The system of education in great britain

 

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T
HE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN 
G
REAT 
B
RITAIN
4 
THE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN 
Ex. 1. Read, translate and retell the text EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN. 
EDUCATION IN GREAT BRITAIN 
ll children and young people between the ages of 4 or 5 and 16 must receive 
full-time education. About a half of three- an four-old children receive nursery 
education. Some 9 million children attend 34,800 state and private schools. 
About 93 percent receive free education from public funds and the rest attend private 
fee-paying schools. 
British education has many different faces, but one goal. Its aim is to realise the 
potential of all, for the good or individual and society as a whole. Well over 90 per-
cent of the children of compulsory school go the state school. Some 60 per cent of 
16-year-olds stay on in full-time education. And for adults of all ages, universities, 
polytechnics and other colleges provide a vast array of courses, both academic and 
vocational. The past few years have seen a lot of changes in Britain’s traditionally 
decentralised education system. The most significant in England and Wales were in-
troduced under the Education Reform Act 1988. 
Local education authorities finance most school at local level. They employ 
teachers and allocate budgets to schools, the largest of which manage their own 
budgets. All secondary and primary schools have responsibility for their budgets. 
Every state school in England and Wales has a governing body, responsible for the 
school’s main policies. It includes teachers, parents and members appointed by local 
education authorities. Recent government measures have increased the rights of par-
ents to find out more about schools and make informed choices about their children’s 
education. Parents have a statuary right to express a preference for a school. Tables 
are published giving information about school examination results. All state schools 
have to give parents a written annual report on their child’s progress. 
Around half of 3- and 4-year-olds in Britain receive nursery education, and 
many other children attend pre-school groups, mostly organised by parents. Children 
of nursery age need care as well as education, however, and it is not just their mental 
requirements, but social, emotional and physical needs that must be met.
Compulsory secondary education begins at the age of 5 in England, Wales and 
Scotland, and 4 in Northern Ireland. Children usually start their school career in an 
infant school and move to a junior school or department at age 7. In some parts of the 
country children begin at a first school at age 5, and move on to a middle school at 
age 8, 9, or 10. Primary schools vary in size and location, some having as few as two 
teachers and others as many as 30. Pupils begin to tackle a range of subjects, includ-
ing those stipulated under the National Curriculum. In England and Wales the Edu-
cation Reform Act 1988 established a new National Curriculum for all pupils from 
the age of 5 to 16. This curriculum has been designed to prove a balance of subjects 
so that academic as well as practical abilities are catered for. Educational standards 
A 
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