The educational system in Great Britain

The educational system in Great Britain is very complicated. It embraces two educational purposes: first, it gives a general education to all children, and second, it selects the most capable and gives them a more advanced education.

Every child in Great Britain between the ages of five and sixteen must attend school. In the first stage which is called primary education, all children are educated according to the same programme. As they grow older, differences in abilities and attainments become very marked, so it is considered necessary to offer different programmes.

There are three stages of education: primary or elementary education, secondary education and further (higher) education in universities.

In the primary school where children study from five to eleven years the first two years are mainly taken up with learning to read, write and do simple arithmetic. In addition, the children draw, paint, model and sing. The first two years of the primary school are called the Infant school.

At seven the pupils are transferred to the Junior school which is usually situated in another section of the same building. At this age level the following subjects appear in the study programme: English, History, Geography, Nature study, Music and others. At the age of eleven the pupils finish the primary school and continue their education at one of the secondary schools.

Until recently, there were three main types of secondary schools: Grammar school, Technical school and Modern school. Children were sent to one of these three types of school according to their abilities and inclinations. These three types of school still exist, but their number is decreasing. They are being replaced by the so-called comprehensive schools. The main advantages of the comprehensive schools are that these schools are open to all children from the age of 11. They are large schools where a wide range of subjects is given, so that teenagers can choose a course of studies according to their individual inclinations and abilities. The subjects are French, English, German, Latin, History, Geography, Music, Woodwork, Metalwork, Needlework, Commercial subjects, Mathematics and so on. The number of comprehensive schools is rather great and it is constantly growing.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-02