Educational system in Great britain

“Education makes people easy to lead, but difficult to drive; easy to govern, but impossible to enslave”
Henry Peter Brougham
“ Education…has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading”.
G.M. Trevelyan

Aims and Goals
To research:
Educational system
Types of school
Private school
Educational structure
The national curriculum
Further education
Higher Education
Applying for universities

The English Educational System
Education in England is divided into:
-primary
-secondary
-further
-higher education
Compulsory education lasts for 11 years; statutory schooling ages are between 5 and 16 years.

The English Educational System
Children are legally required to start attending school at the start of the term after their fifth birthday either on 31 August, 31 December or 31 March, however children often start earlier than this.
Pupils are required to stay in school until the last Friday in June of the school year in which they reach 16 years of age.
During this time children must receive full-time education that is suited to their age, ability, aptitude and special educational needs (SEN). If a child does not attend school, the local education authority (LEA) must be satisfied that other appropriate provision is available.

The English Educational System
Most pupils transfer from primary to secondary school at age 11 years.
However, a system of middle schools also exists: here pupils are transferred from primary school at either age 8 or 9 years, then onto secondary education at age 12 or 13 years.
Most secondary schools in England are comprehensive; these do not operate a selective entrance system.
However, in some parts of England, a grammar school system also operates whereby pupils are usually required to pass an entrance examination based on their ability.

The English Educational System
The Private Sector
Schools in the private sector are known as independent or public schools.
They rely for finance solely on fees charged to parents.
The majority are boarding schools, although there are some independent day schools, particularly in the London area.
Children live at school during term time, only returning home at half term and during the main holidays (Christmas, Easter and Summer).
However children may also spend one or two weekends per term at home (or, in the case of children from overseas, with guardian families) - these weekend breaks are called exeats.
Most schools have fixed dates for exeats, although some will allow children / parents to choose their own exeat weekends.

Educational Structure

The National Curriculum
The National Curriculum is set by the government and must be followed in all state schools. Most private schools follow the National Curriculum, but they have more flexibility in the number of subjects on offer.

The National Curriculum
The National Curriculum is made up of the following subjects:

The National Curriculum
The National Curriculum is divided into 4 stages, called Key Stages, which depend on pupils' ages and subjects are studied as follows:

Further Education (FE)
Further education is for students over 16 taking courses at various levels up to the standard required for entry to higher education.
Courses are available at further education and sixth form colleges and range from lower-level technical and commercial courses to more advanced courses for those aiming at higher level jobs in business, administration and the professions.
Non-vocational courses are also offered including GCSE's and "A" levels. In addition to fulltime courses, many further education students attend college part-time, whether by day or block release from employment or in the evening.
FE colleges have strong ties with commerce and industry, with much of the sector being devoted to work-related studies. However colleges also have strong links with higher education institutions enabling students to progress to an advanced stage of a degree course at university.

Higher Education (HE)
Higher education covers all post-school courses above "A" level standard. Courses are available at universities, colleges, institutions of higher education (including teacher training) and institutions of further education.
Britain has 89 universities (including 39 "new" universities which were created since the 1992 Higher Education Act enabled former polytechnics to award their own degrees and the right to adopt a university title).

Applying for university
Applicants choose up to 6 choices universities / courses and enters them on the UCAS application form. No order of preference is indicated.
UCAS records the details of each application on computer and sends a copy of the form to each university listed on it.
Each university considers the application, may require an interview with the applicant and decides on the offer of a place.
This is usually conditional on the number of points achieved in "A/AS" level examinations (results published during the third week of August each year).
UCAS lets the applicant know the decision of each university.
When all universities have replied, candidates can accept a maximum of 2 offers - a first choice with an optional "insurance" choice.
When exam results are known (in the third week of August), universities make a final decision on each applicant.
All applicants who have matched the results demanded must be accepted.
Applicants who have not matched the results demanded may be accepted at the universities' discretion.
Applicants who do not get a place or who apply late (after 01 July) are eligible to enter the final stage of the application process, Clearing. In Clearing applicants are given vacancy information by UCAS and may negotiate direct with institutions.

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