Education in England, Wales, Northern Ireland & Scotland

TEN CHARACTERISTICS OF BRITISH EDUCATION
1) Education is compulsory and free. Regulated education ranges from 5 to 16 years old, although the majority of students continue until they are 18 years old. The primary education system ranges from 5 to 11 years and the secondary from 11 to 16 years (from 12 to 16 years in Scotland). There are independent private payment centers, but all UK students can access a high quality free education.
2) There are slight differences between the education system in Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales. Although the educational structure and contents are similar throughout the country, England and Wales follow the National Curriculum, updated in 2014, which gives guidelines and specifies the subjects that must be taken between 5 and 16 years and that is applied in schools. The independent, privately run centers are subject to regular inspections, as they do not have to follow the National Curriculum in detail, but they must show that they offer a complete and adequate training.
The Northern Ireland Curriculum is an adaptation of the National education. In Scotland they have their own Curriculum for Excellence, which was implemented in the 2010-2011 academic year and covers from 3 to 18 years old.
3) In high school students are given the freedom to choose subjects. During the first courses the Curriculum establishes a large number of subjects, all of them compulsory, which are adapted at each level. However, students prepare for the national exams (GCSE or CSE in Scotland) from the age of 14 and study three common subjects (English, Mathematics and Science) and other optional subjects to choose between multiple subjects: Computing, Education Physics, Civics, Arts, Design and Technology, Humanities, Foreign Languages ​​...
Students can get to a minimum of 5 subjects or up to 10 or 12 subjects, depending on their abilities and choices.

4) It is committed to creativity, autonomy and interactivity. The student is given the freedom to innovate, experiment with their own means and display their creativity in the classroom. Research is common, both individually and collectively, collaborative work and the realization of projects. Interactivity is also valued in the classroom and the teacher encourages the student to express their ideas to their classmates and participate in activities, debates or contests. The objective is that the learning involves the students directly and has a fun component.

Whenever it comes to the adults citizen who completed their education or working in any profession, UK education system serve them NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) system for level up their career. For example, construction tradesman will be benefited for their respective NVQ courses. Some of them are: nvq level 2 carpentry, nvq level 3 construction occupational supervisory etc.

5) Documentation and research are favored and plagiarism is pursued. The United Kingdom has some of the best digitized documentary collections on all kinds of subjects (art, culture, media, history, science, society, etc.) and makes its files available to its students free and open, so use them in your research and projects. It is an extensive and very useful source of information, especially for high school and university students.

In this same line, great importance is given to respect for the author and his work, so plagiarism is highly punished and may mean the suspension of the subject .
6) Investment in education is above the European average. Investment in education in the UK has been growing exponentially to reach 6.15% of GDP in 2010. The most recent official data, provided by Eurostat and corresponding to 2011, put the percentage of investment in education in the UK at 5%. , 98% of GDP (compared to 5.25% of the European Union average or 4.82% of Spain, for example).
7) A high percentage of the population continues post-compulsory secondary education, close to 50% goes to university and high education has an impact on salaries. A high percentage of the British population complete post-compulsory academic or vocational secondary education: 78% of adults between 25 and 64 years of age (80% of men, 76% of women) have completed upper secondary education, compared to 75% of the OECD average; in the young population the percentage exceeds 90%. Access to the university is close to 50%, although the data reveals that one of every two British young people has a university degree.
In addition, 43% of women finish higher education, compared to 41% of men. The educational level translates, later, into a big difference in terms of salaries: an adult without upper secondary education earns 70% of what someone who does have this training perceives. This rate is one of the highest among the OECD countries.
8) The academic level of higher education is very good. A study published last year by the Pearson publishing house indicates that the United Kingdom improves a lot in the ranking of educational results if the data of higher education are taken into account . The high quality of these educational levels attracts many international students who come to the country to pursue higher education (17% of the total number of students are foreigners), which in turn contributes to improving the educational, economic and cultural level of the United Kingdom .
9) Sex Education and Religion are compulsory subjects, although the decision of families is respected. The National Curriculum of England and Wales establishes a subject of Sexual and Affective Education and another of Religion that are compulsory taught in all state centers from the age of 11, although they do not have to evaluate them. In the case of religious education, state schools must follow the curriculum established by the corresponding local authority, who ensures that the subject is representative of the majority beliefs of the region .
In any case, families have the right to withdraw their children from these classes if they do not want them to take them. In Sexual Education there is a mandatory part, for all students, which is generally framed in the Science class. In Scotland there are also two compulsory areas of the Curriculum: Moral and religious education and Health and well-being (where a section on 'Relationships, sexual health and paternity' is included).
10) Uniform is used in almost all schools. The use of the school uniform is widespread in most schools, whether private or public. The objective of this practice is to promote the identity of each school and the pride of belonging to the group, promote discipline and ensure that all children feel equal and integrated without suffering social pressures for the type of clothing. Each school chooses theirs, although they are usually similar, and their affordable price is taken into account, and they are not discriminatory by sex or offensive to any belief or religion.