Contents

Introduction 2

Historical outline 3

The New Look 4

The Private Sector 7

Public Examination System 8

Schools 10

Teachers 12

Further Education 13

Higher Education 15 
 
 

     “One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year....... It is in fact nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside form stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom.” 

     Albert Einstein

     “The English education system is decentralized, untidy and, compared with European systems, unique in its relative freedom from control by the central government.” 

     A. Griffiths Secondary School Reorganization in England and Wales Routledge & Kegan Paul, London 1971

     “In a country situated politically and socially as England is, Government has, ordinarily speaking, no educational duties, except towards those whom destitution, vagrancy, or crime casts upon its hands.” 

     Newcastle Report 1861

     "Education is too important to be left in the hands of the teachers"

     Kenneth Baker, Minister of Education

Introduction

     Because education is concerned not only with teaching basic skills but also with passing on the culture and values of society it often becomes a burning political issue, particularly in times of rapid political or social change and uncertainty. What is taught in the classroom, how it is taught and how success and failure are measured are all influenced by political considerations.

     The government of the day controls education in Britain ( as it does in Sweden). either directly through Acts of Parliament or indirectly through the orchestration of public opinion. As Britain is a liberal democracy the government also responds to - or at least takes note of - the will of the people expressed mainly in the mass media.

     A successful and acceptable education policy is particularly difficult to enact. This was especially true in the latter half of the twentieth century. The fact that everyone has experienced some form of education makes everyone an expert, and a biased one at that. Convictions based on individual experience and prejudice are not always a sound foundation on which to build government policies. It is also difficult in the “post-modern world” of shifting values for governments to formulate policies that will ensure that children receive the kind of education that will fit them for “life”. 

Historical outline

     Education, of course, has always existed in Britain in some form. In the Middle Ages particularly from the fourteenth century onwards there were all kinds of schools to be found which gave their pupils an elementary education. There were small informal schools run in parish churches by parish clerks and schools attached to various religious foundations such as cathedrals, chantries and monasteries. The craft guilds educated their apprentices (as shown in the picture) and there were also guild schools in addition to preparatory schools for grammar schools and grammar schools themselves, such as the one in Stratford-upon-Avon which Shakespeare attended.

     There were also private foundations such as Eton College founded by Henry VI in 1440 and "Seinte Marie College of Winchestre" established in 1382 by William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, so that pupils could have a proper grounding in Latin before they went on to one of the colleges in Oxford.

     Oxford, first mentioned as a centre of learning in 1163, was soon well established. Cambridge became the second centre of learning when a group broke away from Oxford to set up their own their own institution in 1229. By the middle of the 13th century both were doing so well that they considered themselves second only to Paris. At this point the first colleges - University College, Oxford in 1249 and Peterhouse, Cambridge in 1284 - were formally established. These and other Oxford and Cambridge colleges were initially founded as seminaries for the Church where the sons of poor men could receive an education that would fit them for a life of service to the Church and the state.

     At this time the kings of England relied on the church to provide “clerks”  who, because they could read and write - unlike most of the kings and nobility - could deal with the day-to-day administration of the state.

     By the sixteenth century, however, they had become more like finishing schools for the sons of the gentry reflecting a wider change in society as the administration of the state moves out of the hands of the church into that of the landed gentry.

     It is interesting to note that the link between Oxford and Cambridge and the government of the country that was established so early on remains to this day.

The New Look

     It was not to be expected that major changes to such a fundamental thing as a state education system could be achieved without friction and the new Acts did generate a great deal of tension. Education is often a major political issue and as such is subject to constant change and re-evaluation. What is a burning issue today becomes a generally accepted and uncontroversial position tomorrow. Much of what was controversial has now become normal practice but a great deal of bitterness and conflict was generated. OFSTED inspections particularly caused a great deal of strain among teachers and even now are the subject of serious debate.

     Many teachers felt that the government had undermined their professional status and had seriously damaged the state system of education to further its political philosophy. Teaching almost lost the status of a profession and became merely one of many skilled occupations and certainly not one of the highest paid or most prestigious. In 1979 teachers' salaries were 37% higher than the average white-collar wage by 1990 they had fallen below it.

     Those teachers who belonged to a union - there are five teachers' unions - also found themselves confronting the government's policy of curbing the power of the trades unions. There was a very long period of industrial action between 1984 and 1987 which resulted in new laws governing teachers' pay and conditions, under which teachers lost the right to negotiate with the government about salary levels. In addition teachers were to work a stated number of hours , 1255 each year according to a contract, all teachers were to be appraised and increased incentive allowances were to be awarded to "good" teachers.

     The tone of these changes upset many teachers who felt that they were being treated like naughty children who could not be trusted to do a job properly. While there were of course some lazy teachers most of them worked many hours of overtime outside the classroom organizing such things as football matches, various clubs and societies and trips abroad, often without extra pay. The attitude of the Government, implicit in the 1987 Act, alienated many of those working in state education and was not the best foundation on which to build a new system. In the years following 1987 teachers' pay increases were barely above the inflation level while the managers of industry awarded themselves 28% increases. The message was clear!

     There was a feeling that too much stress was placed on those achievements which are easily measurable at the expense of subjects which are important for the development of the pupils' personalities or ability to function in a social setting - which are not so easy to test and measure.

     Standard Assessment Tests at the ages of 7,11 and 14 took a lot of preparation and administration time. Many parents were unhappy with the idea of testing 7-year-olds. The designing, organization and marking of tests seemed to become a major industry with a life of its own.

     There was also a feeling that the overall aim was to make the state system as much like the private system as possible in its methods , aims and objectives.

     At the same time education has been opened up for discussion and debate. Never before has so much information been available, in the visual media and in print, about exactly what goes on in schools.

     Wales

     Education in the principality of Wales is organized in the same way as in England with the addition that the study of Welsh is part of the national curriculum in state schools. There is also a Welsh focus given to other subjects such as history and geography. Very few schools in Wales have opted out of LEA control and there are only two sixth-form colleges. Thus most sixth-formers are educated in local authority schools. There does not seem to have been the same confrontation between professionals and politicians in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland as there has been in England.

     Scotland

     The state system of education in Scotland has always been different in organization from that in England. It was one way in which Scottish independence has been preserved. Scotland was not enthusiastic about Thatcherism and there was less dissatisfaction with the schools.

     Scotland has the smallest overall pupil teacher ratios and the highest proportion of 16-year-olds continuing their education - over three-quarters in 1990/91, much higher than elsewhere in the United Kingdom.The national curriculum does not apply to Scotland and parents have the legal right to withdraw their children from testing at aged 8 and 12. So far no school has opted out of local education authority control but the government has plans to reform local government to break up Strathclyde and Lothian , the power bases of the Labour Party in Scotland. Teachers, and others, in England particularly see in Scotland a more balanced and successful system functioning with much less strain and stress than in their own part of the UK.

     Since Scotland became more independent with the devolution of certain government powers from London to the Scottish Parliament they have continued with their own educational ideas.

     Northern Ireland

     In Northern Ireland the integration of the Catholic and Protestant communities has been the central idea behind educational reform. The province has kept the system which selects pupils at secondary level with an examination at 11+ which may explain why it has the best examination results at 18 and a relatively high proportion of pupils who leave school without any qualifications at all. The Province has its own common curriculum designed to promote tolerance and understanding between the religious groups.

     It includes six compulsory cross-curricular themes designed to teach children the differences between Protestants and Catholics and try to overcome divisions. Two of these themes are education for mutual understanding and cultural heritage. Pupils in Northern Ireland study six subject areas - English, maths, science and technology, environment and society, creative and expressive studies (art, music, crafts etc.) and languages - as opposed to the ten subjects that are taught in England and Wales. The syllabus for religious education has been drawn up by the four main churches The approach gives the teachers more flexibility and reflects the moves towards a broader curriculum that had already started in the Province before 1988. There is statutory testing at 8, after four years of schooling. The schools in the Province are controlled by area education boards (5 of them in 19993) which are funded by central government. Sixty per cent of the members of these boards are nominated by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Only schools where there is religious integration are allowed to opt out and as so few schools are integrated it is not surprising that by 1993 only five schools previously funded by the boards had opted out It has been claimed that under the present system Catholic schools are consistently underfunded but the boards themselves say that they are doing a great deal to further mutual understanding. Meanwhile expenditure per head on education is higher in Northern Ireland than in any other part of the UK - after Northern Ireland come Scotland, England and Wales in descending order.Everything has changed!

The Private Sector

     "The British Empire may have been won on

     the playing fields of our public schools, but

     industrial and commercial vitality is being

     lost there now."

     (Will Hutton The Guardian Monday May 17 1993)

     Private education in anything-but-public schools still plays a very important part in British society. While it is true that only a small proportion of children, around 7%, actually attend these schools their influence permeates all the institutions which exercise power in the country. It can and is argued that parents must have the right and freedom to choose the education they want for their children, and pay for it if necessary. But in Britain today parents who buy a place in a private school are buying a ticket to success.

     There are problems connected with this. Firstly the private schools are exclusive - they exclude those who cannot afford to pay fees and those who do not conform to their requirements, academically, socially or otherwise. These ex-pupils then go on to high-level jobs (most of them) involving making decisions affecting the whole of society while at the same time remaining an exclusive group, part of but at the same time separate from the rest of that society. This allows them, for example, as senior executives in the midst of a severe recession when pay rises for those lower down the ladder are severely restricted , to award themselves rises of 23%+. Such people can have little sense of belonging to the same society or of having obligations to their employees.

     Secondly it is arguable whether it is best for society that parental income should decide who is to be educated for leadership.

     Thirdly the private sector schools are "academic". They define their schooling in terms of examination successes - purely in these terms 177 of the "top" 200 schools are private. If this is to be the only measure of success most people in Britain are failures, technical qualifications have little status and anyone going to a state school is penalised. The kind of social apartheid, reinforced daily by watching the royal family and other high-status individuals and opinion-formers sending their children to private schools, created by this freedom of choice cannot be good for a culture of production and shared citizenship.

Public Examination System

     The British education system relies heavily on examinations - both public and within individual schools. Examinations are seen as the fairest way of selecting candidates for universities, jobs and rewards generally. When the government decided that admission to the civil service should be by public examination ( 1870) rather than, as it had been earlier, by influence or payment it was seen as an important move towards a more democratic society. When pupils had to be selected for limited numbers of places in grammar schools the obvious way to do it was through an examinations - in that case the 11+ exam.

     England, Wales and Northern Ireland

     Until 1987 there were two school-leaving examinations for 16-year-olds, the General Certificate of Education Ordinary-level (GCE O-level) for those who attended grammar schools or were more academic. Others took the Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE).

     From 1988 onwards these two examinations were merged into the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) usually taken after 5 years of secondary education.

     The GCSE is based on the national curriculum and has differentiated assessment i.e. different papers or questions for different ranges of ability and grade-related criteria i.e. grades are awarded on absolute rather than relative performance. There is a seven point grading scale from A, the highest grade, to G. There is also an A* grade for outstanding papers. In the UK in 1994-5 94% of all pupils achieved one or more graded GCSE results.

     In Wales the examination at 16 is called the Certificate of Education and closely resembles the GCSE.

     Those pupils who want to continue their education after 16 can either go to a further education college or stay on in the sixth form of the secondary school. In either place they will take Advanced-level examinations after two-year courses in three or four subjects. This examination is used to select students for university places. It is graded on a seven-point scale from A to E with N as a narrow failure and U as unclassified. It was felt in the 1980s that 16-18-year-olds had too narrow an education so a new examination was introduced, the Advanced Supplementary level (AS-level), corresponding to about half an A-level course and graded A to E.

     A-level is an important examination for a young person's future. Because education is such a political issue in the UK the government is constantly making changes and adjustments.

     Scotland

     Scotland has its own system of examinations. After four years of secondary education, at around the age of 16, pupils take the Scottish Certificate of Education. This is an examination for all types of ability - academic and more practical and is marked according to national standards of performance. Most pupils take seven or eight Standard grade examinations.

     The Higher grade of the Scottish Certificate of Education is taken one year after Standard grade, when pupils are about 17, and usually in four subjects. In their sixth year of secondary education pupils can take a Certificate of Sixth Year Studies to deepen their existing knowledge or a vocational National certificate - similar to the GNVQs in England and Wales. New courses are currently being developed.

Schools

     There are around 29,000 state schools in Britain, that is schools maintained from public funds; 2,000 schools for pupils with special needs and 2,400 fee-paying independent schools.

     There are about 9.5 million pupils, of whom about 6-7 % are in independent schools.

     The school-leaving age is 16 and about 71% continue to study after that.

     Many secondary schools require their pupils to wear school uniforms.

     Corporal punishment was abolished in state schools in 1986.

     Schools in England and Wales

     Ordinary State Schools

     are controlled by the Local Education Authorities and the exact arrangement of schools can vary from authority to authority. There was a lack of state pre-school provision but the new Labour Government is doing something about that.

     Voluntary Schools

     are funded partly by the religious groups and partly by the LEAs. Muslims want their schools to be included in this group but so far only Christian schools can be voluntary schools.

     City Technology Colleges

     are a new idea paid for by central government and private sector sponsors. The LEAs are not involved. The schools teach the national curriculum but with emphasis on mathematics, technology and science.

     Grant- maintained Schools

     have “opted out” of LEA control and get their money direct from central government. About 18% of secondary schools in England and 5% in Wales have GM status. GM schools are run by a Governing Body consisting of representatives of parents, teachers and members of the local community. These schools choose their pupils themselves.

     Independent Schools

     Independent schools range from small kindergartens up to large day or boarding schools and from experimental schools to the most traditional institutions. They receive no money from the state but are inspected to see that they meet certain minimum state requirements. They get their money from fees which can be as little as £300 and as much as £4000+a term. The so-called public schools are those which belong to the Headmasters' Conference, the Governing Bodies Association or the Governing Bodies of Girls' Schools Association. The Labour Party has been traditionally opposed to private education and , when in opposition, wanted to phase it out. However, now they are in government and have a leader who was privately educated they seem to be having second thoughts. Many people are also opposed to the idea that the state should have a monopoly on education and choice is seen as a prerogative of a democratic society.

     Scotland

     Most schools (3,704 in 1996) are publicly maintained schools run by boards consisting of elected parents and staff members and co-opted members.

     Only two schools in Scotland “opted out” of local authority control and will soon be returned to their original status.

     There are 115 independent schools in Scotland.

     Northern Ireland

     There are four types of publicly funded schools:

     *Controlled schools (660) - owned by the education and library boards, financed completely from public funds

     * Voluntary maintained schools (550) - mostly owned by the Roman Catholic Church but funded wholly or partly from the state

     *Voluntary Grammar Schools (53) which may be either Roman Catholic controlled or non-denominational are funded from the Department of Education for Northern Ireland

     * Integrated Schools (32 taking about 2% of the school population) with financing from central government (DENI)

     As part of the peace process there has been a concerted effort to introduce more mixed faith schools.

Teachers

     Teachers in state schools must have Qualified Teacher Status. They can get this either by doing a four-year Bachelor of Education (BEd) honours degree or by doing a three-year degree course followed by a one-year Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) course. Most teacher training has been moved out of universities and colleges to the schools. This was partly a result of the Conservative government's suspicion of the teaching profession and the feeling that the universities were undermining the policies they were trying to put into practice. Groups of schools can now apply for funds to run their own teacher training courses. All those who provide teacher training have to be accredited by the http://www.canteach.gov.uk/ which also provides the necessary funds.

     The TTA is one of the quangos which has acquired a great deal of power and is an example of how such power has moved from diverse institutions (universities, colleges) to one unit tightly controlled by central government.

     In England and Wales teachers are also now formally appraised to assist professional development, strengthen the management of schools and improve the quality of education.

     Many teachers experienced the situation in the schools in the 80s and 90s as stressful and a great number took early retirement. In the past few years things have improved but there is still a problem recruiting teachers. 

     No one who has a criminal record can become a teacher in a state school. From August 2002 everyone who works in a school must have proof that they do not have such a record.

     Those who teach in independent schools do not need to have qualified teacher status.

Further Education

     England and Wales

     Further education is the provision of education outside school for people over the age of 16 and is funded by central government by the Further Education Funding Council. Much of the education provided is vocational and is closely linked with business and commerce in the area. Many of the students study on part-time courses or day-release or block release. Day-release means that they are freed from their jobs for part of a day or sometimes several days a week to study - so they study and work at the same time.  

     Block-release is when people are freed from their jobs completely for a period of time to enable them to study. The qualifications obtained are NVQs (National Vocational Qualifications) and other examinations concerned with practical and professional competence.

     There are about 480 further education institutions in England and Wales with 743,00 full-time and sandwich-course students and about 850,00 part-time day students on further education courses.

     Apart from ordinary vocational courses there are special FE colleges which offer training in such things as the performing arts. One of these, the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, shown in the picture, has taken over a Jewish synagogue and adapted it to its requirements. There are many special FE colleges for music, art etc.

     Check out Newham College to see the kinds of courses these institutions offer.

     Scotland

     The further education colleges in Scotland have their own boards of management and are funded at the moment by the Scottish Office. The qualifications, which are similar to those in England and Wales, are awarded by the Scottish Qualifications Authority. Some of the courses are modular and work-based and range from immediately post-16 courses up to postgraduate or post-experience levels. A Record of Education and Training for each student has been introduced to provide a single certificate to show what courses or modules have been completed.

     There are 45 further education institutions in Scotland with 31,000 full-time and sandwich-course students and about 195,000 students on non-advanced vocational courses.

     Northern Ireland

     At the moment the Education and Library Boards control the colleges of further education but from 1 April 1998 these institutions will become self-governing (as in the rest of the UK) and funding will be direct from the Department for Education Northern Ireland. The courses will be of the same type as in England and Wales and the qualifications will be administered by the same examining boards.

     There are 17 institutions of further education with 21,000 full-time students and almost 52,00 part-time students on non-advanced courses.

Higher Education

     Higher education consists of degree courses, or their equivalent, usually given at a university.

     There are at present 88 universities in the UK including one private university (Buckingham) and one devoted entirely to distance learning (the Open University). Until the 19th century there were only six universities, Oxford, Cambridge and the four ancient Scottish universities - St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. London University was the first new university to be founded, in 1836, and following the pattern of Oxbridge (Oxford and Cambridge) it was organized in colleges. Today it is one of the largest in the UK with over 30 colleges scattered all over London and the Home Counties.

     Like schools, universities in the UK are ranked according to a set of criteria involving publishing, research, graduate and undergraduate courses. The funding they receive depends on their ranking. Newspapers have also published ranking lists “to help you pick your way through the higher education maze”. 

     Expansion of the universities

     In the 19th century many of the newly rich industrial cities wanted to mark their civic pride by building universities. The universities came to be known as Redbrick - a derogatory term referring to the fact that these new institutions were built of red brick rather than stone - like the Oxbridge colleges.

     There followed another period of expansion in the 1960s when seven more universities were established. Several of them were built in historic market towns and named after counties e.g. the University of East Anglia at Colchester. They sounded like characters out of a Shakespeare play and so came to be known as the Shakespearean Seven.

     The 1960s also saw the establishment of Colleges of Advanced Technology, which later became Polytechnics and, from 1992 onwards, universities on the same footing as the other universities. As a result of this change many cities in Britain now have two or even three universities.

     The buildings erected in the 60s and 70s were not always very beautiful nor did they wear well.

     The universities saw further changes under the Conservative governments of the `80s and early `90s. Overall the number of students increased and there are now about 1,150,000 full-time students and 600,000 part-time students including those studying distance-learning courses with the Open University. However, there was no corresponding increase in funding, in fact some universities saw their budgets cut by more than a third.

     At the same time the government increased its control over the universities by changing the methods of funding so that money could be directed to those subjects, such as technology, which the government thought were important and away from less “productive” subjects such as classics. The 1988 Education Act created the Universities Funding Council, a government appointed quango, with the power to attach terms and conditions to the provision of funds.

     Students

     If you want to apply for a university place to do a first degree course you have to do so through the University and Colleges Admission Services in the spring before you want to start your studies. UCAS sends the forms on to the universities you have applied for in descending order. The universities themselves choose which students they will have according to their own criteria. If you are accepted by your first choice the process stops. If not, ACAS send your form on to your second choice, and so on. What you are offered by the university, sometimes after an interview, is a provisional place.

     Hence you will be offered a place provided that you get two grade As and a grade B in the A - level examinations. Not everyone gets the grades they need to take up their places and just after the A-level results come out there is a special service to help would-be students find places and university departments find students.

     Most first degree students used to receive some sort of grant from the LEAs. The exact amount depended on the parents' or spouse's income - in other words, it was means tested. In 1998 all student grants were abolished by the Labour Government and replaced by student loans, administered by banks with the interest rate linked to inflation. Recently there has been a move to bring back a system of grants as the loan system discouraged working-class people from applying for university places. This situation was not heöped by the fact that the universities started to charge tuition fees in 1998. This was very unpopular. 

     Student life at a British university is a little different from Sweden. Most students are younger as generally people go straight from school at 18 to university, although recently it has become fashionable to take a year out to travel or work before starting university studies.

     There also tends to be less teaching - which is expensive - and more reading and studying on your own.

     Many universities have close links with industry and the Government is encouraging universities to cooperate closely with industry on research. Today there are more than 50 science parks set up by higher education institutions together with industrial scientists and technologists where the development and commercial application of advanced technology are promoted. There are, so far, no Arts Parks!

     When you pass your final examinations and are awarded your degree you “graduate”. Usually there is a big ceremony in early summer each year where the new graduates wear “academic dress” and receive their degree - an impressive certificate - from the hands of the vice-chancellor in front of their admiring families.

Conclusion

     Education in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter with each of the countries of the United Kingdom having separate systems under separate governments: the UK Government is responsible for England, and the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Executive are responsible for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, respectively. While the systems in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are more similar, the Scottish system is quite different.

     The governments of England and Scotland are committed to providing a high quality education at all levels from primary schools to universities, and recognize the importance of education. They are still discussing changes now and there will be more changes to come. The English exams for 18 year olds - A levels - are likely to be replaced by a broader range of exams. The question of university funding is still changing.

     Over my lifetime there have been many changes. The school system is very different since I was at school. And, when I was a student I was lucky enough to get a free university education and grants not only for my BA but also for my doctorate. I hope that by making a career teaching in universities I have been able to repay for the education I received.