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| Education in Britainp> At the same time, within this more centralized system, parents have been offered greater choice through the establishment of different kinds of schools (GMS and CTC), through the delegation of management to the governing bodies of the schools (LMS) and through the granting of parental rights to send their children to the school of their choice. The various Parliamentary Acts (but especially the 1988 Act) gave
legal force to a massive change in the terms of the education partnership. 3) Employer involvement The voice of the consumers will be heard more, and the consumer
includes the employer. Several initiatives encouraged employer
participation. First, and possibly the most important in the long run, has
been the encouragement of business representatives on governing bodies of
schools. Second, there has been a range of initiatives which have given
employers a greater say in the purposes which schools are expected to serve
and in the means of attaining them. The government decided to develop a reformed system of examinations which would specify the standards against which the performance of individual schools and of pupils might be measured. The 1988 Education Act legislated for assessment of pupils at the ages of 7, 11, 14 and 16, using attainment targets which all children should normally be expected to reach at these different ages in different subjects - especially in the «foundation subjects» of English, mathematics and science. The assessments relied partly on moderated teacher-assessment, but more importantly on national, externally administrated tests. As a result of these national assessments, exactly where each child was in relation to all other children in terms of attainment in each subject. And it would be possible to say how each school was succeeding in these measured attainments in relationship to every other school. These assessments, have subsequently, provided the basis of national comparisons and league tables of schools. In the reform of National Curriculum in the early 1990’s, it was
decided that, because of public examinations at 16 , the national
assessment should finish at 14. For over one hundred years, there had been an independent inspection service. The inspectors were called Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) to indicate that ultimately they were accountable to the Queen, not to the government from whom they ardently preserved their independence. Until about ten years ago, HMI numbered about 500. They inspected schools and they advised the government. Senior HMIs were based at the Department of Education and Science Much of this has now changed as government has sought greater central
control. HMI has been cut back to about one third of its previous size. The Under OFSTED a very large army of «Ofsted inspectors» has been
created - often teachers - who, after a brief training, are equipped to
inspect schools. The initial plan was to inspect all 25,000 schools every
four years and to publish a report which would be accessible to everyone. It has been very difficult to get rid of very poor teachers. It is now hoped that, with more regular inspection and with clearer criteria for success and failure, it will be easier to sack teachers who are consistently under performing. The recent changes are increasingly redescribed in managerial and business terms, as the educational system is managed as part of the drive to be more economically competitive. However, one must be aware of the doubts and dismay of many in this The changing economic and social context in Britain seemed to require
a closer integration of education, training, and employment; at the same
time, a sharper focus on personal development; greater concentration of the
partnership to include employers and parents; and a dominant position given
to central government in stipulating outcomes were all factors which led
the framework of the system is adapting to the new contexts.
a)The public system of education might be illustrated as follows: b) Schools and the post-16 curriculum The maintenance of such a curriculum has been a major function of the
examination system at 16, which was originally designed as a preparation
for the post-16 courses leading to A-level. It is taken in single subjects,
usually not more than three. These three subjects, studied in depth, in
turn constituted a preparation for the single or double subject honors
degrees at university. In this way the shape of the curriculum for the
majority has been determined by the needs of the minority aspiring to a
university place. Alongside «A» Levels, there have been, more recently, The present «A» and «AS» Level system, however, is thought to be in
need of reform. First, it limits choice of subjects at 16 and 17 years, a
time, when a more general education should be encouraged. Second,
approximately 30% of students either drop out or fail - a mass failure rate
amongst a group of young people from the top 30% of academic achievement
who find that after two years they have no qualification. Third, the
concentration on academic success thus conceived has little room for the
vocationally relevant skills and personal qualities stressed by those
employers who are critics of the education system. Fourth, there are over The private sector B
y 1997 8 per cent of the school population attended independent fee-paying
schools, compared with under 6 per cent in 1979, and only 5 per cent in Although the percentage of those privately educated may be a small
fraction of the total, its importance is disproportionate to its size, for
this 8 per cent accounts for 23 per cent of all those passing A levels, and
over 25 per cent of those gaining entry to university. Nearly 65 per cent
of pupils leave fee-paying schools with one or more A levels, compared with
only 14 per cent from comprehensives. Tellingly, this 8 per cent also
accounts for 68 per cent of those gaining the highest grade in GCSE The 'public' (in fact private, fee-paying) schools form the backbone
of the independent sector. Of the several hundred public schools, the most
famous are the 'Clarendon Nine', so named after a commission of inquiry
into education in 1861. Their status lies in a fatally attractive
combination of social superiority and antiquity, as the dates of their
foundation indicate: Winchester (1382), Eton (1440), St Paul's (1509), The golden age of the public schools, however, was the late nineteenth
century, when most were founded. They were vital to the establishment of a
particular set of values in the dominant professional middle classes. These
values were reflected in the novel Tom Brown's Schooldays by Thomas Hughes,
written in tribute to his own happy time at Rugby School. Its emphasis is
on the making of gentlemen to enter one of the professions: law, medicine,
the Church, the Civil Service or the colonial service. The concept of After 1945, when state-funded grammar schools were demonstrating equal
or greater academic excellence, the public schools began to modernise
themselves. During the 1970s most of them abolished beating and 'fagging',
the system whereby new boys carried out menial tasks for senior boys, and
many introduced girls into the sixth form, as a civilising influence. They
made particular efforts to improve their academic and scientific quality. Demand for public school education is now so great that many schools register pupils' names at birth. Eton maintains two lists, one for the children of 'old boys' and the other for outsiders. There are three applicants for every vacancy. Several other schools have two applicants for each vacancy, but they are careful not to expand to meet demand. In the words of one academic, 'Schools at the top of the system have a vested interest in being elitist. They would lose that characteristic if they expanded. To some extent they pride themselves on the length of their waiting lists.' This rush to private education is despite the steep rise in fees, 31 per cent between 1985 and 1988, and over 50 per cent between 1990 and 1997 when the average annual day fees were Ј5,700 and boarding fees double that figure. Sixty per cent of parents would probably send their children to fee-paying schools if they could afford to. In order to obtain a place at a public school, children must take a
competitive examination, called 'Common Entrance'. In order to pass it,
most children destined for a public school education attend a preparatory Independent schools remain politically controversial. The Conservative There can be no doubt that a better academic education can be obtained
in some of the public schools. In 1993 92 of the 100 schools with the best The public school system is socially divisive, breeding an atmosphere
of elitism and leaving some outside the system feeling socially or
intellectually inferior, and in some cases intimidated by the prestige
attached to public schools. The system fosters a distinct culture, one
based not only upon social superiority but also upon deference. As one
leading journalist, Jeremy Paxman, himself an ex-public schoolboy remarked, Those who attend these schools continue to dominate the institutions
at the heart of the British state, and seem likely to do so for some time
to come. At the beginning of the 1990s public schools accounted for 22 out
of 24 of the army's top generals, two-thirds of the Bank of England's
external directors, 33 out of 39 top English judges, and ambassadors in the There are two arguments that qualify the merit of the public schools,
apart from the criticism that they are socially divisive. It is
inconceivable that the very best intellectual material of the country
resides solely among those able to attend such schools. If one accepts that
the brightest and best pupils are in fact spread across the social
spectrum, one must conclude that an elitist system of education based
primarily upon wealth rather than ability must involve enormous wastage. Britain will be unable to harness its real intellectual potential until it can break loose from a divisive culture that should belong in the past, and can create its future elite from the nation's schoolchildren as a whole. In 1996 a radical Conservative politician argued for turning public schools into centres of excellence which would admit children solely on ability, regardless of wealth or social background, with the help of government funding. It would be a way of using the best of the private sector for the nation as a whole. It is just such an idea that Labour might find attractive, if it is able to tackle the more widespread and fundamental shortcomings of the state education system. Further and higher education «P reparation for adult life» includes training in the skills required for a job. These skills can be pitched at different levels - highly job-specific and not requiring much thought in their application, or «generalisable» and applicable to different kinds of employment. Vocational courses are concerned with the teaching of job-related
skills, whether specific or generalisable. They can be based in industry,
and «open learning» techniques make this increasingly likely, although in
the past, they have normally been taught in colleges of further education,
with students given day release from work. Vocational training has not been
an activity for schools. But some critics think that schools should provide
it for non-academic pupils. One major initiative back in 1982, was the But the real changes in vocational training were to be seen outside the schools. The curriculum in colleges of further education has been closely determined by vocational examination bodies which decide what the student should be able to do in order to receive a qualification as, for example, a plumber or a hairdresser. These qualifications were pitched at different levels - from relatively low-skilled operative to higher-skilled craft and technician. Obtaining these qualifications often required an apprenticeship, with day release in a college of further education for more theoretical study. Vocational training always has had a relatively low status in Further education has traditionally been characterised by part-time
vocational courses for those who leave school at the age of 16 but need to
acquire a skill, be that in the manual, technical or clerical field. In
all, about three million students enrol each year in part-time courses at
further education (FE) colleges, some released by their employers and a
greater number unemployed. In addition there have always been a much
smaller proportion in full-time training. In 1985 this figure was a meagre Higher education has also undergone a massive expansion. In 1985 only Oxford and Cambridge, founded in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries respectively, are easily the most famous of Britain's universities. Today 'Oxbridge', as the two together are known, educate less than one-twentieth of Britain's total university student population. But they continue to attract many of the best brains and to mesmerise an even greater number, partly on account of their prestige, but also on account of the seductive beauty of many of their buildings and surroundings. Both universities grew gradually, as federations of independent
colleges, most of which were founded in the fourteenth, fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries. In both universities, however, new colleges are
periodically established, for example Green College, Oxford (1979) and In the nineteenth century more universities were established to
respond to the greatly increased demand for educated people as a result of
the Industrial Revolution and the expansion of Britain's overseas empire. With the expansion of higher education in the 1960s 'plate-glass'
universities were established, some named after counties or regions rather
than old cities, for example Sussex, Kent, East Anglia and Strathclyde. University examinations are for Bachelor of Arts, or of Science (BA or In addition there are a large number of specialis higher education
institutions in the realm of the performing and visual arts. For example,
there a four leading conservatories: the Royal Academy Music, the Royal There are a large number of art colleges, of whi the most famous is the Royal College of Art, where both Henry Moore and David Hockney once studied. Other colleges cater for dance, film-making and other specialist areas in arts. In spite of the high fees, Britain's universities, Fl colleges and Female undergraduates have greatly increased proportionately in recent
years. In the mid-1960 they were only 28 per cent of the intake, became 41
per cent by the early 1980s, and were 51 per cent by 1996. There is still
an unfortunate separation of the sexes in fields of chosen study, arising
from occupational tradition and social expectations. Caring for others is
still a 'proper' career for women; building bridges, it seems, is not. Ethnic minorities' representation is growing: 1 3 per cent in 1996 compared with only 10.7 per cent in 1990. It is noteworthy that their university representation exceeds their proportion within the whole population, a measure of their commitment to higher education. In 1988 a new funding body, the University Funding Council, was established, with power to require universities to produce a certain number of qualified people in specific fields. It is under the UFC's watchful eye that the universities have been forced to double their student intake, and each university department is assessed on its performance and quality. The fear, of course, is that the greatly increased quantity of students that universities must now take might lead to a loss of academic quality. Expansion has led to a growing funding gap. Universities have been
forced to seek sponsorship from the commercial world, wealthy patrons and
also from their alumni. The Conservative Party also decided to reduce
maintenance grants but to offer students loans in order to finance their
studies. However, the funding gap has continued to grow and Labour shocked
many who had voted for it by introducing tuition fees at 1,000 pounds per
annum in 1998. Although poorer students were to be exempted it was feared
that, even with student loans, up to 10 per cent of those planning to go to
university would abandon the idea. One effect of the financial burden is
that more students are living at home while continuing their studies: about Today many university science and technology departments, for example at Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, Imperial College London, and Strathclyde, are among the best in Europe. The concern is whether they will continue to be so in the future. Academics' pay has fallen so far behinc other professions and behind academic salaries elsewhere, that many of the best brains have gon As with the schools system, so also with higher education: there is a
real problem about the exclusivity of Britain's two oldest universities. The problem is not the quality of education offered either in the
independent schools or Oxbridge. The problem is cultural. Can the products
of such exclusive establishments remain closely in touch with the remaining Present situation The educational system - its organization, its control, its content - is changing rapidly to meet the perceived needs of the country - the need to improve standards and to respond to a rapidly changing and competitive economy. Those changes might be summarized in the following way. First, there is much greater central control over what is taught. Education under Labour E
ducation was the central theme of the new Labour government. It promised a
huge range of improvements: high-quality education for all four-year-olds
whose parents wanted it and lower pupil-teacher ratios, in particular that
children up to the age of eight children would never be in classes of over Questions 1. When do the british start their education? Страницы: 1, 2 |
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