The UK School System: An overview of the way it is now

After nursery school, which isn’t compulsory, but for which parents may receive financial help, students start school on or around their fifth birthday.

From 2013, the school leaving age will be 18, not 16.

Primary schools

• Children start school on or just before their fifth birthday

• National tests at ages 7 and 11 in English, Maths and Science.

mainstreamschools

Overview of secondary schools (11-18)

GCSE Exams• GCSE exams mark the end of compulsory

schooling (age 16). • Students take one or two qualifications for each

subject studied. • Typically, pupils may leave school with around 8

GCSEs. It depends on the pupil and the school. • Getting 5 GCSEs between grades A*-C opens

many doors for students in Further Education. • Schools are judged in their pupils’ performance in

GCSE exams, and results are published in league tables.

Post-16 education

• Many secondary schools have sixth forms – they run courses for students aged 16-18, but some do not.

• At the age of 16, pupils can choose to:– Leave school and find work– Continue study at their school, if it has a sixth

form– Continue study at another school– Go to a Further Education College

Post-16 study options

• A-levelsStudents must have

achieved 5 A*-C grades at GCSEs. They should achieve a B or above in the subjects they want to study.

Usually, students take 4 subjects in the first year, and 3 in the second year.

• Vocational qualifications

These include: GNVQs, BTECs, NVQs, and the new diplomas, some of which may replace A-levels.

Sometimes students repeat some GCSEs, or go onto A-levels later.

University degrees

Teacher trainingAll teachers must have QTS (Qualified Teacher Status). There are many

different routes to QTS:

• Undergraduate– BEd (Bachelor of

Education). – Some primary teachers

may train this way, but there are few secondary courses.

• PostgraduateMost teachers,

particularly secondary teachers, take a BA/BSc/further degree in a subject of their choice, then take post-graduate training:– PGCE– GTP– SCITT

Postgraduate teacher training

Teaching qualifications in relation to other university degrees

PGCEs at this level

BEd

Education since Labour(1997)

Encouraging people to become teachers

• Bursaries and golden hellos were introduced to encourage people to become teachers in shortage subjects (e.g. English, Maths, Science, Modern Languages).

• Maths and Science teachers are in especially short supply, so those bursaries are more lucrative.

• These bursaries are now less generous as the shortages are said to be less severe.

Inclusion• The policy of, where possible, including children with

Special Educational Needs in mainstream education. This is to allow children with SEN to better integrate in society, and is part of the comprehensive ethos.

• More Teaching Assistants employed to work with students in class.

• Some special schools have closed. • Some parents argue that they would prefer to send

their children to a special school, where they may receive more specialised teaching and progress better.

• Cynics argue that Teaching Assistants are cheaper than specialist teachers and that inclusion is a cost-cutting exercise.

GCSE Achievement• Schools are increasingly judged on how many of

their students achieve 5 GCSEs graded A*-C (“good” passes) at age 16, the end of compulsory education.

• Results are published every year, and league tables are also produced, so parents can see how local schools perform.

• Lower exam results may mean that schools become less popular, and therefore lose their prestige, and extra funding (e.g. for being a specialist school, which only high-achieving schools can be).

• If a school has a sudden dip in exam results, this can trigger an Ofsted inspection.

Why is this controversial?

• Some schools have been accused of manipulating their figures by entering students for ‘easier’ subjects, or not entering them for the exam if they are unlikely to get a ‘C’ grade.

• Schools are now judged on how many of their students get 5A*-C grades in subjects including English and Maths, which can mean more emphasis on these subjects.

• More attention is given to the exam year group, so other year groups aren’t given so many resources (including A-level students).

• There is a lot of pressure on staff and students to achieve these grades.

• Some argue: isn’t there more to school than exams?

Academies

• The Academies scheme aims to turn failing schools (generally secondary schools) into successful ones by:

• Making them independent from local government patrol

• Having them sponsored by an outside organisation – a company, a church, another school, a university

• The academies can make their own policies and decide their own budgets

Diplomas

• Diplomas started in 2009. They are designed to replace GCSEs and A-levels and are more practical and applied.

• The government wants diplomas to be accepted by universities as alternatives to A-levels, but some universities are refusing to do this, saying they are unproven and may lack rigour.

PFI – Private Finance Initiative

• PFI Schemes are where new school buildings are funded by private companies. The school sells some land to the private company, and in return, gets a new building. It does not own the building, however. It leases new building from the company.

Up to the 1960s The 1960s The 1980s

1997-present – we’ll cover this in class

Take several pages of your notebook and set up a timeline summarising the key events in the UK education system

Use the information on your handout for these parts