Education in England

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Education in England differs from the systems used elsewhere in the United Kingdom. It is the responsibility of Department for Education and Skills a national level and Local Education Authorities at a local level.

The English system has unique characteristics as do the systems used in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Although the education structure for Wales and Northern Ireland are broadly similar to the English system, in Scotland there are significant differences of emphasis on the depth and breadth of teaching objectives.

Traditionally the English system has emphasised depth of education whereas the Scottish system emphasised breadth. For example, Scottish students sit a larger number of less advanced examinations, before specialising in a smaller number of subjects in their final year. In the rest of the UK a smaller number of more advanced subject examinations are included in the curriculum.

English practice can also vary at local level, where as in Scotland the system is almost universal.

Contents

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The Structure of the English Educational System

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Compulsory Schooling

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Primary Education

Primary education in England is conducted through Primary, Infant, Junior and/or First Schools. Primary schools take children from ages 4 through to 11. Infant and First schools are similar to each other taking children from ages 4 through to 7, or 8 in the case of First schools.

  • Primary School or Infant School
    • Reception, age 4 to 5
    • Year 1, age 5 to 6
    • Year 2, age 6 to 7
  • Primary School or Junior School
    • Year 3, age 7 to 8
    • Year 4, age 8 to 9
    • Year 5, age 9 to 10
    • Year 6, age 10 to 11
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Secondary Education

  • Secondary School or High School
    • Year 7, age 11 to 12
    • Year 8, age 12 to 13
    • Year 9, age 13 to 14
    • Year 10, age 14 to 15
    • Year 11, age 15 to 16

In general, the cut-off point for ages is the end of August, so all children must be at the specified age on the 31st of August of that year.

In some regions of England, pupils attend a Lower (Primary or First) School before going to a Middle School between 8 and 12 or, more commonly, 9 and 13 (for an example, see Isle of Wight School System), and then a High School or Upper School.

Historically, Years 7 through 12/13 used to be known as 'first form' through Lower/Upper sixth form.

It is also possible to Home Educate both primary and secondary age students [1].

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Examinations and assessments

Under the National Curriculum system, all pupils undergo a series of tests at specific points in their education. These are known as Key Stage National Curriculum Tests and are numbered 1 to 4 as follows:

  • Key Stage 1 (KS1) — during Year 2 (ages 6/7)
  • Key Stage 2 (KS2) — towards the end of Year 6 (ages 10/11)
  • Key Stage 3 (KS3) — towards the end of Year 9 (ages 13/14)
  • Key Stage 4 (KS4) — towards the end of Year 11 (ages 15/16) — incorporated into GCSE examinations

These Key Stage exams are often mistakenly referred to as SATs although none of the official literature does so.

In some areas of England the Eleven plus exams are still used at KS2 to stream pupils.

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Post 16 Education

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Further Education

In the 16-18 age group education is not compulsory. Students will typically study in the Sixth Form of a School, a Sixth form college, or a further education college. These courses can also be studied by adults over 18. This sector is referred to as Further Education. All 16-18 students are encouraged (this is only mandatory in some institutions) to study Key Skills in Communication, Application of Number and Information Technology.

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Qualifications

There are a wide range of courses and qualifications offered, all of which are being harmonised into the National Qualifications Framework:

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Academic Qualifications

The main academic qualification available to 16-18 year olds is the A-Level. An A-Level consists of 6 modules in each subject, three of which are typically taken in the first year. After taking 3 modules, students can choose to either continue studying the subject and obtain a A-Level or cash in the first three modules for an AS-Level. Students aiming for university entry typically study 3 or 4 subjects to A-Level and an additional (often contrasting) subject to AS-Level. Alternative vocational qualifications such as the AVCE can also be studied, however these are less popular with universities. Most students can expect to receive a university offer based upon the results of their A-Levels, either with specific grades or using the UCAS points system.

  • Year 12 or Lower Sixth, age 16 to 17 (AS-level examinations)
  • Year 13 or Upper Sixth, age 17 to 18 (A2-level examinations. Both AS-levels and A2-levels count towards A-levels.)
  • The International Baccalaureate is an alternative to A-levels offered by a few institutions.
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Vocational Qualifications

Vocational qualifications offered including BTEC Awards, National Vocational Qualification (NVQs), City and Guilds qualifications and Apprenticeships.

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Higher Education

Students normally enter University from 18 onwards and study for an Academic Degree.

The typical first degree offered at British universities is the Bachelor's degree (typically three years). Many institutions now offer a Master's degree as a first degree which typically lasts four years. During a first degree students are known as an undergraduate. The difference in fees between an undergraduate and postgraduate degree makes taking a Master's degree as a first degree a more attractive option.

Some universities offer a Foundation degree, typically between one and two years in length for those students who wish to continue to take a first degree but are not academically strong enough.

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Postgraduate Education

Students who have completed a first degree are eligible to undertake a postgraduate degree, which includes:

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Specialist Qualifications
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Adult Education

Adult education, Continuing education or Lifelong learning is offered to adults of all ages. These can include the vocational qualifications mentioned above and also:

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Costs

The costs for a normal education in the United Kingdom are as follows:

  • Primary: no charge
  • Secondary: no charge
  • Further (Secondary) Education in either a sixth form or college: no charge if under 19 years of age in that particular academic year or on a low income.
  • Undergraduate Higher Education for those starting in or prior to October 2005: up to £1175 per annum (Oct 2005) depending on income, rising £25 every year.
  • Undergraduate Higher Education starting October 2006 or later: up to £3000 per annum (capped) - this is due to the introduction of controversial top-up fees
  • Postgraduate Higher Education: Typically £3000 per annum however some institutions charge a larger amount.
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Notes

  • Education at privately run public schools is usually chargeable. Such institutions cover primary and secondary education and charge between £2000 to £8000 per term. Some schools offer bursaries to allow less well off students, or those with particular skills or aptitudes to attend.
  • Foreign students at UK universities are charged differing amounts, often in the region of £5000 - £20000 per annum for undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. The actual amount differs by institution and subject with the lab based subjects charging a greater amount.
  • Differing arrangements apply to English students studying in Scotland and Scottish / Welsh students studying in England.
  • Although in theory school-based education is free in the U.K there are many activities that 'cost' more than is budgeted from school funds. Such activities can include items like swimming, theatre visits, field trips and the like. Schools are allowed to levy charges for such activities so long as the charges are voluntary. This means that the children of parents who cannot afford to pay must be allowed to participate in such events even if no contribution is made.
  • At university level, there are numerous bursaries available to partially offset the high cost of undergraduate fees (commonly awarded to low income applicants) and for post-graduates, full scholarships are available for most subjects, awarded competitively.
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The history of state sponsored education in England

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The Period Before 1950

  • In 1839 government grants for the construction and maintenance of schools were switched to voluntary bodies, and became conditional on a satisfactory inspection.
  • Before 1870, education was largely a private affair, with wealthy parents sending their children to fee-paying schools.
  • The Forster Elementary Education Act 1870 required partially state funded board schools to be set up to provide primary (elementary) education in areas where existing provision was inadequate. Board schools were managed by elected school boards. The schools remained fee-paying. The previous government grant scheme established 1833 ended on December 31, 1870.
  • Under the 1880 Elementary Education Act, education became free from the ages of 5 to 10, but was also made compulsory for that age group.
  • The 1891 Free Education Act provided for the state payment of school fees up to ten shillings per week.
  • The 1893 Elementary Education (School Attendance) Act raised the school leaving age to 11 and later to 13. The Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act of the same year extended compulsory education to blind and deaf children, and made provision for the creation of special schools.
  • The Voluntary Schools Act of 1897 provided grants to public elementary schools not funded by school boards.
  • The 1902 'Balfour' Education Act created local education authorities (LEAs), who took over responsibility for board schools from the school boards. Grammar schools also became funded by the LEA. The act was of particular significance as it allowed for all schools to be funded through rates, including denominational schools.
  • The Fisher Education Act of 1918 made secondary education compulsory up to age 14 and gave responsibility for secondary education schools to the state. Under the Act, many higher elementary schools and endowed grammar school sought to become state funded central schools or secondary schools. However, most children attended primary (elementary) school up until age 14, rather than going to a separate school for secondary education.
  • Education was made compulsory up to age 15 in 1947.
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The Post War Period

Due to the perceived failures of the Tripartite system, the Labour government in 1965 requested proposals from all the UK's regions for them to move from the Tripartite system to the Comprehensive System. Note that this was an optional reform for the regions, and as of late 2003 some regions still have the Tripartite System. Education was made compulsory up to age 16 in 1972.

Following the 1979 General Election, the Conservative party regained power in central government, and made two main changes in this period:

  1. New Vocationalism was expanded (Labour had done some small efforts beforehand, but the conservatives expanded it considerably). This was seen as an effort to reduce the high youth unemployment figures, which were seen as one of the causes of the rioting that was relatively commonplace at the end of the seventies.
  2. The Assisted Places Scheme was introduced in 1980, where gifted children who could not afford to go to fee-paying schools would be given free places in those schools if they could pass the school's entrance exam.
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The Education Reform Act of 1988

The 1988 Education Reform Act made many considerable changes to the system of education. These changes were aimed at creating an education 'market' so that schools were competing against each other for 'customers' (pupils), and that bad schools would lose pupils and close, leaving only the good schools open.

The reforms are as follows:

  • The National Curriculum was introduced, which made it compulsory for schools to teach certain subjects, as opposed to the choice of subjects being up to the school as had previously been the case.
  • National curriculum assessments at the Key Stages 1 to 3 (ages 7, 11, 14 respectively) through what were formerly called SATs. At Key Stage 4 (age 16), the assessments were done with the GCSE exam.
  • League tables started to be compiled showing statistics for each school, which are published in newspapers so parents can see which schools are doing well in each area of the country and which aren't.
  • Formula funding was introduced, which basically meant that the more children a school could attract to it, the more money it got.
  • Open Enrolment and choice for parents were brought back, so that parents could (within limits) choose what school their children went to.
  • Schools could, if enough of their pupils' parents agreed, opt out of local government control, becoming grant maintained schools and receiving funding direct from central government. The enticement for schools was that the government offered more money than the school would get from the local authority, and this was seen as a political move given that local authorities were not run by the Conservative party as a rule, and central government was.
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New Labour's Educational Policies from 1997

During the 1997 General Election, the Labour party mantra was "Education, Education, Education", a reference to their conference slogan. Winning the election returned them to power, but New Labour's political ideology meant that many of the changes introduced by the Conservatives during their time in power remained intact.

They began changing the structure of the school and higher education systems. The following changes took place:

  • The previous Labour focus on the Comprehensive system was shifted to a focus on tailoring education to each child's ability. Critics see this as reminiscent of the original intentions of the Tripartite system.
  • Grant maintained status was abolished, with GM schools being given the choice of rejoining the local authority as a maintained community school, or becoming a Foundation school.
  • Labour expanded a policy started by the Conservatives of creating specialist schools. This new type of secondary school teaches the National Curriculum subjects plus a few specialist branches of knowledge (e.g. business studies) not found in most other schools. These schools are allowed to select 10% of their pupils.
    • Numbers: In 1997 there were 196 of these schools. In August 2002 there were 1000. By 2006 the plan is to have 2000, and the goal is to make all secondary schools specialist eventually.
  • The Beacon schools programme was established in England in 1998. Its aim was to identify high performing schools, in order to help them form partnerships with each other and to provide examples of effective practice for other schools. The programme was replaced in 2005 with other similar programmes.
  • City Academies were introduced. These are new schools, built on the site of, or taking over from existing failing schools. A city academy is an independent school within the state system. It is outside the control of the local education authority and set up with substantial funding from interested third parties, which might be businesses, charities or private individuals.
  • Education Action Zones were introduced, which are deprived areas run by an action forum of people within that area with the intention of make that area's schools better.
  • Vocational qualifications were renamed/restructured as follows:
    • GNVQs became Vocational GCSEs and AVCEs.
    • NVQs scope expanded so that a degree-equivalent NVQ was possible.
  • The New Deal was introduced, which made advisors available to long-term unemployed (in the UK this is defined as being unemployed for more than 6 months) to give help and money to those who want to go back into Education.
  • Introduced Literacy and Numeracy hours into schools, and set targets for literacy and numeracy.
  • Set Truancy targets.
  • Set a maximum class size of 30 for 5-7 year olds.
  • Introduced the EMA, which is paid to those between 16 and 18 as an enticement to remain in full-time education and get A-Levels/AVCEs.
  • Performance-related pay was introduced in 2000 to allow teachers higher rates of pay on fulfilling performance targets. The schemes have been bitterly opposed by most teaching unions.
  • Introduced Curriculum 2000, which reformed the Further Education system into the current structure of AS levels, A2 levels and Key Skills.
  • Abolished the Assisted Places Scheme.
  • A report was commissioned, led by the former chief-inspector of schools, Mike Tomlinson, into reform of the curriculum and qualifications structure for 14–19 year-olds. The report was published on October 18, 2004 and recommended the introduction of a diploma that would bring together both vocational and academic qualifications and ensure that all pupils had a basic set of core skills. It is proposed that the current qualifications would evolve into this diploma over the next decade, whether the government will follow the recommendations is yet to be seen — the Conservative Party have already introduced alternative proposals to return to norm-referencing in A-levels rather than the current system of criterion-referencing.
  • In 2003 a green paper was published entitled Every Child Matters. It built on existing plans to strengthen children's services and focused on four key areas:
    • Increasing the focus on supporting families and careers as the most critical influence on children's lives
    • Ensuring necessary intervention takes place before children reach crisis point and protecting children from falling through the net
    • Addressing the underlying problems identified in the report into the death of Victoria Climbié - weak accountability and poor integration
    • Ensuring that the people working with children are valued, rewarded and trained

The green paper prompted a wide debate about services for children, young people and families. There followed a wide consultation with those working in children's services, and with parents, children and young people. Following this, the Government published Every Child Matters: the Next Steps, and passed the Children Act 2004, providing the legislative spine for developing more effective and accessible services focused around the needs of children, young people and families. Every Child Matters: Change for Children was published in November 2004.

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Categories of Schools

There are 4 main types of maintained school in England:

  • Community
  • Foundation
  • Voluntary Controlled
  • Voluntary Aided

In 1998 these replaced the previous categories of state school: county, voluntary controlled, special agreement, voluntary aided and grant-maintained (GM).

Schools in all the categories have a lot in common. They work in partnership with other schools and the LEAs, and they receive funding from LEA and they have to deliver the national curriculum. Each category has its own characteristics.

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Community Schools

In community schools (formerly county schools), the LEA employs the schools' staff, own the schools' lands and buildings and have primary responsibility for deciding the arrangements for admitting pupils.

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Foundation Schools

In foundation schools the governing body employs the staff and has primary responsibility for admissions. The school land and buildings are owned by the governing body or by a charitable foundation. Many of these schools were formerly grant maintained schools. The Foundation appoints the majority of governors. In 2005 the Labour government proposed allowing all schools to become Foundation schools if they so wished.

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Voluntary Aided (VA) Schools

Image:StBarnabasCoEPrimarySchoolOxford.jpg Many voluntary aided schools are church schools. VA governing bodies employ the staff and decide admission arrangements. The schools' lands and buildings are normally owned by a charitable foundation. The governing body contributes towards the capital costs of running the school. Most aided schools are linked to either the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church, but there are schools linked to other faith groups and a few non-denominational schools, often linked to philanthropic organisations like the Haberdashers and the Drapers.

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Voluntary Controlled (VC) Schools

Voluntary Controlled schools are almost always church schools, and the lands and buildings are often owned by a charitable foundation. However, the LEA employ the schools' staff and has primary responsibility for admission arrangements.

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See also

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External links

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