MOSCOW  
STATE   TEACHER`S  TRAINING  UNIVERSITY

COURSE PAPER

Education in the United
Kingdom

            Written  by  Isaeva
Tatiana

                             group
301

Checked by Makhmuryan K.

MOSCOW     2001

PLAN

1.  Introduction

2. 
 Primary and
secondary education

3. 
The
story of British schools

4. 
Arguments
aboout the purpose of education

5. 
Changing
political control

6. 
The
public system of education (a table)

7. 
The
private sector

8. 
Further
and higher education

9. 
Conclusion
(Education under Labour)

10.Questions

Introduction

ducation in England is not
as perfect as we, foreigners think. There are plenty of stereotypes, which make
us think, that British education is only Oxford and Cambrige, but there are
also many educational problems.During the last fifteen years or so, there have
been unprecedented changes in the system of education in England and Wales.
I’ll try to explain the changes and the reasons for them. In my work I will
also give a description of the system of education, which differs from that in
Russia very much.

Primary and secondary education

chooling is compulsory for 12 years,
for all children aged five to 16. There are two voluntary years of schooling
thereafter. Children may attend either state-funded or fee-paying independent
schools. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland the primary cycle lasts from
five to 11. Generally speaking, children enter infant school, moving on to
junior school (often in the same building) at the age of seven, and then on to
secondary school at the age of 11. Roughly 90 per cent of children receive
their secondary education at 'comprehensive' schools. For those who wish to
stay on, secondary school can include the two final years of secondary
education, sometimes known in Britain (for historical reasons) as 'the sixth
form'. In many parts of the country, these two years are spent at a tertiary or
sixth-form college, which provides academic and vocational courses.

Two public academic
examinations are set, one on completion of the compulsory cycle of education at
the age of 16, and one on completion of the two voluntary years. At 16 pupils
take the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), introduced
in 1989 to replace two previous examinations, one academic and the other
indicating completion of secondary education. It was introduced to provide one
examination whereby the whole range of ability could be judged, rather than
having two classes of achievers; and also to assess children on classwork and
homework as well as in the examination room, as a more reliable form of
assessment. During the two voluntary years of schooling, pupils specialise in
two or three subjects and take the General Certificate of Education
(always known simply as 'GCE') Advanced Level, or 'A level' examination,
usually with a view to entry to a university or other college of higher
education. New examinations. Advanced Supplementary (AS)
levels, were introduced in 1989, to provide a wider range of subjects to
study, a recognition that English education has traditionally been overly
narrow. The debate about the need for a wider secondary level curriculum
continues, and Labour is likely to introduce more changes at this level. These
examinations are not set by the government, but by independent examination
boards, most of which are associated with a particular university or group of
universities. Labour may replace these boards with one national board of
examination.

            A new qualification was introduced in
1992 for pupils who are skills, rather than academically, orientated, the
General National Vocational Qualification, known as GNVQ. This examination
is taken at three distinct levels: the Foundation which has equivalent standing
to low-grade passes in four subjects of GCSE; the Intermediate GNVQ which is
equivalent to high-grade passes in four subjects of GCSE; and the Advanced
GNVQ, equivalent to two passes at A level and acceptable for university
entrance.

            The academic year begins in late
summer, usually in September, and is divided into three terms, with holidays
for Christmas, Easter and for the month of August, although the exact dates
vary slightly from area to area. In addition each term there is normally a
mid-term one-week holiday, known as 'half-term'.

The story of British schools

or largely historical reasons, the
schools system is complicated, inconsistent and highly varied. Most of the
oldest schools, of which the most famous are Eton, Harrow, Winchester and
Westminster, are today independent, fee-paying, public schools for boys.
Most of these were established to create a body of literate men to fulfil the
administrative, political, legal and religious requirements of the late Middle
Ages. From the sixteenth century onwards, many 'grammar' schools were
established, often with large grants of money from wealthy men, in order to
provide a local educational facility.

From the 1870s local
authorities were required to establish elementary schools, paid for by
the local community, and to compel attendance by all boys and girls up to the
age of 1 3. By 1900 almost total attendance had been achieved. Each authority,
with its locally elected councillors, was responsible for the curriculum.
Although a general consensus developed concerning the major part of the school
curriculum, a strong feeling of local control continued and interference by
central government was resented. A number of secondary schools were also
established by local authorities, modelled on the public schools.

The 1944 Education Act
introduced free compulsory secondary education. Almost all children attended
one of two kinds of secondary school. The decision was made on the results
obtained in the '11 plus' examination, taken in the last year of primary
school. Eighty per cent of pupils went to 'secondary modern' schools
where they were expected to obtain sufficient education for manual, skilled and
clerical employment, but where academic expectations were modest. The remaining
20 per cent went to grammar schools. Some of these were old foundations
which now received a direct grant from central government, but the majority
were funded through the local authority. Grammar school pupils were expected to
go on to university or some other form of higher education. A large number of
the grammar or 'high' schools were single sex. In addition there were, and continue
to be, a number of voluntary state-supported primary and secondary schools,
most of them under the management of the Church of England or the Roman
Catholic Church, which usually own the school buildings.

            By the 1960s there was increasing
criticism of this streaming of ability, particularly by the political Left. It
was recognised that many children performed inconsistently, and that those who
failed the 11 plus examination were denied the chance to do better later. Early
selection also reinforced the divisions of social class, and was wasteful of
human potential. A government report in 1968 produced evidence that an
expectation of failure became increasingly fulfilled, with secondary modern
pupils aged 14 doing significantly worse than they had at the age of eight.
Labour's solution was to introduce a new type of school, the comprehensive,
a combination of grammar and secondary modern under one roof, so that all the
children could be continually assessed and given appropriate teaching. Between
1965 and 1980 almost all the old grammar and secondary modern schools were
replaced, mainly by coeducational comprehensives. The measure caused much
argument for two principal reasons. Many local authorities, particularly
Conservative-controlled ones, did not wish to lose the excellence of their
grammar schools, and many resented Labour's interference in education, which
was still considered a local responsibility. However, despite the pressure to
change school structures, each school, in consultation with the local authority,
remained in control of its curriculum. In practice the result of the reform was
very mixed:

the best comprehensives aimed at
grammar school academic standards, while the worst sank to secondary modern
ones.

            One unforeseen but damaging result was
the refusal of many grammar schools to join the comprehensive experiment. Of
the 174 direct-grant grammar schools, 119 decided to leave the state system
rather than become comprehensive, and duly became independent fee-paying
establishments. This had two effects. Grammar schools had provided an
opportunity for children from all social backgrounds to excel academically at
the same level as those attending fee-paying independent public schools. The
loss of these schools had a demoralising effect on the comprehensive experiment
and damaged its chances of success, but led to a revival of independent schools
at a time when they seemed to be slowly shrinking. The introduction of
comprehensive schools thus unintentionally reinforced an educational elite
which only the children of wealthier parents could hope to join.

Comprehensive schools became the
standard form of secondary education (other than in one or two isolated areas,
where grammar schools and secondary moderns survived). However, except among
the best comprehensives they lost for a while the excellence of the old grammar
schools.

            Alongside the introduction of
comprehensives there was a move away from traditional teaching and discipline
towards what was called 'progressive' education.-This entailed a change from
more formal teaching and factual learning tc greater pupil participation and
discussion, with greater emphasis on comprehension and less on the acquisition
of knowledge. Not everyone approved, particularly on the political Right. There
was increasing criticism of the lack of discipline and of formal learning, and
a demand to return tc old-fashioned methods.

            From the 1960s there was also greater
emphasis on education and training than ever before, with many colleges of
further education established to provide technical or vocational training.
However, British education remained too academic for the less able, and
technical studies stayed weak, with the result that a large number of less
academically able pupils left school without any skills or qualifications at
all.

            The expansion of education led to
increased expenditure. The proportion of the gross national product devoted to
education doubled, from 3.2 per cent in 1954, to 6.5 per cent by 1970, but fell
back to about 5 per cent in the 1980s. These higher levels of spending did not
fulfil expectations, mainly because spending remained substantially lower than
that in other industrialised countries. Perhaps the most serious failures were
the continued high drop-out rate at the age of 16 and the low level of
achievement in mathematics and science among school-leavers. By the mid-1980s,
while over 80 per cent of pupils in the United States and over 90 per cent in
Japan stayed on till the age of 18, barely one-third of British pupils did so.

I.
Arguments about the purpose of education.

            There is a
feeling that the schools are not succeeding - that standards are too low, that
schools are not preparing young people with the skills, knowledge and personal
qualities which are necessary for the world of work, and that schools have
failed to instil the right social values. These are the criticisms and
therefore there have been changes to meet these criticisms.

            However, the
criticisms take different forms. First, there are those who believe that
standards have fallen, especially in the areas of literacy and numeracy - and,
indeed, unfavourable  comparisons are made with the other countries as a result
of international surveys. For example, the recent Third International
Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS) placed in England and Wales very low in
mathematical achievement at 13 - although very high in science. Therefore,
these critics emphasize «back to basis» and the need for more traditional
teaching methods.

            Second, there
are those who argue for a rather traditional curriculum which is divided into
«subjects» and which calls upon those cultural standards which previous
generations have known - the study of literary classics ( Shakespeare, Keats,
Wordsworth)  rather than popular multi-cultural history, classical music rather
than popular music, and so on. Since there are many children who would not be
interested in or capable of learning within these subjects, there is a tendency
for such advocates of traditional standards to support an early selection of
children into «the minority» who are capable of being so educated, separated
off from «the majority» who are thought to benefit more from a more technical
or practical education.

            Third, there
are those who question deeply the idea of a curriculum based on these
traditional subjects. Many employers, for instance, think that such a
curriculum by itself ill - serves the country economically. The curriculum
ought to be more relevant to the world of work, providing those skills, such as
computer, numeracy and literacy skills, personal qualities (such as cooperation
and enterprise) and knowledge (such as economic awareness) which make people
more employable.

            A very
important speech which expressed those concerns and which is seen as a
watershed in government policy was that of Prime Minister Callaghan at Ruskin
College, Oxford, in 1976.

            «Preparing
future generations for life» was the theme and he pointed to the need for
greater relevance in education on four fronts:

1.   the acquisition by school
leavers of basic skills which they lacked but which industry needed;

2.   the development of more
positive attitudes to industry and to the economic needs of society;

3.   greater technological
know-how so that they might live effectively in a technological society;

4.   the development of personal
qualities for coping with an unpredictable future.

            In what
follows I give details of the different contexts in which this concern for
change was discussed.

a)   Economic Context

It is
generally assumed that there is a close connection between economic performance
and the quality and context of education and training, and that therefore the
country’s poor performance economically since the second world war (compared
with some other countries) is due to irrelevant and poor quality education.
During the thirty years from the end of the Second World War not enough pupils
stayed on beyond the compulsory school leaving age. There were too many
unskilled and semi-skilled people for a much more sophisticated economy.
Standards of literacy and numeracy were too low for a modern economy. There was
not enough practical and technical know-how being taught.

            As
a result, it was argued that there must be much closer links between school and
industry, with pupils spending time in industry, with industrialists
participating in the governance of schools, and with subjects and activities on
the curriculum which relate much more closely to the world of work.

            Furthermore,
there should be a different attitudes to learning. So quickly is the economy
that people constantly have to update their knowledge and skills. There is a
need for a «learning society» and for the acquisition of «generic» or
«transferable» skills in communication, numeracy, problem-solving, computer
technology, etc.

b)  Social Context

            There
are anxieties not just about the future economy but also about the future of
society. Preparing young people for adult life was what the Ruskin speech was
about, and there is much more to adult life than economic success - for
example, living the life of a good citizen, of a father or mother, of
involvement in social and political activity. Therefore, schools are required
to prepare young people for a multicultural society, to encourage tolerance
between different ethnic groups, to promote social responsibility, to encourage
respect for the law and democratic institutions, to develop sensibilities
towards the disadvantaged and to ensure girls enjoy equal opportunities with
boys. And schools have. Indeed, responded with programs of social education,
citizenship, and parenthood. Moreover, they have often done this in practical
ways such as organizing projects.

c)   Standards

            The
need for educational change arises partly from a concern about academic
standards. The sense that Britain is declining has been reinforced by
statements from employers. According to them, Britain’s workforce is
under-educated, under-trained and under-qualified! These criticisms of
standards are pitched at different levels. First, there are worries about low
standards of literacy and numeracy. Second, international comparisons give
weight to misgivings about the performance of British schoolchildren in
mathematics and science. And, therefore, the subsequent changes have tried to
define standards much more precisely, and o have regular assessment of
children’s performance against these standards.

II. Changing Political Control

a)  After 1944

The key
educational legislation, until recently, was the 1944 Education Act. That Act
supported a partnership between central government (Local Education Authorities
or LEAs), teachers and the churches - with central government playing a minimal
role in the curriculum.

The 1944
Education Act required the Secretary of State to promote the education of the people
of England and Wales and the progressive development of institutions devoted to
that purpose and to secure the effective execution by local authorities, under
his control and direction, of the national policy for providing a varied and
comprehensive educational service in every area.

In the decades
following the Act,  «promotion» was perceived in very general terms - ensuring
that there were resources adequate for all children to receive an education
according to «age, ability and aptitude», providing the broad legal framework
and regulations within which education should be provided (for example, the
length of the school year or the division of education into primary and
secondary phases), and initiating major reports on such important matters as
language and mathematics teaching.

Within this
framework, the LEA organized the schools. The LEA raised money through local
taxation to provide education from primary right through to further and indeed
higher education, and made sure that the schools and colleges were working
efficiently. They employed and paid the teachers. And ultimately they had
responsibility for the quality of teaching within those schools.

The Churches
were key partners because historically they (particularly the Church of
England) had provided a large proportion of elementary education and owned many
of the schools.

The 1944 Act
had to establish a new partnership between state, LEAs and the church schools.

b)After 1980

However, the
changing economic, social and cultural conditions outlined in the previous
section caused the government to reexamine the nature and the composition of
that partnership. The questions being asked during the 1980’s included the
following:

            Has central
government the power to make the system respond to the changing context? Are
the local authorities too local for administrating a national system and too
distant for supporting local, especially parental, involvement in school? Have
the parents been genuine partners in the system that affects the future welfare
of their children? And what place, if any, in the partnership has been
allocated to the employers, who believe they have a contribution to make to the
preparation of young people for the future?

1)  New governing bodies

            Various Acts of Parliament
since 1980 have made schools more accountable.

Teachers, employers and
parents have been given places on the governing bodies. Governors have to
publish information about the school that enables parents to make informed
choices when deciding to which school they should send their child. Each LEA
has to have a curriculum policy that must be considered and implemented by each
governing body. Schools also must have a policy on sex education and must
ensure that political indoctrination does not take place. This accountability
of schools and LEAs has to be demonstrated through an annual report to be presented
to a public meeting of parents. The government gave parents the right to enrol their children - given
appropriate age and aptitude - at any state school of their choice, within the
limits of capacity. Parents already sent their children to the local school of
their choice. The decision to publish schools' examination results, however,
gave parents a stark, but not necessarily well-informed, basis on which to
choose the most appropriate school for their child. Increasingly parents sought
access to the most successful nearby school in terms of examination results.                                                                             Far from being able to exercise their
choice, large numbers of parents were now frustrated in their choice. Overall,
in 1996 20 per cent of parents failed to obtain their first choice of school.
In London the level was 40 per cent, undermining the whole policy of 'parental
choice' and encouraging only the crudest view of educational standards. Schools
found themselves competing rather than cooperating and some schools, for
example in deprived urban areas, faced a downward spiral of declining enrolment
followed by reduced budgets. Thus the market offered winners and losers: an
improved system for the brighter or more fortunate pupils, but a worse one for
the 'bottom' 40 per cent. Schools in deprived parts of cities acquired
reputations as 'sink' schools. As one education journalist wrote in 1997,
'There is a clear hierarchy of schools:

private, grammar, comprehensives with
plenty of nice middle-class children, comprehensives with fewer nice
middle-class children and so on.'

2) Central control

            The government
has looked for ways of exercising greater influence over what is taught in
schools. New legislation gave the government powers to exercise detailed
control over the organization and content of education. The 1988 Education
Act legislated a National Curriculum and a system of National
Assessment. In addition, significant changes were enacted to make possible
the central financing and thus control of schools through creating a new kind
of school outside LEA control (first, the provision of City Technology Colleges
9CTC), and, second, the creation of Grant Maintained Schools (GMS)). The
government also significantly reduced the power of local authorities by
transferring the management of schools from the LEA to the schools themselves
(known as the local management of schools or LMS).

            At the same
time, within this more centralized system, parents have been offered greater
choice through the establishment of different kinds of schools (GMS and CTC),
through the delegation of management to the governing bodies of the schools
(LMS) and through the granting of parental rights to send their children to the
school of their choice.

            The various
Parliamentary Acts (but especially the 1988 Act) gave legal force to a massive
change in the terms of the education partnership. First, the Secretary
of State now has powers over the details of the curriculum and assessment. Second,
a mechanism has been created whereby there can be more participation by parents
(and to a much smaller degree by employers), in decisions that affect the
quality of education. Third, the LEAs have been required to transfer
many decisions over finance, staffing, and admissions to the schools and
colleges themselves. Fourth, the LEA responsibility for the curriculum
has been transferred to the Secretary of State.

3) Employer involvement

            The voice of
the consumers will be heard more, and the consumer includes the employer.
Several initiatives encouraged employer participation. First, and possibly the
most important in the long run, has been the encouragement of business
representatives on governing bodies of schools. Second, there has been a range
of initiatives which have given employers a greater say in the purposes which
schools are expected to serve and in the means of attaining them.

4) The role of assessment

            The government
decided to develop a reformed system of examinations which would specify the
standards against which the performance of individual schools and of pupils
might be measured.

            The 1988
Education Act legislated for assessment of pupils at the ages of 7, 11, 14 and
16, using attainment targets which all children should normally be expected to
reach at these different ages in different subjects - especially in the
«foundation subjects» of English, mathematics and science. The assessments
relied partly on moderated teacher-assessment, but more importantly on
national, externally administrated tests.

            As a result of
these national assessments, exactly where each child was in relation to all
other children in terms of attainment in each subject. And it would be possible
to say how each school was succeeding in these measured attainments in
relationship to every other school. These assessments, have subsequently,
provided the basis of national comparisons and league tables of schools.

            In the reform
of National Curriculum in the early 1990’s, it was decided that, because of
public examinations at 16 , the national assessment should finish at 14.

5) Inspection

            For over one
hundred years, there had been an independent inspection service. The inspectors
were called Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) to indicate that ultimately
they were accountable to the Queen, not to the government from whom they
ardently preserved their independence. Until about ten years ago, HMI numbered
about 500. They inspected schools and they advised the government.

            Senior HMIs
were based at the Department of Education and Science (now the department for
Education and Employment) but the big majority were scattered over the whole
country so that they could advise locally but also be a source of information
to central government. Indeed, they were known as «the ears and the eyes of the
Minister».

            Much of this
has now changed as government has sought greater central control. HMI has been
cut back to about one third of its previous size. The Chief Inspector is now a
political appointment, not someone who has arisen from the ranks of an
independent inspectorate. A new office has been created, the Office for
Standards in Education (OFSTED), to which HMI now belong and which is much
more at the service of government policy.

            Under OFSTED a
very large army of «Ofsted inspectors» has been created - often teachers - who,
after a brief training, are equipped to inspect schools. The initial plan was
to inspect all 25,000 schools every four years and to publish a report which
would be accessible to everyone. Every teacher is seen and graded. OFSTED is
able to identify «failing schools» and «failing teachers».

            It has been
very difficult to get rid of very poor teachers. It is now hoped that, with
more regular inspection and with clearer criteria for success and failure, it
will be easier to sack teachers who are consistently under performing.                                           
           

          The recent changes are
increasingly redescribed  in managerial and business terms, as the educational
system is managed as part of the drive to be more economically competitive.

            However, one
must be aware of the doubts and dismay of many in this «philosophy». First,
there is little consideration of the aims of education - the values which make
the relationship between teacher and learner an educational encounter,
not one of «delivering a service». Second, the new language of «education» is
drawn from an entirely different activity, that of business and management. The
language of control, delivery, inputs and outputs, performance indicators and
audits, defining products, testing against product specification, etc. Is not
obviously appropriate to the development of thinking, inquiring, imagination,
creativity, and so on. Third, the key role of the teacher is made peripheral to
the overall design; the teacher becomes a «technician» of someone else’s
curriculum.

            The
changing economic and social context in Britain seemed to require a closer
integration of education, training, and employment; at the same time, a sharper
focus on personal development; greater concentration of the partnership to
include employers and parents; and a dominant position given to central
government in stipulating outcomes were all factors which led the framework of
the system is adapting to the new contexts.

a)The public system of
education might be illustrated as follows:

b)  Schools and the post-16 curriculum

            The maintenance of such a curriculum has
been a major function of the examination system at 16, which was originally
designed as a preparation for the post-16 courses leading to A-level. It is
taken in single subjects, usually not more than three. These three subjects,
studied in depth, in turn constituted a preparation for the single or double
subject honors degrees at university. In this way the shape of the curriculum
for the majority has been determined by the needs of the minority aspiring to a
university place. Alongside «A» Levels, there have been, more recently, «AS»
(Advanced Supplementary) Level examinations. These are worth half an «A» Level
and they enable very bright students to broaden their educational experience
with a «contrasting» subject (for example, the science specialist might study a
foreign language).

            The present «A» and «AS» Level system,
however, is thought to be in need of reform. First, it limits choice of subjects
at 16 and 17 years, a time, when a more general education should be encouraged.
Second, approximately 30% of students either drop out or fail - a mass failure
rate amongst a group of young people from the top 30% of academic achievement
who find that after two years they have no qualification. Third, the
concentration on academic success thus conceived has little room for the
vocationally relevant skills and personal qualities stressed by those employers
who are critics of the education system. Fourth, there are over 600 «A» Level
syllabuses from eight independent examination boards often with overlapping
titles and content, making comparability of standards between Boards difficult.

The private sector

y 1997 8 per cent of the school
population attended independent fee-paying schools, compared with under 6 per
cent in 1979, and only 5 per cent in 1976. By the year 2000 the proportion may
rise to almost 9 per cent, nearly back to the level in 1947 of 10 per cent. The
recovery of private education in Britain is partly due to middle-class fears
concerning comprehensive schools, but also to the mediocre quality possible in
the state sector after decades of inadequate funding.

Although the percentage
of those privately educated may be a small fraction of the total, its
importance is disproportionate to its size, for this 8 per cent accounts for 23
per cent of all those passing A levels, and over 25 per cent of those gaining
entry to university. Nearly 65 per cent of pupils leave fee-paying schools with
one or more A levels, compared with only 14 per cent from comprehensives.
Tellingly, this 8 per cent also accounts for 68 per cent of those gaining the
highest grade in GCSE Physics. During the 1980s pupils at independent schools
showed greater improvement in their examination results than those at state
schools. In later life, those educated at fee-paying schools dominate the
sources of state power and authority in government, law, the armed forces and
finance.

The 'public' (in fact
private, fee-paying) schools form the backbone of the independent sector. Of
the several hundred public schools, the most famous are the 'Clarendon Nine',
so named after a commission of inquiry into education in 1861. Their status
lies in a fatally attractive combination of social superiority and antiquity,
as the dates of their foundation indicate: Winchester (1382), Eton (1440), St
Paul's (1509), Shrewsbury (1552), Westminster (1560), The Merchant Taylors'
(1561), Rugby (1567), Harrow (1571) and Charterhouse (1611).

The golden age of the
public schools, however, was the late nineteenth century, when most were
founded. They were vital to the establishment of a particular set of values in
the dominant professional middle classes. These values were reflected in the
novel Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes, written in tribute to his own
happy time at Rugby School. Its emphasis is on the making of gentlemen to enter
one of the professions: law, medicine, the Church, the Civil Service or the
colonial service. The concept of 'service', even if it only involved entering a
profitable profession, was central to the public school ethos. A career in
commerce, or 'mere money making' as it is referred to in Tom Brown's
Schooldays, was not to be considered. As a result of such values, the public
school system was traditional in its view of learning and deeply resistant to
science and technology. Most public schools were located in the 'timeless'
countryside, away from the vulgarity of industrial cities.

After 1945, when
state-funded grammar schools were demonstrating equal or greater academic
excellence, the public schools began to modernise themselves. During the 1970s
most of them abolished beating and 'fagging', the system whereby new boys
carried out menial tasks for senior boys, and many introduced girls into the
sixth form, as a civilising influence. They made particular efforts to improve
their academic and scientific quality. Traditionally boarding public schools
were more popular, but since the 1970s there has been a progressive shift of
balance in favour of day schools. Today only 16 per cent of pupils in private
education attend boarding schools, and the number of boarders declines on
average by 3 per cent each year.

Demand for public school
education is now so great that many schools register pupils' names at birth.
Eton maintains two lists, one for the children of 'old boys' and the other for
outsiders. There are three applicants for every vacancy. Several other schools
have two applicants for each vacancy, but they are careful not to expand to
meet demand. In the words of one academic, 'Schools at the top of the system
have a vested interest in being elitist. They would lose that characteristic if
they expanded. To some extent they pride themselves on the length of their
waiting lists.' This rush to private education is despite the steep rise in
fees, 31 per cent between 1985 and 1988, and over 50 per cent between 1990 and
1997 when the average annual day fees were Ј5,700 and boarding fees double that
figure. Sixty per cent of parents would probably send their children to
fee-paying schools if they could afford to.

In order to obtain a
place at a public school, children must take a competitive examination, called
'Common Entrance'. In order to pass it, most children destined for a public
school education attend a preparatory (or 'prep') school until the age of 13.

Independent schools
remain politically controversial. The Conservative Party believes in the
fundamental freedom of parents to choose the best education for their children.
The Labour Party disagrees, arguing that in reality only the wealthier citizens
have this freedom of choice. In the words of Hugh Gaitskell, the Labour leader
in 1953, 'We really cannot go on with a system in which wealthy parents are
able to buy what they and most people believe to be a better education for
their children. The system is wrong and must be changed.' But since then no
Labour government has dared to abolish them.

There can be no doubt
that a better academic education can be obtained in some of the public schools.
In 1993 92 of the 100 schools with the best A-level results were fee-paying.
But the argument that parents will not wish to pay once state schools offer
equally good education is misleading, because independent schools offer social
status also. Unfortunately education depends not only on quality schools but
also on the home environment. The background from which pupils come greatly
affects the encouragement they receive to study. Middle-class parents are
likely to be better able, and more concerned, to support their children's study
than low-income parents who themselves feel they failed at school.
State-maintained schools must operate with fewer resources, and in more
difficult circumstances, particularly in low-income areas. In addition, the
public school system creams off many of the ablest teachers from the state
sector.

The public school system
is socially divisive, breeding an atmosphere of elitism and leaving some
outside the system feeling socially or intellectually inferior, and in some
cases intimidated by the prestige attached to public schools. The system
fosters a distinct culture, one based not only upon social superiority but also
upon deference. As one leading journalist, Jeremy Paxman, himself an ex-public schoolboy remarked, The purpose of a public
school education is to teach you to respect people you don't respect.' In the
words of Anthony Sampson, himself an ex-pupil of Westminster, the public school
elite 'reinforces and perpetuates a class system whose divisions run through
all British institutions, separating language, attitudes and motivations'.

Those who attend these
schools continue to dominate the institutions at the heart of the British
state, and seem likely to do so for some time to come. At the beginning of the 1990s
public schools accounted for 22 out of 24 of the army's top generals,
two-thirds of the Bank of England's external directors, 33 out of 39 top
English judges, and ambassadors in the 15 most important diplomatic missions
abroad. Of the 200 richest people in Britain no fewer than 35 had attended
Eton. Eton and Winchester continue to dominate the public school scene, and the
wider world beyond. As Sampson asks, 'Can the products of two schools
(Winchester and Eton), it might be asked, really effectively represent the
other 99.5 per cent of the people in this diverse country who went to neither
mediaeval foundation?' The concept of service was once at the heart of the
public school ethos, but it is questionable whether it still is. A senior
Anglican bishop noted in 1997, 'A headmaster told me recently that the whole
concept of service had gone. Now they all want to become merchant bankers and
lawyers.'

There are two arguments
that qualify the merit of the public schools, apart from the criticism that
they are socially divisive. It is inconceivable that the very best intellectual
material of the country resides solely among those able to attend such schools.
If one accepts that the brightest and best pupils are in fact spread across the
social spectrum, one must conclude that an elitist system of education based
primarily upon wealth rather than ability must involve enormous wastage. The
other serious qualification regards the public school ethos which is so rooted
in tradition, authority and a narrow idea of 'gentlemanly' professions. Even a
century after it tried to turn its pupils into gentlemen, the public school
culture still discourages, possibly unconsciously, its pupils from entering
industry. 'It is no accident,' Sampson comments, 'that most formidable
industrialists in Britain come from right outside the public school system, and
many from right outside Britain.'

Britain will be unable to
harness its real intellectual potential until it can break loose from a
divisive culture that should belong in the past, and can create its future
elite from the nation's schoolchildren as a whole. In 1996 a radical
Conservative politician argued for turning public schools into centres of
excellence which would admit children solely on ability, regardless of wealth or
social background, with the help of government funding. It would be a way of
using the best of the private sector for the nation as a whole. It is just such
an idea that Labour might find attractive, if it is able to tackle the more
widespread and fundamental shortcomings of the state education system.

Further and higher education

reparation for adult life» includes training in the
skills required for a job. These skills can be pitched at different levels -
highly job-specific and not requiring much thought in their application, or
«generalisable» and applicable to different kinds of employment.

            Vocational courses are concerned with the
teaching of job-related skills, whether specific or generalisable. They can be
based in industry, and «open learning» techniques make this increasingly
likely, although in the past, they have normally been taught in colleges of
further education, with students given day release from work. Vocational
training has not been an activity for schools. But some critics think that
schools should provide it for non-academic pupils. One major initiative back in
1982, was the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative (TVEI) in which
schools received money if they were able to build into the curriculum
vocationally-related content ant activities - more technology, business
studies, industry related work and visits, etc. But all this got lost in 1988
with the imposition of a National Curriculum was reformed, providing
opportunities for vocational studies to be introduced at 14.

            But the real changes in vocational
training were to be seen outside the schools. The curriculum in colleges of
further education has been closely determined by vocational examination bodies
which decide what the student should be able to do in order to receive a
qualification as, for example, a plumber or a hairdresser. These qualifications
were pitched at different levels - from relatively low-skilled operative to
higher-skilled craft and technician. Obtaining these qualifications often
required an apprenticeship, with day release in a college of further education
for more theoretical  study.

            Vocational training always has had a
relatively low status in Britain. The «practical» and the «vocational» have
seldom given access to university or to the prestigious and professional jobs.

Further education has
traditionally been characterised by part-time vocational courses for those who
leave school at the age of 16 but need to acquire a skill, be that in the
manual, technical or clerical field. In all, about three million students enrol
each year in part-time courses at further education (FE) colleges, some
released by their employers and a greater number unemployed. In addition there
have always been a much smaller proportion in full-time training. In 1985 this
figure was a meagre 400,000, but by 1995 this had doubled. Given Labour's
emphasis on improving the skills level of all school-leavers, this expansion
will continue. Vocational training, most of which is conducted at the country's
550 further education colleges is bound to be an important component.

Higher education has also
undergone a massive expansion. In 1985 only 573,000, 16 per cent of young
people, were enrolled in full-time higher education. Ten years later the number
was 1,150,000, no less than 30 per cent of their age group.

This massive expansion was achieved
by greatly enlarging access to undergraduate courses, but also by authorising
the old polytechnics to grant their own degree awards, and also to rename
themselves as universities. Thus there are today 90 universities, compared with
47 in 1990, and only seventeen in 1945. They fall into five broad categories:
the medieval English foundations, the medieval Scottish ones, the
nineteenth-century 'redbrick' ones, the twentieth-century 'plate-glass' ones,
and finally the previous polytechnics. They are all private institutions,
receiving direct grants from central government.

Oxford and Cambridge,
founded in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries respectively, are easily the
most famous of Britain's universities. Today 'Oxbridge', as the two together
are known, educate less than one-twentieth of Britain's total university
student population. But they continue to attract many of the best brains and to
mesmerise an even greater number, partly on account of their prestige, but also
on account of the seductive beauty of many of their buildings and surroundings.

Both universities grew
gradually, as federations of independent colleges, most of which were founded
in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In both universities,
however, new colleges are periodically established, for example Green College,
Oxford (1979) and Robinson College, Cambridge (1977).

In the nineteenth century
more universities were established to respond to the greatly increased demand
for educated people as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the expansion
of Britain's overseas empire. Many of these were sited in the industrial
centres, for example Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Newcastle, Liverpool
and Bristol.

With the expansion of
higher education in the 1960s 'plate-glass' universities were
established, some named after counties or regions rather than old cities, for
example Sussex, Kent, East Anglia and Strathclyde. Over 50 polytechnics and
similar higher education institutes acquired university status in 1992. There
is also a highly successful Open University, which provides every person in
Britain with the opportunity to study for a degree, without leaving their home.
It is particularly designed for adults who missed the opportunity for higher
education earlier in life. It conducts learning through correspondence, radio
and television, and also through local study centres.

University examinations
are for Bachelor of Arts, or of Science (BA or BSc) on completion of the
undergraduate course, and Master of Arts or of Science (MA or MSc) on
completion of postgraduate work, usually a one- or two-year course involving
some original research. Some students continue to complete a three-year perio
of original research for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). The bachelor
degree is normal classed, with about 5 per cent normally gaining First, about
30 per cent gaining an Upper Seconi or 2.1, perhaps 40 per cent gaining a Lower
Second, or 2.2, and the balance getting either i Third, a Pass or failing.
Approximately 15 per cei fail to complete their degree course.

In addition there are a
large number of specialis higher education institutions in the realm of the
performing and visual arts. For example, there a four leading conservatories:
the Royal Academy Music, the Royal College of Music, Trinity College of Music
and the Royal Northern College of Music.

There are a large number
of art colleges, of whi the most famous is the Royal College of Art, where both Henry Moore and David Hockney
once studied. Other colleges cater for dance, film-making and other specialist
areas in arts.

In spite of the high
fees, Britain's universities, Fl colleges and English language schools host a 
number of foreign students, in 1996 there were fewer than 158,000.

Female undergraduates
have greatly increased proportionately in recent years. In the mid-1960 they were only 28 per cent of the
intake, became 41 per cent by the early 1980s, and were 51 per cent by 1996.
There is still an unfortunate separation of the sexes in fields of chosen
study, arising from occupational tradition and social expectations. Caring for
others is still a 'proper' career for women; building bridges, it seems, is
not. Unless one believes women's brains are better geared to nursing and other
forms of caring and men's to bridge-building, one must conclude that social
expectations still hinder women and men from realising their potential.
Students from poorer backgrounds are seriously underrepresented in higher
education. Although more in social categories C, D and E are now enrolled, it
is the more prosperous social categories A and B which have benefited most from
university expansion. For Labour there are two issues here:

equality of opportunity, and
maximising all of society's intellectual potential.

Ethnic minorities'
representation is growing: 1 3 per cent in 1996 compared with only 10.7 per
cent in 1990. It is noteworthy that their university representation exceeds
their proportion within the whole population, a measure of their commitment to
higher education.

In 1988 a new funding
body, the University Funding Council, was established, with power to require
universities to produce a certain number of qualified people in specific
fields. It is under the UFC's watchful eye that the universities have been
forced to double their student intake, and each university department is
assessed on its performance and quality. The fear, of course, is that the
greatly increased quantity of students that universities must now take might
lead to a loss of academic quality.

Expansion has led to a
growing funding gap. Universities have been forced to seek sponsorship from the
commercial world, wealthy patrons and also from their alumni. The Conservative
Party also decided to reduce maintenance grants but to offer students loans in
order to finance their studies. However, the funding gap has continued to grow
and Labour shocked many who had voted for it by introducing tuition fees at
1,000 pounds per annum in 1998. Although poorer
students were to be exempted it was feared that, even with student loans, up to
10 per cent of those planning to go to university would abandon the idea. One
effect of the financial burden is that more students are living at home while
continuing their studies: about 50 per cent at the ex-polytechnics, but only 15 per cent at the older
universities.

Today many university
science and technology departments, for example at Oxford, Cambridge,
Manchester, Imperial College London, and Strathclyde, are among the best in Europe.
The concern is whether they will continue to be so in the future. Academics'
pay has fallen so far behinc other professions and behind academic salaries
elsewhere, that many of the best brains have gon< abroad. Adequate pay and
sufficient research funding to keep the best in Britain remains a majo
challenge.

As with the schools
system, so also with higher education: there is a real problem about the
exclusivity of Britain's two oldest universities. While Oxbridge is no longer the preserve of a social elite it
retains its exclusive, narrow and spell-binding culture. Together with the
public school system, it creates a narrow social and intellectual channel from
which the nation's leaders are almost exclusively drawn. In 1996 few people
were in top jobs in the Civil Service, the armed forces, the law or finance,
who had not been either to a public school or Oxbridge, or to both.

The problem is not the
quality of education offered either in the independent schools or Oxbridge. The
problem is cultural. Can the products of such exclusive establishments remain
closely in touch with the remaining 95 per cent of the population? If the
expectation is that Oxbridge, particularly, will continue to dominate the
controlling positions in the state and economy, is the country ignoring equal
talent which does not have the Oxbridge label? As with the specialisation at
the age of 16 for A levels, the danger is that Britain's governing elite is too
narrow, both in the kind of education and where it was acquired. It is just possible
that the new Labour government, which itself reflects a much wider field of
life experience in Britain, will mark the beginning of significantly fuller
popular participation in the controlling institutions of state.

Present situation

            The educational system - its organization,
its control, its content - is changing rapidly to meet the perceived needs of
the country - the need to improve standards and to respond  to a rapidly
changing and competitive economy. Those changes might be summarized in the
following way.

            First, there is much greater
central control over what is taught. Second, what is taught is seen in
rather traditional terms - organized in terms of subjects rather than in
response to the learning needs of the pupils. Third, however, there is
an attempt to be responsive to the economic needs of the country, with an
emphasis upon vocational studies and training. Fourth, there is a rapid
expansion of those who stay in education beyond the compulsory age, making use
of the «three-track system» of  «A» Level, GNVQ (General National Vocational
Qualifications) and NVQ (National Vocational Qualifications). Fifth, although
the content of education is centrally controlled, its «delivery» pays homage to
the «market» by encouraging choice between different institutions so that
funding follows popular choice (i.e. the more popular the school with parents,
the more money it gets, thereby providing an incentive to schools and colleges
to improve their performance.

Education under Labour

ducation was the central theme of the
new Labour government. It promised a huge range of improvements: high-quality
education for all four-year-olds whose parents wanted it and lower
pupil-teacher ratios, in particular that children up to the age of eight
children would never be in classes of over 30 pupils. It also declared that all
children at primary school would spend one hour each day on reading and
writing, and another hour each day on numeracy, the basic skills for all
employment. When Labour took office only 57 per cent of children reached
national literacy targets by the time they left primary school, and only 55 per
cent reached similar targets in maths. The government pledged to raise these
proportions to 80 per cent and 75 per cent respectively. It also established a
new central authority responsible for both qualifications and the curriculum,
to ensure that these were, in the government's own words, 'high quality,
coherent and flexible'. It warned that it intended to evolve a single
certificate to replace A levels and vocational qualifications, and possibly to
reflect a broad range of study rather than the narrow specialism of the A-level
system. Because 30 per cent of students who started A-level courses failed to
acquire one, it also wanted to create a more flexible system that would allow
students still to attain recognised standards of education and training on the
road to A levels. However, unlike France or Germany, an increasing proportion
of those taking exams at this standard were actually passing.

The government also promised to
improve the quality of the teaching staff, with a mandatory qualification for
all newly appointed heads of schools, to improve teacher training, to establish
a General Teaching Council, which would restore teacher morale and raise
standards, and to introduce more effective means of removing inefficient
teachers. It also promised to look at the growing problem of boys
underachieving at school compared with girls. Finally, Labour asked for its
record to be judged at the end of its first term in office, in 2002.

Questions

1.   When do the british start their
education?

2.   Do you agree that the british
education has problems?

3.   What were the lacks of British
education?

4.   Who can study in public schools?

5.   Does the word «public» reflect the
real principle of that schools?

6.   What political acts became a turning
point in British education?

7.   What is the most well-spread opinion
about the vocational courses?

8.   What do you think about the quality
of higher education in Britain?

9.   What are the main principles of the
Labour Patry (concerning education)

10. How had the role of
parents in the children’s education changed?

11. How did the changing
economic and social situation influence the system of education?

12. What are the most
prestigeous schools in Britain?

13. Are there students from
other countries in British schools and universities?

14. Is the nursary school
compulsory?

15. How do you think: do the
Concervative principles of education differ from that of Labour?

16. What are the aims of
education in Britain today?

17. Did the level of education
become higher after the reforms?

18. What is the GCSE?

19. What types of schools does
the british system of education includes?

20. Would you like to study in
Britain? (Give your argument for or against it).