Chapter 4 Education in UK

1
Chapter 4 Education in UK

• Oct. 2007
• Xiao Huiyun

2
Objectives

• If the family is central to people's lives,
  surely their next most significant experience is
  their education. In this chapter we will begin
  with a brief survey of the development of free
  universal education since the last century, and
  then take a closer look at the main institutions
  in which British people are formally educated.

3
Focal Questions

• What do you think are among the most outstanding
  changes in the English education system since the
  19th century?
• What does the streaming system mean to you? Do
  you think the system is reasonable? Why?
• What are some of the recent changes that have
  taken place in a) primary schools, b) secondary
  schools, and c) higher education?
• Is university life in Britain different from that
  in China? If so, in which aspects?
• Apart from universities, can you name some other
  higher and further education institutions in
  Britain?

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Procedures

• Presentation by Students Focal questions 2 4
• Lectures by the teacher
• Class discussion Exploitation Activities
• Assignment for the next chapter

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Soul of British Society
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A1 Change Reform in Schools

• Before 1870 school set up by churches, 40 of
  children aged 10 attended
• From 1870 onwards government took responsibility
  for education in response to changes caused by
  industrial revolution and movement for social
  political reform
• The 1944 Act in England Wales gave all children
  the right to free secondary education
• The tripartite system at end of primary
  education children are selected by means of
  streaming. Those on the top stream (20) went to
  grammar schools. The rest went to secondary
  modern and technical schools

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A 1 Change Reform cont.

• 1960s introduction of comprehensive schools
  early selection streaming not fair, equal
  educational opportunities meritocracy
• In 1999 85 of children attended comprehensive
  schools while 15 went to remaining gr. schools
  or private schools, problems of streaming still
  remain, holding back of brighter students,
  unjustified labelling

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A 1 Change Reform cont.

• Types of Secondary Schools today
• Comprehensive schools 85
• Grammar schools 4
• secondary modern schools 4
• City Technology Colleges (CTCs )
• Specialist schools (England only)

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A1 Change and Reform cont.

• Recent reforms -- 1988 Education Reform Act
• National Curriculum for 5 16 year-olds and
  regular exams -- National Tests at 7, 11, 14
  (p58)
• Introduction of CTCs -- sponsors main focus of
  curriculum
• More power given to schools to run their affairs
  within the framework of national curriculum

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A 1 Change Reform cont

• 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. 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) -

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A 1 Reform Change Key Stages and Tests
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A1 Change Reform cont

• National Curriculum subjects England
• English, Mathematics,
• Science, Design and Technology this
  incorporates craft and design, food technology
• ICT- Information and communications technology
• History
• Geography
• Art and design
• Music
• Physical Education

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A 1 Change Reform cont.

• 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.

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A 1 Change Reform cont

• 1992 all polytechnics and some colleges of higher
  education become universities.
• 1997 In universities grants are scrapped in
  favour of student loans, fee 1000 pound
  sterling
• 1998 National scheme using laptops expected to
  spread to all schools in 21st century

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A2 Schools Today Primary Phase

• Pre-school education is available (often on a
  fee-paying basis) for children aged two to
  four/five through playgroups and nursery schools.
  The emphasis is on group work, creative activity
  and guided play
• Compulsory education begins at five in England,
  Wales and Scotland and four in Northern Ireland
• There is little or no specialist subject teaching
  and great emphasis on literacy and numeracy in
  early years
• The usual age for transfer to secondary schools
  is eleven in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
  and twelve in Scotland.

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A 2 Schools Today Secondary Phase

• Compulsory education ends at age sixteen, though
  many pupils stay on beyond the minimum leaving
  age . The main exam pupils should take is GCSE.
• About 90 of state secondary school pupils in
  England, Wales and Scotland go to comprehensive
  schools, which provide a wide range of secondary
  education for most children of all abilities from
  a district in the eleven to eighteen age range
  (twelve to eighteen in Scotland)
• At age sixteen pupils in England and Wales may
  transfer to sixth form colleges or tertiary
  colleges ,leading to GCE A level

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A 2 School Today Exams

• Examinations At 16 students in England and
  Wales take GCSE examinations. These examinations
  are taken by students of all levels of ability in
  any of a range of subjects and may involve a
  final examination, an assessment of work done
  during the two year course, or both of these
  things. At 18 some students taken A-level
  examinations, usually in not more than 3
  subjects. It is necessary to have A-levels in
  order to go to a university or other institutions
  of higher education

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A 2 School Today Exams

• Examinations
• In Scotland students take the SCE examinations. A
  year later, they can take examinations called
  HIGHERS, after which they can either go straight
  to a university or spend a further year at school
  and take the Certificate of Sixth Year Studies.
  In Scotland the university system is different to
  that in England and Wales. Courses usually last
  four years rather than three and students study a
  larger number of subjects as part of their
  degree.

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A 2 Schools Today Achieve- ment and Social
Class

• Since 1980s reform a general improvement in
  qualifications by pupils at 16
• Still a significant relationship between
  achievement of children and their parents social
  class
• 80 of children from professional middle class
  attend university compared with 17 from the
  poorest homes

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A 2 Schools Today Independent Schools

• Fee-paying, known as public schools
• 7 of schoolchildren attending
• Good teaching staff
• Eton educated 20 Prime Ministers, 6 Chancellors
  of Exchequers, Shelley, Orwell, founded in 1440
  by HENRY VI to educate sons of the poor for
  service of church state. (see p69 for more)

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A 2 School Today Public School -- Eton
College

• Eton with the tutor

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A 2 Schools Today Public School -- Eton
College

• Eton Pupils

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A2 Schools Today Public Schools

• Harrow School East Ham Grammar
  School for Boys

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A 3 Institutions of Higher Education
Universities

• 110 universities in UK. 93 in England, 13 in
  Scotland, 2 in Wales and 2 in N. Ireland
• Over 42 of pupils become university students on
  leaving school at 18
• Two other main universities. University of
  Buckingham (800 students) Open University (over
  20,000 students). The latter non-residential
  university offering courses for adults of all
  ages. (more on p61 concerning important changes)

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A 3 Institutions of Higher Learning
Entrance Procedures

• In the third term of Year 12 students prepare
  their applications to university
• Applications are then made in the first term of
  the Year 13 through one centralised organisation
  known as UCAS (Universities and Colleges
  Admissions Service )
• Students can apply to a maximum of six
  universities/institutions.
• Admission selection on basis of A level results,
  schools reference an interview

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A 3 Institution of Higher learning Entrance
Procedures

• If a university or institution is impressed by
  the students UCAS form they will send an offer
  of a place conditional upon obtaining certain
  stated A Level grades
• The final decision on which institution the
  student will actually attend will be taken when
  the A Level results are published in mid-August.
• In the case of Cambridge applicants may be asked
  to obtain a good mark in an extra exam (called
  the STEP), which they can sit just after the A
  Level exams.
• Applications through UCAS to Oxford and Cambridge
  also have to be sent by a special early deadline
  accompanied by a special extra form.

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A 3 Institution of Higher Education Cambridge
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A 3 Institutions of Higher Education
Cambridge

• Cambridge University was founded in 1209 by
  students fleeing from Oxford after one of the
  many episodes of violence between the university
  and the town of Oxford.

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A 3 Institutions of Higher Education Former
Vice-Chancellor

• His term of office has seen major innovation and
  expansion at Cambridge and a period where
  Cambridge has topped league tables and drawn
  investment from the international business
  community.

• Sir Alec Broers

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A 3 Institutions of Higher Education
Cambridge

• Professor Sir Alec Broers said
• I became Vice-Chancellor because I believed that
  I could help Cambridge build on its strengths by
  reaching out. Companies and individuals from all
  over the world have worked with us to move
  forward our research agenda, and weve worked
  hard to attract and support outstanding students
  from many countries and backgrounds.
• The Vice-Chancellor is the principal academic and
  administrative officer of the University.

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A 3 Institutions of Higher Education
Vice-Chancellor, Cambridge

• Professor Alison Richard

• It is a great honour that the University of
  Cambridge has chosen me to be its Vice-Chancellor
  and to follow in the footsteps of a heritage of
  eminent Vice-Chancellors, including Professor Sir
  Alec Broers, Dame Rosemary Murray and Sir David
  Williams.
• Leading a University with nearly 800 years'
  history and a pre-eminent status on the world
  intellectual stage is a daunting prospect, but I
  am looking forward wholeheartedly to the
  challenges ahead. 

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A 3 Institution of Higher Education Oxford
University
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A 3 Institution of Higher Education
Oxford

• Oxford University. Legend has it that Oxford
  University was founded by King Alfred in 872. A
  more likely scenario is that it grew out of
  efforts begun by Alfred to encourage education
  and establish schools throughout his territory.
  There may have been a grammar school there in the
  9th century. A grammar school was exactly what it
  sounds like a place for teaching Latin grammar.
  The University as we know it actually began in
  the 12th century as gatherings of students around
  popular masters. The university consisted of
  people, not buildings. The buildings came later
  as a recognition of something that already
  existed. In a way, Oxford was never founded it
  grew.

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A 3 Institutions of Higher Educations
Chancellor, Oxford

• I am very pleased to have been elected Chancellor
  of Oxford University.
• Oxford is one of the greatest universities in the
  world. It has played a distinguished part in the
  history of our country and our continent, and has
  much to contribute to our success and our
  well-being as a civilised community in the future.

• Chris Patten

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A 3 Institutions of Higher Educations
Vice-Chancellor

• Sir Colin Lucas has been Vice-Chancellor of the
  University of Oxford since 1997. He is the first
  Oxford Vice-Chancellor to serve for seven years,
  following the extension of his original four-year
  term of office, which has enabled him to see
  through a wide-ranging reform of the University's
  system of governance

• Sir Colin Lucas

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A 3 Institutions of Higher Education
Oxbridge

• The Boat Race between Oxford Cambridge started
  June 10, 1829
• The event is now a British national institution,
  and is televised live each year. The race has
  been won by Cambridge 77 times and Oxford 71,
  with one dead heat in 1877. The most recent event
  was amongst the closest in history, with Oxford
  winning by less than a foot. One entertainment
  for spectators is the possibilty of a boat
  sinking. This has occurred on three occasions to
  the Oxford crew in 1925 and to Cambridge in 1859
  and in 1978.
• The race is currently run over a four mile and
  374 yard stretch of the River Thames between
  Putney and Mortlake in London.

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A 3 Institutions of Higher Education
Oxbridge

• The Dark Blue Crew

• Oxford won the 2003 Boat Race, and with it the
  Aberdeen Asset Management Trophy, by the
  narrowest of margins after one of the most
  exciting finishes of all time.

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A 3 Institutions of Higher Education
Oxbridge Boat Race
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A 3 Institutions of Higher Education
Oxbridge

• The Light Blues Dark Blues

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A 3 Institutions of Higher Education
Universities

• Glasgow University Nottingham
  University

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A3 Institute of Higher Education Buckingham
Uni.

• Verney Park Campus Chandos Road Campus

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A 3 Institution of Higher Education Open
University

• The Open University is ranked in the top five of
  UK universities for the quality of teaching,
  according to a newly-published national table.
• The university, whose headquarters are at Walton
  Hall, Milton Keynes, has fifth spot ahead of
  Oxford and University College London in the
  Sunday Times University Guide 2003s table of
  universities with the best marks for teaching

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A 3 Institution of Higher Education Open
University

• The University Milton Keynes
  Pagoda

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A3 Institutions of Higher Learning
Crisis

• Universities in crisis
• In most universities resources are spent on
  day-to-day teaching and research non-essential
  work, such as building maintenance, has been put
  on the back-burner. At the same time academic
  salaries have stalled plumbers earn more than
  professors research staff are paid less than
  school dinner ladies. So top academics are
  fleeing to the US and there are chronic shortages
  of teaching staff in areas such as law,
  computing, maths and computers

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A3 Institutions of Higher Education
Crisis

• How has all this come about?
• It boils down to a simple equation government
  funding has remained static over the past few
  decades while the number of students has
  skyrocketed. As a result, Britain would now have
  to spend 3.5bn a year just to bring the amount
  it spends per student up to the EU average. And
  to return to student funding levels of a decade
  ago an extra 5.9bn in annual grants would be
  needed, roughly an extra 3p in the pound in
  income tax. The Week

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A 3 Institutions of Higher Education --
Universities

• University graduates dominate British political
  leadership, especially those from Oxbridge
  Thatcher, Blair, from Oxford 2/3 of Blairs
  cabinet members educated at Oxford or Cambridge
• Individuals still feel positive about education

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A3 Institute of Higher Education Teacher
Training

• To qualify as a teacher in Britain
• One can take a 4-year Bachelor of Education (BEd)
  degree
• Or follow any degree with a one- year PGCE.
• In either case 2/3 of training will take place in
  school classrooms

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A 3 Institutions of Higher Education
Students Activities

• Choir, Clare College

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A 3 Institutions of Higher Education
Students Activities

• Pubbing

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A 3 Institutions of Higher Education Students
Activities
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A 3 Institutions of Higher Education
Soccer
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A 3 Institutions of Higher Education
Choir
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A 4 Further Education Training FECs

• Further education (FE) is distinct from higher
  education (HE)
• FE comprises all provision outside school for
  people aged 16 and over, up to GCE A level or
  equivalent exams. There are 500/600 FECs.
• Students study part-time or in the evening
• FE Colleges have strong links with industry and
  commerce, employers often being involved in the
  design of the courses, e.g. secretarial studies
  mechanical engineering.
• FEC also offer foundation courses for older
  students returning to study after years of
  working to gain qualification for entry of higher
  education

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A 4 Further Education Training YTS

• Objectives of Youth Training Scheme
• To give a training opportunity to school leavers
  who did not get a job or go on to university
• To ensure that these young people learn how to
  transfer the skills they learn in one job to
  another
• Education elements in the training are supplied
  by FECs
• Critiques 1. artificially reduce unemployment
  figures 2.reinforce young peoples status as
  determined by their class background
  3. jobs are not guaranteed after training

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End of Presentation