sit the General Certificate of Secondary Education examinations, whereas the students in Scotland sit the Standard Grade at the fourth year of their schooling. The Standard Grade is broadly equivalent to that of the English General Certificate of Secondary Education. Students who do the General Certificate of Secondary Education sit five examinations at the minimum and may sit up to twelve examinations, sometimes even more for Gifted and Talented students. Students sitting Standard Grade examinations sit eight. Thereafter, students may choose to leave school or to continue school. Unlike the systems on Continental Europe, a student in the United Kingdom automatically progresses to the next level of year and do not repeat the year even if the student fails his or her examinations. Increasingly, gifted and talented students are entered for examinations early, e.g. Mathematics is sometimes taken a year or a few terms earl and then another GCSE such as Statistics or an FSMQ is taken in the remaining time of the year. Additionally, in some schools, students who fluently speak a GCSE Course Language [French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, Urdu etc.] are allowed to take this GCSE early, possibly in Key Stage 3 to enable them to take an additional GCSE when entering Key Stage Four.

[edit] Further education (FE)

Students may choose to attend the Further Education Colleges where a student might follow the National Vocational Qualification programme instead of A levels or does the Scottish Vocational Education Committee courses. Further Education Colleges, however, are open to everyone, and those who wish to re-sit their examinations to improve their school-leaving qualifications as well as adult returners. Some specialist further education colleges known as Sixth Form Colleges focus on school level qualifications.

[edit] Higher education (HE)

The Scottish student entering the university may be aged seventeen and must have done at least four subjects at Higher Grade (equivalent to an English Advanced Subsidary Level), some take up to 8, and achieve a minimum grade of two Bs and two Cs. The English student completes the Advanced Level in (usually) 3-4 subjects, generally taken at age 18 in preparation for admission.

Students who attend the English universities do a three year course to earn a degree whereas those who attend the Scottish universities do a four year course. There are also sandwich courses in which the student may need to do a year more. The sandwich courses offer work placement which allows the students to work for a short period of time before they complete their courses. English universities specialise the subjects throughout the entire courses. Scottish universities, in contrast, do not specialise the subjects until the third year.

Students who study in a Scottish university may leave after their third year; however, only an ordinary degree is awarded. Those who finish at the fourth year are awarded an honours degree. All universities award a Bachelor Degree to the students who have completed their undergraduate courses; however due to historical reasons the Scottish ancient universities in the United Kingdom which are the University of St Andrews, University of Edinburgh, University of Aberdeen and University of Glasgow (as well as the University of Dundee) award a Master of Arts (MA) degree to the arts students who have completed their undergraduate courses. Nonetheless, it is equivalent to a Bachelor Degree, and science and divinity undergraduates receive a Bachelor award. The so-called Oxbridge universities (Oxford University and Cambridge University) which are amongst the world's oldest universities are generally ranked at or near the top of all British universities. Academic degrees are usually split into classes: first class (I), upper second class (II:1), lower second class (II:2) and third (III), and unclassified (below third class). In many univeristies ordinary degrees are often confined to vocational courses such as medicine and dentistry.

The US education system was modelled on that of Scotland and as such a Scottish Master's and an English/Scottish Honours Degree is at a similar level to a US Masters. It is only the 'ordinary' grade bachelors that is equivalent a US bachelors.

[edit] Operations

Although the Secretary of State for Education and Skills is responsible to Parliament for education, the day to day administration and funding of state schools is the responsibility of Local Education Authorities.

Education is devolved to the Scottish Parliament and the assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland.

Many British schools, public or state, require pupils to wear uniforms.

[edit] Primary school

In England,Scotland and Wales, children under the age of five can either choose to go to the parent and toddler group where a parent must be there to supervise her child, the nursery school, where a child can enter at the age of three or four and a fee is normally charged, or the playground, where a a child go to play at school. At the age of five, which is the official age to go to school in England and Scotland, a child attends a local school where the school is obliged to accept the child without any conditions. Children may also be sent to a state or coeducational school, or a high reputation or religious school. The school time usually runs between 0900 hours and 1500 hours. The students go to school from Monday to Friday for three terms and have twelve weeks of holiday; mainly at Easter, Christmas and in the summer. Class sizes vary; there are usually between twenty five and thirty pupils, thirty five being the maximum. For a practical class, the class sizes are smaller due to safety reasons.

[edit] Secondary school

Students in both Wales, England and Scotland, attend their secondary education at the age of eleven. They go either to a coeducational comprehensive school, a grammar school or public school (which in England is a privately-operated school). Comprehensive schools, by law, cannot discriminate on ability of students, though can operate as religious institutions- only admitting pupils of the particular religious denomination. Grammar Schools are fairly rare, remaining widespread in only 5 counties - see Grammar schools in the United Kingdom. Every student has a Form Tutor who is responsible for all his or her registered children, and a Guidance teacher who he or she is responsible to the programme and students' development. The class may run between 0845 hours and 1630 hours, though schools set their own hours. The students go to school from Monday to Friday for three terms and have thirteen weeks of holiday which are Easter, Christmas and the summer, with a week breaking up each of the three terms (Half Term).

[edit] Higher Education

Students who wish to do higher education must do either Advance Level in England or Highers in Scotland. Students typically enter the university at ages seventeen and eighteen in Scotland and England, respectively. All students use the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service to apply the universities. Many students in Scotland opt to remain in School for a 6th Year, and take Advanced Highers (Previously Certificate of Sixth Year Studies (CSYS) as the Scottish system uses the End of February for determining admission age many students are 17 when they start University despite staying for thae 6th year)

In Scotland, Scottish nationals do not need to pay for university tuition fees, it is paid for on their behalf by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland.

Nowadays, students often take a gap year after leaving secondary schools. Many students go to work, thus the universities in the United Kingdom generally welcome this phenomenon, and as a result, universities would accept a deferred entry.

[edit] History

University College, Oxford was founded in the 13th century

Most schools came under state control in the Victorian era. The basis of the present state school system was instituted after the Second World War. Initially schools were separated into primary schools (infant schools age 5 to 7 and junior schools age 7 to 11), and secondary schools (split into more academic grammar schools and more vocational secondary modern schools). Under both Labour and Conservative governments of the 1960s and 1970s most secondary modern and grammar schools were reorganised as comprehensive schools.