UK (798447), страница 4
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By the time children are ready for the junior school they will be able to read and write, do simple addition and subtraction of numbers. At 8 children go on from the infant school to the junior school. This marks the transition from play to "real work". The children have set periods of arithmetic, reading and composition. History, Geography, Nature Study, Art and Music, Physical Education, Swimming are also on the timetable.
Secondary Education (11 to 16/18 years)
Since the 1944 Education Act of Parliament, free secondary education has been available to all children in Britain. Indeed, children must go to school until the age of 16. Pupils may stay on for one or two years more if they wish. Secondary schools are usually much larger than primary schools and most children — over 80 per cent — go to a comprehensive school at the age of 11. These schools are not selective — you don't, have to pass an exam to go there.
In 1965 the Labour Government introduced the policy of comprehensive education. Before that time, all children took an exam at the age of 11 called the ''11 + ". Approximately the top 20 per cent were chosen to go to the academic grammar schools. Those who failed the "11 + " exam (80 per cent) went to secondary modern schools.
A lot of educationalists thought that this system of selection at the age of 11 was unfair for many children. So comprehensive schools were introduced in 1965 to offer suitable courses for pupils of all abilities. Some LEAs started to change over to comprehensive education immediately, but some were harder to convince and slower to act. There are a few LEAs who still keep the old system of grammar schools, but most LEAs have now changed over completely to non-selective education in comprehensive schools.
Comprehensive schools provide a wide choice of subjects, from art and craft, woodwork and domestic science to the sciences, modern languages, computer studies, etc. Pupils at comprehensive schools are quite often put into "sets" for the more academic subjects such as mathematics or languages. Sets are formed according to ability in each subject, so that for example the children in the highest set for math will not necessarily be in the highest set for French. All pupils move to the next class automatically at the end of the year.
Private Education (5 to 18 years)
Some parents prefer to pay for private education in spite of the existence of Free State education. Private schools are called by different names : the preparatory (often called "prep") schools are for pupils aged up to 13, and the public schools are for 13 to 18 year-olds. These schools are very expensive and they are attended by about 7 per cent of the school population. There are about 500 public schools in England and Wales.
The schools, such as Eton, Harrow, Rugby and Winchester, are famous and have a long history and traditions. Public schools educate the ruling class of England. Children of wealthy or aristocratic families often go to the same public school as their parents and their grandparents. Eton is one of the most famous private schools. The elder son of the Queen Prince Charles left Gordonstoun in 1968. Harrow School is famous as the place where Winston Churchill was educated, as well as six other Prime Ministers of Great Britain, the poet Lord Byron and many other prominent people. Public schools are free from state control and called independent. Most of them are boarding schools. The education is usually of a high quality; the discipline is very strict. These schools accept pupils from the preparatory schools at about 11 or 13 years of age usually on the basis of an examination, known as Common Entrance. The fundamental requirements are very high. At 18 the most public school-leavers gain entry to universities. The majority of independent secondary schools are single-sex, although in recent years girls have been allowed to join the sixth forms of boys' schools.
Independent schools also include religious schools (Jewish, Catholic. Muslim, etc.) and schools for ethnic minorities.
Exams
At the age of 14 or 15, in the third or fourth form of secondary school, pupils begin to choose their exam subjects. In 1988 a new public examination — the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) — was introduced for 16 year-olds. This examination assesses pupils on the work they do in the 4th and 5th year at secondary school, and is often internally assessed, although there may also be an exam at the end of the course.
Many people decide to leave school at the age of 16 and go to a Further Education (FE) College. Here most of the courses are linked to some kind of practical vocational training, for example in engineering, typing, cooking or hairdressing. Some young people are given "day release" (their employer allows them time off work) so that they can follow a course to help them in their job. For the 16 year-olds who leave school and who cannot find work but do not want to go to Further Education College, the Government has introduced the Young Opportunities Scheme (YOPS). This scheme places young, unemployed people with business or an industry for six months so that they can get experience of work, and pays them a small wage. They generally have a better chance of getting a job afterwards and sometimes the company they are placed with offers them a permanent job.
After the age of 16 a growing number of school students are staying on at school, some until 18 or 19, the age of entry into a higher education in universities and Polytechnics. British university courses are rather short, generally lasting for 3 years. The cost of education depends on the college and speciality which one chooses.
Pupils who stay on into the sixth form or who go on to a Sixth Form College (17 year-olds in the Lower Sixth and 18 year-olds in the Upper Sixth) usually fall into two categories. Some pupils will be retaking GCSEs in order to get better grades. Others will study two or three subjects for an "A" Level (Advanced Level) GCE exam (General Certificate of Education). This is a highly specialized exam and is necessary for University entrance.
British Universities
There are 46 universities in Britain. The oldest and best-known universities are located in Oxford, Cambridge, London, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Southampton, Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham.
British universities differ greatly from each other. They differ in date of foundation, size, history, tradition, general organization, methods of instruction, way of student life.
The two intellectual eyes of Britain — Oxford and Cambridge universities are the most famous of Britain’s universities and date back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
The University of Oxford (informally Oxford University or simply Oxford) is located in town Oxford.. While having no known date of foundation, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest surviving university, It grew rapidly from 1167 when Henry The Second banned English students from attending the University of Paris. After disputes between students and Oxford townsfolk in 1209, some academics fled northeast to Cambridge where they established what became later the University of Cambridge. The two "ancient universities" are frequently jointly referred to as "Oxbridge".
Oxford University is made up of a variety of institutions, including 38 colleges and a full range of academic departments which are organised into four divisions. All the colleges are self-governing institutions as part of the university, each controlling its own membership and with its own internal structure and activities. Being a city university, it does not have a main campus; instead, all the buildings and facilities are scattered throughout the city centre.
Oxford is the home of several notable scholarships, including the Clarendon Scholarship which was launched in 2001 and the Rhodes Scholarship which has brought graduate students to study at the university for more than a century. The university operates the largest university press in the world [and the largest academic library system in the United Kingdom. Oxford has educated many notable people, including 27 Nobel laureates, 26 British prime ministers (most recently David Cameron) and many foreign heads of state.
The story of Cambridge University began in 1209 when several hundred students and scholars arrived in the little town of Cambridge after having walked 60 miles from Oxford. The student life was very different from what it is now. Students were of all ages and came from anywhere and everywhere. Those from the same part of the country tended to group themselves together and these groups, called “Nations”, often fought one another.
The students were armed; some even banded together to rob the people of the countryside. Gradually the idea of the College developed, and in 1284 Peterhouse, the oldest College in Cambridge, was founded.
Life in College was strict; students were forbidden to play games, to sing (except sacred music), to hunt or fish or even to dance. Books were very scarce and all the lessons were in the Latin language which students were supposed too speak even among themselves. In 1440 King Henry VI founded King’s College, and other colleges followed. Erasmus, the great Dutch scholar, was at one of these, Queen’s College, from 1511 to 1513.
“The English girls are extremely pretty,” Erasmus says, “soft, pleasant, gentle, and charming. When you go anywhere on a visit the girls all kiss you. They kiss you when you arrive. They kiss you when you go away and again when you return.”
Many other great men studied at Cambridge, amongst them Bacon, Milton, Cromwell, Newton, Wordsworth, Byron and Tennyson.
At Cambridge and Oxford Universities, undergraduates and some graduates are taught in the tutorial system. Students are taught by faculty fellows in groups of one to three on a weekly basis. At Cambridge, these are called "supervisions" and at Oxford they are called "tutorials." One benefit of the tutorial system is that students receive direct feedback on their weekly essays or work in a small discussion setting. The University of Buckingham also retained the weekly tutorial system when it was set up as England's first private university in the 1970s.
Student tutorials are generally more academically challenging and rigorous than standard lecture and test format courses, because during each session students are expected to orally communicate, defend, analyze, and critique the ideas of others as well as their own in conversations with the tutor and fellow-students.
Today “Oxbridge”, continues to attract many of the best brains thanks to their prestige and the beauty of many buildings and surroundings.
University College London (UCL) was founded on 11 February 1826, under the name London University, as a secular alternative to the strictly religious universities of Oxford and Cambridge. It was founded from the beginning as a university, not a college or institute. However its founders encountered strong opposition from the Church of England, among others, which prevented them from securing the Royal Charter that was necessary for the award of degrees, and it was not until 1836, when the latter-day University of London was established, that the college was legally recognised and granted the power to award degrees of the University of London.
Besides Oxbridge and London University there are a lot of newer universities so-called Redbrick universities built in the 19th century as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the expansion of Britain’s overseas empire. With the expansion of higher education in the 1960s so-called “plate-glass” or “concrete and glass” universities were established. Over 50 polytechnics and similar higher education institutes acquired university status in 1992.
The Scottish universities of St. Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh date back to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
How British school leavers enter universities.
Good "A" Level results in at least two subjects are necessary to get a place at a university. However, good exam passes alone are not enough. Universities choose their students after interviews, and competition for places at university is fierce.
British university courses are rather short, generally lasting for 3 years. The cost of education depends on the college and specialty which one chooses.
The academic year in Britain’s universities is divided into three terms, which usually run from the beginning of October to the middle of December, from the middle of January to the end of March, and from the middle of April to the end of June or the beginning of July.
After three years of study a university graduate will leave with the Degree of Bachelor of Arts, Science. Engineering, Medicine, etc. Later he or she may continue to take the Master's Degree and then the Doctor's Degree. Research is an important feature of university work.
There is an interesting form of studies which is called the Open University. It is intended for people who study in their own free time and who "attend" lectures by watching television and listening to the radio and now working on the internet. They keep in touch by phone and email with their tutors and attend summer schools. The Open University students have no formal qualifications and would be unable to enter ordinary universities.
The typical first degree offered at British universities is the Bachelor's degree (Bachelor of Arts or of Science BA or Bess (typically three years). During the first degree students are known as undergraduates. Many institutions now offer a Master's degree (Master of Arts or of Science (MA or MSc) , typically lasting four years. Some universities offer a vocationally-based Foundation degree, typically two years in length for those students who hope to continue to take a first degree but wish to remain to work.
Some students continue to complete a three-year period of original research for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
1 Answer the following questions:
I. At what age do British children go to school?
2. What types of school exist in Britain?
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