VI. Linguistic country study

6.1. The system of education in great britain

The outline of the problem discussed

1. General characteristics of the system of education.

2. Brief survey of Primary &Secondary school (See the table).

3. Tertiary stage of education – 6th form college, its necessity.

4. Higher education: universities, polytechnics, technological colleges,

students’ fees & other payments.

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Education in Great Britain is free and obligatory for 11 years from the age of 5

to 16 according to the 1972 Education Act. It is not centralized and therefore it is not

uniformed. About 93% receive free education financed from public funds, and 7%

attend independent schools paid for by fees from parents,

Boys and girls are taught together in most schools.

Religious education must be taught to all pupils as a part of the basic

curriculum and secondary school must provide sex education, although the parents

have the right to withdraw their children from these classes. Nowadays schooling is

divided into 3 stages: primary, secondary and tertiary. The latter stage was introduced

in the late 80ies for those who want to proceed with their higher education and enter

the university or any college (see the table).

Nearly 55% of three-and- four-year olds in Britain attend nursery schools or

classes, i.e. the Government is introducing a voucher scheme to provide a pre-school

place for every four-year-old whose parents wish to take it up. The primary school is

divided into infant or nursery and junior. A child goes to an infant or nursery school

from the age of 5 to 7 and then the children pass on to a junior school. When pupils

come to the junior school for the first time, they are divided into 3 streams - A, B, C

on the basis of their infant school marks or after a special test. The brightest children

go to the A stream and the least gifted to the C stream. Now due to the efforts of the

progressive public in Britain primary schools without streaming appeared.

At the age of l1 children go to secondary school. On leaving it the young

people who want to go on with their further education proceed with their studies at

the tertiary stage for 2 more years.

At the level of secondary school most children go to state or publicly

maintained schools. However, at this stage there are private schools, called public and

preparatory: they are for children from 13 to 18. They are for the young people of the

privileged, and train future officers, diplomats, as well as clergy. Traditionally

secondary schools were classified into 4 types: grammar, comprehensive, modern and

technical schools. But since 1993 according to the 1993 Act only comprehensive

school remained within secondary education.

At junior schools the children study such subjects as English, History,

Geography. A new National Curriculum has been introduced in England and Wales.

It consists of 3 «core» subjects – English, Math and Science; 7 other «foundation»

subjects are Technology, History, Geography, Music, Art, Physical Education and for

secondary school pupils, a modern foreign language. Similar curricula reforms are

also being introduced in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The curriculum is practically determined not by the local education authority

but by the head teacher. The methods of teaching, the balance of subjects, the

textbooks and the methods of. discipline are all his responsibility.

The comprehensive school combines in one school the courses of the other

former three types of secondary schools. This school preserves some form of

streaming, but pupils may be moved from one stream to another. This school is

considered the most progressive, for pupils of all layers of society mix together in

sports and out-of-school activities. The GCSE or GCE at O-level is given to

everybody who passes exams in English, math, history, physics or chemistry, a

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vocational qualification, e.g. carpentry. On leaving school pupils have an

examination to get a certificate which is called GCSE (General Certificate of

Secondary Education). A school leaver gets a certificate which records how many

examinations he has passed. These may be in 9 subjects or only one. The examination

is held at two levels - ordinary (0) and advanced (A). Pupils normally take O-level at

the end of their fifth year at secondary school and A-level after two more years

studying at the stage of tertiary education or the 6th form college. About 65% of

secondary school leavers choose to continue in education after 16 at the stage of

tertiary education which can be a further education college or a sixth-form college.

They study for examinations which are the main standard for entry to higher

education or professional training.They include the General Certificate of Education

Advanced (A) level examination taken at the age of 18 or 19 after two years' study,

the Advanced Supplementary (AS) examination and the new Central National

Vocational Qualification (CNVQ), the latter being designed to provide a broad-based

preparation for a range of occupations and higher education and has parity of esteem

with A-levels. To be admitted to the University one has to present his GCE at A-level

to have a talk with the dean or the head of the department & the latter states whether

the applicant can be admitted.

Great Britain has various institutions of further education such as technical

colleges;polytechnics, 39 of them were transformed into universities in 1992; art

colleges; institutes of adult education. Higher education is provided by universities.

At present there are some 90 universities. First degree courses are mainly full-time

and usually last three years, with longer courses in subjects such as medicine.

Universities offer courses in a broad range of academic and vocational subjects,

including traditional arts subjects, the humanities, and science and technology. Over

95% of students of first degree and comparable higher education courses receive

government grants covering tuition fees and accommodation and other maintenance

expenses. Parents also contribute, the amount depending on their income. In addition,

students can take out loans to help pay their maintenance costs. Further and higher

education is not free of charge at Oxford and Cambridge where the student has to pay

a tuition fee of about Ј2,500 for the residents, more than £8,500 for the overseas

students. Till 1992 the tuition fee was paid by the municipal councils for all the

students, nowadays only for the most promising students. As a rule only well-to-do

families can afford to send their children to Oxford and Cambridge.

On graduating the leavers are awarded BA (Bachelor of Arts) or BA with

Honours degrees. Degrees are built on a credit system. A credit is awarded to a

student who completes a one-year course (late January to November) on the basis of

continual assessment and three-hour final examination. Six undergraduate credits

qualify a student for the ordinary degree and eight credits are needed for the Honours

degrees.

Postgraduate students are all research-based. The three higher degrees - B.Phil.,

M.Phil., Ph.D. (Bachelor in Philosophy, Master in Philosophy, Doctor of Philosophy)

are awarded when a student completes a programme of research or advanced study

and .submits dissertation or thesis.

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In the ancient universities of England there still exists a strong prejudice

against the profession of an engineer which is not regarded a profession of an

intelligent. It is considered that the most gifted people should get a classical

education. Administrative, commercial, medical work is paid better than that of an

engineer or a scientist. Things are a bit better at the provincial universities.

Higher technical education has recently gone along some other paths. There

appeared a group of large higher technical colleges, as for instance, the Imperial

college of science and technology with a number of students exceeding 1,500, the

former polytechnics in Buttersey and Chelsea (each with a number of students about

3000), a technological college in Manchester, etc.

Technological higher schools take in the people who have got a technical

practice of at least a year. Vacation time is also spent by the students at a certain

enterprise contracted by educational establishments.

Specialists in technology who have a diploma go to work in industry and

undergo the probation of two years.

There are the so-called senior departments of special technological colleges run

by local authorities which serve to supply specialists for industry and agriculture.

They take in graduates of their junior departments, school leavers who have got the

General Certificate at A-level. Studies run for five years. The number of full-time

students here is about 6,000 people and part-time students - about 120,000. Only

about 7-8,000 students succeed in getting the National Certificate.

At present the University system looks much like the American one with twoterm

studies with modules. Modularization was introduced at the time of M.Thatcher

being prime minister.

Independent further education establishments offer the students over 16 full or

part-time courses comparable to those offered by further education colleges in the

maintained sector. They include establishments for art and architecture, commerce,

domestic science, drama speech training and music, wireless telegraphy, teaching

English to foreign students.

Since 1966 polytechnics - a new form of higher education establishments -

became centres of higher education by amalgamation of colleges extensively engaged

in work at advanced level. They played a major role in higher education. The

polytechnics were primarily teaching institutions and had close links with, business

and industry. They include students attending on a part-time basis as well as full-time

and sandwich students. Their courses lead to first and higher degrees. Nowadays 39

of them as it has been mentioned above became Universities, according to the

Parliament Act of 1992.

The Open University

The Open University came into existence in the early 70ies. It provides

university level education for all those who are capable of it, regardless of their age,

status or previous academic qualifications. The Open University produces distance

teaching materials which are sent directly to students throughout the country, those

who couldn’t study before either because of money difficulties or because of family

relations.

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The teaching system at the Open University allows the students to study at

their own place. They can take virtually any combination of courses from wide range

of disciplines.

After the Open University had first offered courses in 1974 and in 1976 it had

nearly 51,000 undergraduate students, most of whom were over 21 and working.

The Open University provides part-time courses; teaching is provided by the

combination of TV and radio correspondence texts, broadcast and sometimes by

personal tuition. No formal academic qualifications are required for entry.

This University has opened the doors for adults who had no opportunity to

continue their education in due time.

The Open University produces graduates much cheaper than the other

universities. The average outlay for the students is approximately £100 per year (thus

£600 for six-credit degree).

The introduction of the Further and Higher Education Act of 1992 in the UK

has ended the traditional division between universities and polytechnics. Nowadays

both types of institutions run similar courses to equally high academic standards. So a

distinction was no longer required. The old and new institution names are listed

below:

Thus 39 more Universities came into existence, creating 2-3 universities in a

city (f.i. in London – 3, in Sheffield – 2 etc.

Tuition fees for overseas students are high and are increased each year in the

line with inflation.

The recommended overseas fees at publicly funded UK universities in 1993/94

academic year were:

art courses - £ 5,500

science courses - £ 7,360

clinical courses - £ 13,550

Private colleges set their own fees and are not subject to any guidelines, so

their fees will vary greatly.

Sheffield Polytechnic St. Hallam University

Oxford Polytechnic Oxford Brookes University

Polytechnic of West London Thames Valley University

Polytechnic of East London University of East London

City of London Polytechnic London Guildhall University

Coventry Polytechnic Coventry University

Manchester Polytechnic Manchester Metropolitan University

Newcastle Polytechnic University of Northumbria

Polytechnic of North London University of North London

Nottingham Polytechnic Nottingham Trent University

Portsmouth Polytechnic University of Portsmouth

Thames Polytechnic University of Greenwich etc.

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Other costs, such as accommodation and food vary from region to region. In

general, one will need £ 5,000 - £ 7,000 each year /having paid tuition fees/, for

covering other expenses.

The government decided to introduce the fees since 1998. The Guardian of

August, 8, 1997 in the article "Squeeze on University places" says, "From next year

students will pay £1000 a year.”

Stage System of Education in U.K. Degree/

Certificate

Age

Nursery School (Play School) in 2 - 5

Infant School England and 5 - 7

Junior School Wales 7 - 11

Primary

Primary School in Scotland

5 - 12

State Schools Private Schools

Secondary

Only Comprehensive school

remained instead of

Grammar, Modern,

Technical Education which

came out of existence

according to the Act of

1992

Nursery School

Preparatory

Public (Independent) or

some other private

school

GCE at О-

level

2 – 5

5 - 8

8 - 13

13-16-

18

Tertiary

Sixth Form College;

less common: Grammar Schools;

rarely: City Technology College (CIC)

GCE at Alevel

16 -

18

High

University

Open University

Polytechnics

39 former poly-

technics

transformed into

Universities in

1992

Colleges:

a)Teachers’

training;

b)Art;

c)Agricultural

d)Technological

and others

B.A.

M.A.

Post-graduate course (writing, presenting and

defending thesis)

Ph.D.

D.Sc.

D.M.

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