The Education System of Great Britain

The Education System of Great Britain
Education in England is usually comprised of two stages, primary and secondary education. In most countries primary schools are subdivided into infant schools (ages 5-7) and junior schools (ages 7-11/12). In infant schools, children are encouraged to read, write, count and develop their creative abilities. Subject teaching is rare. The junior stage extends over 4 years. Children are taught arithmetic, reading, composition, history, geography, nature study and other subjects.

There was a time when children attended schools for special purposes and were separated according to their ability. The necessity to organize a school that would accept all the children from a particular area without consideration of their inborn ability became apparent in England. The first school of this kind, the so-called comprehensive school, appeared after World War II. These schools provide all the courses that were formerly given in grammar, technical and modern schools. These courses include all the academic subjects as well as practical subjects like cooking, needlework, gardening, shorthand, typing, woodworking and metalworking.

The main educational advantages of the current comprehensive schools are:

1) they are open to all children of all types of ability from a particular area;

2) the future of a child is not decided by the results of tests at an early age;

3) a much wider range of subjects is available to every pupil;

4) if necessary, a pupil can change from one course of study to another without moving to a new school.

Nowadays pupils can choose their own curriculum and take either a natural science course (math, physics, chemistry, biology) or an arts and humanities course (history, geography, Latin, foreign languages, arts, music).

Before leaving secondary school between the ages of 16 and 18, schoolchildren take one or two sets of exams. In England all examinations are written. Pupils can get five grades – A, B, C, D, E, or 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Grade 1 is the highest grade. After examinations pupils get a General Certificate of Secondary Education.

After finishing secondary school and passing advanced level (A level) at age 18 or 19, young people may continue their education at universities and colleges. There are a great number of universities and colleges in Great Britain. The oldest university towns are Cambridge and Oxford. Together they are called Oxbridge. They have been famous for 700 years. It is a great honour to study at these universities. Now there are more than 66 colleges in Cambridge and Oxford. Five of them are women’s colleges. The rest are coeducational, which means they are for both men and women. The first women’s college appeared in 1869. The ancient buildings, museums, libraries, chapels and colleges are in the centres of these towns. The population consists mostly of teachers and students. All students have to live in the colleges during their course of study.

In the past, students’ life was very strict. They were not allowed to play games, to sing, to hunt, to fish or even to dance. They wore special dark clothes and special square academic caps called mortarboards. Students’ life is no longer controlled by such strict rules, but on special occasions, they still wear the dark robes and mortarboards.

After graduating, students receive bachelor’s degrees.

Stages

In each country there are five stages of education: early years, primary, secondary, further education (FE) and higher education (HE). The law states that full time education is compulsory for all children between the ages of 5 (4 in Northern Ireland) and 16, the compulsory school age (CSA). In England, compulsory education or training has been extended to 18 for those born on or after 1 September 1997 This full-time education does not need to be at a school and some parents choose to home educate.  Before they reach compulsory school age, children can be educated at nursery if parents wish, though there is only limited government funding for such places.  Further Education is non-compulsory, and covers non-advanced education which can be taken at further (including tertiary) education colleges and Higher Education institutions (HEIs). The fifth stage, Higher Education, is study beyond A levels or BTECs (and their equivalent) which, for most full-time students, takes place in universities and other Higher Education institutions and colleges.

The National Curriculum (NC), established in 1988, provides a framework for education in England and Wales between the ages of 5 and 18. Though the National Curriculum is compulsory, some private schools, academies, free schools and home educators design their own curricula. In Scotland the nearest equivalent is the Curriculum for Excellence programme, and in Northern Ireland there is something known as the common curriculum.  The Scottish qualifications the National 4/5s, Highers and Advanced Highers are highly similar to the English Advanced Subsidiary (AS) and Advanced Level (A2) courses.

Teachers

Research by Education Support Partnership suggests that 75% of school teachers and college lecturers suffer from work-related stress. Increased work pressure from marking and exam targets lead some teachers to work 12 hours a day. Many are leaving the profession due to stress. The government has missed its targets for recruiting secondary school teachers seven years in a row. Notably too few maths, science, physics, chemistry, computing and foreign language teachers were recruited. Department of Education figures show in 2019 there were 85% of the secondary school teachers required. Schools recruited 43% of the physics teachers needed in 2019 after 47% in 2018, 64% of maths teachers needed were recruited in 2019 after 71% in 2018. 29,580 postgraduate trainees were recruited in England in 2019, a rise of only 365 further teachers, although secondary-school pupils will increase rapidly over the coming few years. The DfE expects a rise of almost 15% in secondary school pupils by 2027, adding roughly 400,000 pupils in English state secondary schools. Kevin Courtney of the National Education Union said, “Pupil numbers in state-funded secondary schools have already risen by almost 150,000 since 2014 and will rise by a further third of a million pupils over the next five years. Even where trainee targets have been met, recruitment to initial teacher training courses is just the very start. New teachers need dedicated support to help them develop into competent professionals. Once we have invested in their skills, we must not lose their passion and experience.” Courtney maintains not enough is done to retain newly recruited teachers and a third leave the profession within five years.

Inequality

In 2018 The Guardian commented that successful schools tend to choose pupils from high–achieving backgrounds. Pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, and challenging pupils, tend to be concentrated in schools that do less well in inspections. Also that children from prosperous backgrounds are more likely to be in good or outstanding schools while disadvantaged children are more likely to be in inadequate schools. The inequality gap as of 2015 is closing with more students in good or outstanding schools from all social backgrounds.

A 2016 report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission said that racial inequality exists in the Great Britain education system. It was found that 6% of Black school leavers went on to attend a Russell Group university, compared with 12% of mixed race and Asian school leavers, and 11% of white school leavers.^] In 2009, it was found that white students' predicted A-Level grades were 53% accurate, whilst Black students' received predicated grades that were 39.1% accurate. Black students are also the most likely to receive under-predicted grades by their teachers. It was found that 7.1% of Black students received higher actual grades compared to 6.6% of White students, 6.5% of Asian students and 6.1% of Mixed students. In 2018, of all teachers in state-funded schools in England, 14.1% were from BAME groups. Meanwhile, 33.5% of primary school and 31.3% of secondary school pupils were from BAME groups.

Further education

Further education (FE) refers to post-secondary education in England and Wales. FE covers a wide curriculum of study and apprenticeships, including A-levels, BTEC, NVQ and others, ranging from entry level to top level (3, equivalent to A level) that leads to higher education. The sixth form is post-16 study taken after completing GCSE at school; academic further education are generally offered by sixth form colleges or by 11-18 schools with an attached sixth form. Further education colleges generally provide a wider curriculum and more vocational education, although not limited to it. Tertiary colleges provide both academic and vocational courses.

Higher education