English schooling Topical vocabulary

1. Types of schools: maintained (state), nursery, primary, infant, junior, secondary, grammar, secondary modern, technical, comprehensive, mixed (co-educational), single-sex, special, independent (fee-paying, private), pre-preparatory, preparatory, public, sixth-form college

2. Stages of education: compulsory, pre-school, primary, secondary.

3. Education policy: administration, schooling, to go comprehensive, the Department of Education and Science, Local Education Authorities (LEA), to be responsible for national education policy, to run a school, to prescribe curricula or textbooks, the provision of schools, to provide maintained school education.

4. Management: Head Teacher (Master), Principle, Assistant Principle, Acting Head Teacher, staff, governing body, to have responsibility, to employ teachers, provide and maintain buildings, supply equipment, provide grants, appointment and dismissal of staff.

5. Admission: to admit, to allocate, to apply for admission, selective procedure, intelligence tests, substitute for the abolished 11 + exams, to measure inborn abilities, to have a time limit, streaming, catchment area, to transfer (promote) from one class to another.

6. Curriculum: broad curriculum, academic course, non-academic course, vocational bias, core subjects, foundation course, foundation subjects, to meet special interests, simplified curriculum, education with a practical slant for lower- attaining pupils, the three R’s, subject teaching, careers education, remedial teaching, to have set periods.

7. Assessment. Examinations: to take (do, sit for), an exam, to take a standard assessment test, to take GCSE (GCE, GNVQ), to take A levels, to be set and marked by..., to hand the papers out, examining board, grades, “pass” grade, resits and retakes, to pass an exam, to fail/do badly in , to keep up with group, to fall behind.

Task 2. Do the vocabulary exercises below.

Exercise 1. Match the different types of school (1-5) with the definitions (a-e).

1) Comprehensive a) a school which is either all boys or all girls

2) Preparatory b) a private, independent, fee-paying school

3) Public c) a school where children are educated until the age

of 11 or 13 and then go to a public school

4) Boarding d) a state school where students of all abilities and

social backgrounds are taught together

5) Single-sex e) a school where the students live

Exercise 2. Say what the following abbreviations stand for:

GCSE MA / MSc GCE

“A” level PhD GNVQ

BA / BSc LEAs AS level

Exercise 3. Choose the correct item:

1. Every child has the right to free education in a _____ school.

A public C state

B private D boarding

2. Alice took her school ______ home to her parents and they were pleased to see that she had done well that term.

A report C assessment

B statement D certificate

3. Helen was delighted when she was _____ to Eton.

A accepted C admitted

B passed D appointed

4. If Alex had gone to a _____ school, I’m sure he wouldn’t be so shy when he meets people.

A secondary C primary

B co-educational D single-sex

5. I recommend that you get a private _____ to help you with your Maths.

A trainer C lecturer

B tutor D instructor

Exercise 4. Fill in the gaps with one of the words below:

subject promotion career

tuition education stimulated

grants teachers training

fees salaries further education

donations research qualifications

1... such as history, geography, physics, chemistry and English can be studied at school.

2. Students are ... by the use of pictures and games in class.

3. When students are thinking about what to study, they should keep in mind what they intend to pursue as a(n) ... after university.

4. The government should be responsible for improving schools by giving ... to help pay for better facilities.

5. If teachers’ ... were higher, the quality of their work might be better.

6. Experienced ... consider it important to stimulate students.

7. Some schools are not government funded and the pupils’ parents pay the school....

8. Students who find a particular subject difficult should be given extra....

9. When students leave school and go on to ..., they are preparing themselves for the job market.

10. MA candidates should do a lot of ... before writing their thesis.

11. Her ... are insufficient for her to be given the post.

12. Rich members of society can make ... to schools to help them.

13. The better the education you have, the better your chances of quick ... in your career.

14. The whole ... system needs to be reassessed in order to maintain high standards.

15. In some European countries teachers have as much as two years’ ... before they start to teach in schools.

Assignments for self-study 2

Theme: Schooling

Task 1. Study information about American schooling and complete the following chart:

Education policy/ Goals of education

Stages of education

Age limits

Types of schools

Curricu- lum

Assess-ment/ Test-ing

Organization of teaching/ learning process

Academic calendar

3