System of Education in Great Britain includes the following stages

System of Education in Great Britain

System of Education in Great Britain includes the following stages:

• Primary education
• Secondary education
• Further education
• Higher education
• Postgraduate education

Schooling in England

• Schools in England are supported from public funds paid to the local education authorities;
• 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;
• Compulsory schooling in England from the age of 5 to 16;
• After the age of 16 a growing number of school students are staying on at school, some until 18 or 19, the age entry into higher education in Universities, Polytechnics or colleges.

Secondary Education

• After the age of 11, most children go to comprehensive schools of which the majority are for both boys and girls;
• About 90 percent of all state-financed secondary schools are of this type;
• At 16 students in England and Wales take GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) examinations. In 1988 these examinations replaced the GCE and O-level which were usually passed by about 20 percent of school students;
• At 18 some students take A-level GCE examinations, Usually in two or three subjects. It is necessary to have A-levels in order to go to a university or Polytechnic;

University

• The academic year in Britain’s universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of Education is divided into three terms;
• Good A-level results in at least two subjects are necessary to get a place at a university. However, Good exam passes alone are not enough. Universities choose their students after interviews;
• There are about one hundred universities in Britain. The oldest and best-known universities are in Oxford, Cambridge.

• After three years of study a university graduate will
• leave with the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, Science, Engineering, Medicine etc;
• Later he may continue to take a Master s Degree and then a Doctor s Degree;