2. The System of Education in Great Britain.

The British system of education is rather complicated and many - staged.

1. The first stage is nursery education which is often seen as the “Cinderella” of the system because there is very little state provision. Parents have to pay.

2. The second stage is primary education which embraces pupils from 5 till 11 years old (5-11 years old; 1-6 forms)

3. Secondary education is divided into Junior High School (12-16; 7-11 forms; O-level exams) and Senior High School (17-18 years old; 12-13 forms A-level exams).

4. From Junior High School students may go to colleges of further education and the sixth form. The sixth form refers to those pupils who are studying beyond the age of 16.

5. From Senior High School students may go to Universities and High Education colleges and get Bachelor’s degree (3-4 years) or to Polytechnics and get Bachelor’s degree (3-4 years) and Master’s Degree (+1 year); or to Universities and get Bachelor’s Degree (3-4 years), Master’s Degree (+1 year) or Doctor of Philosophy (+3 years). This stage is linked with Higher Education which is provided at Universities, polytechnics and other educational institutions of higher and further education.

6. There are public schools where the emphasis is on «character – building» and the development of «team spirit». The public school system involves “boarding schools”. Their aim is to prepare young men to take up positions in the higher ranks of the army, business, the legal profession, the civil service and politics. In Britain today, about 8% of children are educated outside the state system. The best known boarding schools are Eton, Harrow, and Rugby. According to statistics 90% of graduates of public schools enter Oxford, Cambridge. There are 20 A-level schools: 11 for girls, 7 for boys, 2 for boys and girls. When the pupils from boarding schools finish their education, they form the ruling elite, closed group, separate from the rest of the society. Entry into this group is difficult for anybody who has a different education.

Nearly all schools work on a five-day week. The day starts at or just before 9 o’clock and finishes between 3-4 p.m. The lunch break lasts ≈ an hour-and-quarter. Nearly 2/3 of pupils have lunch provided by the school. Parents pay for this. Other children either go home or take sandwiches. The school year is divided into 3 terms and 3 holidays starting at the beginning of September: autumn term → Christmas holidays (about 2 weeks) → spring term → Easter holidays (about 2 weeks) → summer term → summer holidays (about 6 weeks). Then education beyond sixteen comes. At the age of 16 students are free to leave school.

After leaving school pupils take examinations and receive qualifications. Exams and qualifications are:

GCSE= General Certificate of Secondary Education (The exams taken by 16 year-olds);

“A” levels = Advanced Levels (Higher – level academic exams taken by 18 year – olds going on to Higher Education);

Degree = certificate or diploma, a qualification from a university;

Bachelor’s Degree = the first degree (BA = Bachelor of Arts; BSc = Bachelor of Science);

Master’s Degree = the second degree (MA = Master of Arts; MSc = Master of Science);

Doctorate = the highest academic qualification, it carries the title PhD (usually but not everywhere);

Students who wish to go on to higher education may choose any of various types of university. Oxbridge: Oxford and Cambridge or Camford: Cambridge and Oxford; the old Scottish Universities; the early nineteenth – century English Universities; the older civic (“redbrick”) universities; the campus universities; the newer civic universities; the London School of Economics and Political Science. All in all there were 46 universities in Great Britain, and when polytechnics joined this system, the number of them increased till 90.