Topical Vocabulary

1.Education

Educate (verb, often passive): He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. More and more parents are choosing to educate their children at home.

educate sb in sth: Children were educated in both arts and sciences.

The government spends more on weapons than on educating its children.

Education (noun)

Adj.+ education: decent, excellent, first-class, good; poor; compulsory; formal, e.g. Although he had little formal education, he could read and write well.

adult, further, higher, pre-school, primary, secondary;

university; professional, vocational; all-round; full-time, part-time;

public, state, private, parents who choose private education for their children.

Verb + education: have, receive He was at a disadvantage because of the poor education he had received.

give sb, provide (sb with ): The school provides an excellent all-round education.

enter education, students entering higher education;

continue, extend:She went to college to continue her education.

leave, young people who are just leaving full-time education;

complete, finish: He went to America to complete his education.

prep.: in~ students in full-time education; through ~ e.g. We acquire much of our world knowledge through education

academic ( adj usually before nouns ) connected with education, especially at college or university level: academic books; Jake was unemployed, and had no academic qualifications.

Educated (adj.)

verbs: be, seem, e.g. He was born in South Wales in 1975, and was educated at the King's School, Canterbury; Harvard-educated/Oxford-educated, etc., a Harvard-educated lawyer Adv.: highly, impeccably, well, e.g. She seemed intelligent and well educated.

badly, ill, poorly; expensively, privately; sufficiently; properly, suitably; broadly, the need for a broadly educated workforce

Educational (adj.)

educational achievements/qualifications, educational development of children; educational video

2. Types of Schools

state school ( BrE) – a school that is paid for by the government and is available to all children

public school ( AmE) –in the USA it means a school that is paid for by the government and is available to all children; in Britain public school means one of a number of expensive private schools which parents pay for

independent (fee-paying) school ( BrE) – a school not owned or paid for by the government

The word "independent" means "independent of the state". In a more formal style the word private is used in the same sense as independent.

nursery school– a place where children aged about 2 and 5 go for a few hours each day to play and do activities with other children.

kindergarten – in AmE., the name of the first year of school for children aged five; in BrE., another name for a nursery for children aged four and five.

primary school – in Britain, a school for children aged between five and eleven; primary schools are usually divided into the infant school or the infants (=for children aged five to seven ) and the junior school or the juniors (=for children aged seven to eleven )

elementary school– in the US, a school for children aged between five and eleven

mixed or coeducational schools ( coed.) – for boys and girls

single-sex school –for only boys or girls

boarding school – a school in which most or all of the students live during the part of the year that they go to lessons

special school- a school for handicapped children

preparatory school ( also prep school ) – 1. (in Britain ) a private school for students aged between 7 and 13, whose parents pay for their education. Preparatory schools prepare their students for the Common Entrance exam, which allows them (if they pass) to go on to a public school. Most preparatory schools are for either boys or girls, and some students may live at the school rather than at home. 2. (in the US ) a private school that prepares children ( over the age of 11 ) for college; it's a private school for the elite

secondary school – a school for children between the ages of 11 and 16 or 18

comprehensive school ( in Britain ) a school for children of all abilities aged 11 or over. Comprehensive schools were introduced in the 1960s to replace the system of dividing children between more academic grammar schools and less academic secondary modern schools.

grammar school – ( in Britain ) a type of secondary school at which more academic subjects are studied than at secondary modern or comprehensive schools. Most British towns used to have at least one grammar school, which children could enter only if they passed examinations at the age of eleven. By the end of the 20^th century most local education authorities had changed to the comprehensive system. Most of Britain's remaining grammar schools have now become independent of their local authorities.

secondary modern – a type of secondary school in England, providing a general education with an emphasis on practical or technical skills. There are now only a small number of such schools.

sixth form – the classes that make up the last two years in British secondary schools, often divided into the upper sixth and lower sixth, and consisting mainly of students between 16 and 18 who are studying for the A level examination. Some students leave their secondary schools after taking the GCSE examination and go to a sixth-form college, a separate school where students study for A level.

junior high school ( also junior high ) – ( in the US ) – a junior high school is linked to a particular high school. If the high school has the usual four years of education, the junior high school will have two years, called seventh and eighth grade. In some systems each of the two offer three years of education, so the junior high school includes a ninth grade

high school (AmE ) – a secondary school, usually one for the last four years before college. Most US students complete high school at the age of 17 or 18.

Verb + school: attend school; go to school; finish/leave school; skip, play truant from school; keep sb. off school e.g. His mum kept him off school for two weeks when he was ill

Schooling (noun) - the education you get at school

Adj.: good: She received the best schooling the town could offer.

bad/poor: e.g. Many children are disadvantaged by poor schooling.

compulsory: e.g. Compulsory schooling ends at sixteen.

Verb + schooling: get, have, receive e.g. He has had no formal schooling.

continue ( with ) e.g. She continued with her schooling after a long period of illness.

years of schooling children's development in the early years of schooling.