Education in Great Britain

EDUCATION

Historical backround

Free and compulsory edu. Funded by the state and guaranted by law became available in 1870 for children aged from 5 to 10.
In 1944 a new law raised the leaving age to 15.All edu. Beyond the age of 11 became secondary.At that age most children went to sec. Modern sch. While about a fifth of all children ,chosen by examination went to grammar sch.,aiming to gain certificates at 16 and then 18 leading to further edu.Before 1965most children in the country had to take an exam at about age of 11 at the end of their primary shooling.If they passed this exam ,they went to a grammar sch. Where they were taught academic subjects to prepare than to univer.,the proffessions,the managerial jobs or oher highly skilled jobs.If they failed they went to a sec. Moder.sch. where the lessons had more technical and practical basis.The children who went ot sec.mod.sch. tended to be seen as failures and many people argued that it was wrong for a person´s future life to be decided at so zuong an age.Over the next decade the division into grammar sch. And sec.mod.sch.was changed.These days most 11yrs old go on the same local sch. Which are called comprehensive sch.
In 1986 a new G.C.S.E.(General certificate of sec edu.)was introduced . This was designed to give scope for all children(uplatnenie) of all types and inclinations(zaluba) to pass at about the age of 16,in at least some subjects corresonding with their talents.The certificates are awarded on the basis partly of examination,partly of course work ,prtly on work on projects undertaken by the children.The tests are administered by several different examing boards which are of central and local goverment.Children who continue their edu. After 16 in what is commonly called the sixth form prepare themselves to try to gain vocational(povolanie) or proffesional certificates or diplomas. Those who hope to continue after 18 at univers.or other higher levl colleges aim to gain advanced level G.C.S.E.certificates ,usually in 3 subjects and entry to the univer. Is based on the grades (A,B,C,D,E,)gained.

PRIMARY EDUCATION
In primary sch.the firstb 2 yrs beginnig at theage of 5 are spent on informal developmenf eexpresion and ability to concentrate .Often children stay with the same teacher all the time for this whole infant period.More formal „Junior level“ teaching begins at he age of 7 ,though at this stage there is more concern with making children interested than with tradiotional instructions .Competetiveness in the learning process is not encouraged ,though there is no reaction against extreme permisiveness and in favour of increased attention to the teaching of basic skiills and knowledge.

SECONDARY EDUCATION
Although almost alll state sec. Schools are now comprehensive (jednotne)the egaulising purpose the system has not altogheter been achieved.All compreh. Sec.sch. may be intended to be on egual standard ,but in some sch. Far biogger proportions of the pupils perform well in the certificate examinations than in others.The highest succes rates tend to be in sch. In comfortable suburban areas the lowest in those parts of big towns where the social indicators are less favourable.In sec.sch there is a great concern with the development of the child´s personality .Clubs are encouraged for the joint pursiut of interests in nature such as bird watching or music dancing or drama.There is also usually a pastoral system through which each teachre meets an assigned group of 20 or 30 regularly to discuss problem of the world in general,and gives advice of choice of course and if necessary on personal problems.
The approach to edu. Has changed in the past 30 yrs .It is now widely accepted that it is not enough for children simply absorb and remembe info. They should be eguipped to evaluate(zhodnotit)and criticise the info. They receive and to find out things gfor themselves.The content of edu should as far as practicable be relevant to real life .Language teaching should make use of typical situatuions of tourists or businness peole .The rules of grammar and syntax are not emphasisied at theearly stages.Children learn about hte essential relations beetwen figures (cislicami)than mathematical procedures and the should grow up with computing skills .They are encouraged to under take projects on theit own account,often in pairs or groups.

SHOOL YEAR AND DAY
The academic year begins at Br.prim. and sec. Sch. in September .It is divide into 3 rems .Christams and Easter make intervals between them.Children have 5 weeks holidays in summer two weeks during christmas two weeks at Easter.Thera are two week holiday in the middle of each term.Day scholls work from Mondays to Fridays.Classes are held from 9p.m. to 4 p.m. and the day is ussually divided into periods of about 35minutes.The average number of pupils in the class is 30.

CURICULLUM

In 1988 the National Curriculum was introduced into schools in England and Wales, making for a broader, more balanced and coherent schooling system. The curriculum sets out what pupils should study, what they should be taught and the standards that they should achieve. The National Curriculum in England and Wales is divided into four Key Stages (KS), three core subjects (English, Mathematics and Science) and nine non-core foundation subjects. Every sch.has a band ,orchestra or choir.There are also sch.teams that play basketball or football against other sch.
The Key Stages are age-related: KS 1 goes up to age seven, KS 2 from seven to eleven, KS 3 from eleven to fourteen (pre-GCSE) and KS 4 from fourteen to sixteen (preparation for GCSE and equivalent vocational qualifications) - In Scotland there is no legally prescribed national curriculum but the Scottish Executive Education Department sets out guidelines for teachers.

The curriculum in Northern Ireland is set by the Northern Ireland Council for Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment.






ASSEMENT

For most of their scool carrer pupils in British schools are assesed internally in the sch. by theit teachers.Methods vary from the sch. to sch. ,from subject to subject and even from teacher to teacher.Pupil´s marks are more or less random (nepravidelny)mixture of the results from pieces of homework ,informal tests projects works or whatever else is appropriate to the subject.I nsome subjects there are no marks at all .AtChristmas and at the end of the summer term some schools send a report to parents .