British Education

British children are required by law to have an education until they are 16 years old.
Education is compulsory, but school is not; children are not required to attend school. They
could be educated at home.
1996 Education Act of the UK
Section 7 of the 1996 Education Act states:
"The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive
efficient full-time education suitable-
(a) to his age, ability and aptitude, and
(b) to any special educational needs he may have,
either by regular attendance at school or otherwise."
E d u cation is free for all ch ild ren from 5 to 16.
Full-time education is compulsory for all children aged between 5 and 16 (inclusive) across
England. This can be provided by state schools, independent schools, or homeschooling.
About 94 per cent of pupils in England, and the rest of the UK, receive free education from
public funds, while 6 per cent attend independent fee paying schools or homeschooling.

By law, all children in England and Wales between ages 5 and 16 must receive a full-time
education, while in Northern Ireland, children must begin at age 4. For children under age 5,
publicly-funded nurseries and pre-schools are available for a limited number of hours each
week. After the age of 16, students can attend sixth form colleges or other further education
institutions. Both options offer general education courses in addition to more specific
vocational or applied subjects.

More than 90% of students in the UK attend publicly-funded state schools. Approximately 8.5
million children attend one of the 30,000 schools in England and Wales; in Scotland, 830,000
children attend about 5,000 schools, including pre-schools and other special education
schools; and Northern Ireland sends 350,000 children to 1,300 state schools. Primary schools
usually include both girls and boys as pupils. Secondary schools may be either single-sex or
co-educational.

C u rricu lu m
All government-run schools, state schools, follow the same National Curriculum.
The UK introduced a National Curriculum in 1992 and state schools are required to adhere
to it until students reach age 16. The Education and Skills Act of 2008 raised the compulsory
age to 18, effective in 2013 for 17 year-olds and in 2015 for 18 year-olds. The government is
including a provision in its Education Bill that will increase the participation age to 18 so that
school leavers have the option of staying in school or move onto further training (Independent
schools are not obliged to adhere to the National Curriculum).

At the age of 16, students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland take an examination
called the GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education). Study of GCSE subjects
begins at the start of Year 10 (age 14-15), and final examinations are then taken at the end of
Year 11 (age 15-16). The GCSE is a single-subject examination set and marked by
independent examination boards. Students usually take up to ten (there is no upper or lower
limit) GCSE examinations in different subjects, including mathematics and English language.

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The Government is currently reviewing the national curriculum, exploring how to slim
it down. The revised curriculum is expected to be taught in schools from September
2013.

In state schools English, Mathematics, Science, Religious Education and Physical Education
are studied during Key Stage 4 (the GCSE years of school); in England, some form of ICT
(Information and Communication Technology) and citizenship must be studied and, in Wales,
Welsh must be studied. Other subjects, chosen by the individual pupil, are also studied.
In Scotland, the equivalent of the GCSE is the Standard Grade.
After completing the GCSE, some students leave school, others go onto technical college,
while others continue at high school for two more years and take a further set of standardized
exams, known as A levels, in three or four subjects. These exams determine whether a student
is eligible for university.

E d u cation s tages :
Nursery Schools 3-4 years old
Primary Schools 5-11 years old
Foundation Stage - Nursery, Reception, (Infants)
Key Stage 1 - Years 1 and 2 (Infants)
Key Stage 2 -Years 3 - 6 (Juniors)
Secondary Schools 12-18 years old
Years 7-13 (Key Stage 3, 4 & 5)

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Types of schools in England
Children's education in England is normally divided into two separate stages. They begin with
primary education at the age of five and this usually lasts until they are eleven. Then they
move to secondary school, there they stay until they reach sixteen, seventeen or eighteen
years of age.
The main categories of school are:

 local authority maintained schools (State Schools)

Free to all children between the ages of 5 - 16
 independent schools (Private/Public Schools)
Parents pay for their children's' education.

State Schools
In the UK 93% of the children in England and Wales go to "state schools". State schools are
non fee-paying, funded from taxes and most are organised by Local Authorities (LA).
Parents are expected to make sure that their child has a pen, pencil, ruler etc. but the cost of
other more specialised equipment, books, examination fees are covered by the school.
Parents are, however, expected to pay for their child's school uniform and items of sports
wear. Charges may also be made for music lessons and for board and lodgings on residential
trips. Schools may ask for voluntary contributions for school time activities - but no pupil
may be left out of an activity if their parents or guardian cannot or do not contribute.

Primary schools (5 - 11 year olds)

In the UK, the first level of education is known as primary education. These are almost
always mixed sex, and usually located close to the child's home. Children tend to be with the
same group throughout the day, and one teacher has responsibility for most of the work they
do.
Parents are strongly encouraged to help their children, particularly with reading and writing,
and small amounts of homework are set to all children, even during the early years at school.

Secondary schools (11 - 16 year olds)

Most children transfer at the age of 11 - usually to their nearest secondary school, though the
law allows parents in England and Wales to express preferences for other schools too. A place
has to be offered at the parents' preferred school unless the school has more applicants than
places; in that case it will admit the children who have the highest priority under its published
admission arrangements which can vary a little in different places.
Most secondary schools cater for both sexes. They tend to be much larger than primary
schools.
Nearly 88 per cent of secondary school pupils in England go to comprehensive schools, as do
all pupils in Wales. These take children of all abilities and provide a wide range of secondary
education for all or most of the children in a district from 11 to 16 or 18. All children in
Scotland go to non-selective schools.

Grammar Schools are selective, they offer academically oriented general education.
Entrance is based on a test of ability, usually at 11 (11+). Grammar schools are single sexed
schools i.e. Children either go to a boys Grammar School or a Girls Grammar School. There
are grammar schools in Northern Ireland and some parts of England.

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Fee Paying Schools
Independent Schools
7% of the children in England go to independent schools. Independent schools are known as
private schools and public schools. Parents pay for their children to attend these schools.
Nursery/Kindergarten 2 to 4 years
Pre-preparatory 3 or 4 to 7 years
Preparatory 7 to 11 or 13 years
Public 11 or 13 to 18 years
Prep Schools
A preparatory school is a school to prepare pupils to go to a public school.

Public Schools
A public school is an independent secondary school. Public schools in England are not run by
the government. The entrance exams used by most public schools are known as Common
Entrance exams and are taken at the age of 11 (girls) or 13 (boys).
The most famous public schools are Eton, Harrow and Winchester.

Most schools in England require children to wear a school uniform.

The uniform
Boys
Long grey or black trousers (shorts may be worn in the Summer)
White Shirt
School tie (optional in most primary schools)
Jumper or sweater with the school logo on. The colour is the choice of
the schools.
Black shoes
Girls
The same as the boys above. Girls may wear skirts.
During the summer term girls often wear summer school dresses.

Why wear a Uniform?

 When children go on a school trip they all look the same and so
can't get lost.
 Stops kids worrying about what to wear each day.
 Everyone is equal.
 Parents don't have to shop for expensive and varied wardrobes for
their children to keep up with or show-off to other children
 Wearing a uniform inspires a sense of pride and discipline in students
Why not to wear a uniform?
 Uniforms deny students their right to personal identity and self-expression

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The School Year
The school year runs from September to July and is 39 weeks long.
For many areas the year is divided into six terms:
 September to October
 October to December
 January to February
 February to March
 April to May
 June to July
(Some counties in England still follow the traditional three terms a year.)
The dates for school terms and holidays are decided by the local authority or the governing
body of a school, or by the school itself for independent schools.
S ch ool h olid ays
The main school holidays are:
 Christmas- 2 weeks
 Spring - 2 weeks
 Summer - 6 weeks
There are also one week holidays (half-term holidays):
o end of October
o mid February
o end of May
Some schools use these half-term breaks to organize field trips or study trips abroad.

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Extra curricular activities:
Extra-curricular activities are organized by the school in addition to the normal curriculum.
They have educational function and student participation is encouraged but not compulsory.
The most common forms are school clubs, daily outings and field trips.
a) Clubs: organized and run by teachers outside normal school hours and may include
interests like drama, film making, chess, sport, music, dance, computer programming,
photography, cooking, political debates or compilation of a school newspaper.
b) Outings: normally organized during school hours, eg. a class may be taken to a local
factory or to a newspaper office. Students are invited to prepare questionnaires on a
given subject or expected to report their findings back to the class. Other outings may
consist of visits to a museum, art gallery, exhibition, cinema, monument or place of
architectural/historical interest.
c) Field trips: undertaken over a weekly period and parents are expected to contribute to
the cost of the trip. Students gain a more practical knowledge of their subject
(Geography, History, Biology), they might be taken on a walking or cycling tour of
the Lake District or the Scottish Highlands. Accommodation might be provided by
Youth Hostels.

Higher Education
Around 30% of the 18 to 19 year olds, approximately 1.8 million students are currently
enrolled in the full-time UK higher education system(with almost 50% of students in
Scotland),. The formal entry requirements to most degree courses are two A-levels at grade E
or above. In practice, most offers of places require qualifications in excess of this.
Undergraduate degrees take three years to complete in England, Wales and Northern
Ireland, while at Scottish universities they last four years. At the graduate level, a master's
degree is normally earned in a single year, a research master's degree takes two years and a
doctoral degree is often completed in three years. Professional courses, such as medicine,
veterinary medicine, law and teaching, usually are undertaken as five-year undergraduate
degrees.
A postgraduate is someone who has already completed a first degree, such as a BA or BSc
and is looking for a higher level of study. Most postgraduate study in the UK is divided into
two types – taught Masters and research degrees.
A Masters is the next degree level up from an undergraduate qualification and is simply just
another word for a postgraduate taught course. Taught courses have a minimum number of
contact hours a week - this will be less than undergraduate level but students regularly attend
classes and possibly lectures.
Taught courses are usually divided into a number of modules every term and students pick
several which interest them. Students attend a seminar group where the emphasis is on the
students to provide their own learning and discussion. The tutor acts in a facilitating role but
doesn’t directly conduct the class.
At this level, it’s really up to you what students get out of the experience. The tutor will
arrange one-on-one sessions to discuss students’ work and they may also attend several
lecture sessions per term of around an hour in length.
For taught courses, the end of each term signifies an assessment of the module students chose
at the beginning, either through exam or assessed essay. During the final term students could
be expected to complete a dissertation, with a few guidance sessions from an assigned tutor.

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Types of research programme
The most common include:
 Doctor of Philosophy (PhD);
 Master of Research (MRes);
 Doctor of Law (LLD);
 Doctor of Science (DSc).
As a student on a research course, you can start at any time during an academic term. You
may want to consider arranging to start in September if possible, however, even if you have
the flexibility of a research course, as it will allow you to settle in at the same time as students
on taught courses. At the end of the course, the student will be expected to submit a
dissertation of a much greater length than most taught course students and demonstrate
research of an original or groundbreaking nature.

In the UK there are three terms a year, varying slightly in length and date across different
universities. British universities operate according to term times with academic sessions
starting in September/October, January and May.

The best UK universities and colleges, according to the trusted Times Higher

Education World University Rankings 2016-2017:

The University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge take the top two spots in this

ranking of best British universities, while some of the best universities in London complete
the top five.
Three universities in Scotland appear in the top 25: the University of Edinburgh, the
University of Glasgow and the University of St Andrews, while the best university in
Wales is Cardiff University, ranked just inside the top 30.
For students looking to study in Northern Ireland, the best university in the ranking
is Queen’s University Belfast.
Of the 91 top universities in the UK, more than 20 are in London, including well-known
institutions such as Imperial College London and University College London, and more
recently established universities such as the University of Westminster and the University
of Greenwich.
The best Irish universities (2017 ranking): the Trinity College Dublin, the University of
Dublin, the University College Dublin and the University College Cork.