Secondary education.

8.1.1. Primary education is given to children between 5 and 11 years of age. A primary school is subdivided into infant schools for children aged 5 to 7 and junior schools for children aged 7 to 11. In small country places both the infant department and the junior department may be combined under the roof of one school. In infant school (or classes) children are encouraged to read, to write in their own words, to understand and make use of numbers. Subject teaching is rare. At the age of 7 children go to the junior school where the teaching becomes more formal. About 40-50 minutes every day are spent on arithmetic. Almost an hour a week is given to work in history, geography, nature study and music. Pride of place is given to English, which may occupy from 7 to 10 hours a week.

8.1.2. Secondary education embraces children from 11 years of age to 16 years of age. The majority of educational establishments are comprehensive schools. The main advantages of the comprehensive schools are that these schools are open to children of all types of ability from the age of 11; they are large schools which give a much, wider range of subjects than smaller schools, so that teenagers can choose a course of studies ac­cording to their individual inclinations and abilities.

8.1.3. According to the National Curriculum, chil­dren at the age of 7, 11, 14 and 16 are tested. Until the year of testing schools are allowed to choose the subjects to teach and the ways of teaching those subjects. Besides, schoolchildren are given the oppor­tunity to choose the subjects to learn. The English School Syllabus is divided into Art (or Humanities) and Sciences. Art pupils study English Language and Literature, History, Foreign languages, Music, Art, Drama. Science pupils study Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics (Maths), Economics, Technical Drawing, Biology, Geography. Besides, secondary school students must do general education subjects like Physical Education (PE).The usual grading system in secondary school is a lphabetical: A – excellent/outstanding; B – above average; C – average; D – below average; E – failing.

8.1.4. There is a wide network of further education institutions in Britain. They give students the chance to increase their theoretical background and professional training. Students may get further edu­cation after they have passed their General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) or General National Vocational Qualification (GNVQ) exams taken at the age of 16. Further education includes sixth-form colleges and classes where stu­dents work for "A" (Advanced) level exams necessary to enter a universi­ty. It also includes colleges of further education which provide a theore­tical background and professional qualification training in nursing, accountancy, management, art, music, etc.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16