Task. Read and translate the text.

The above-mentioned lack of uniformity manifests itself in a variety of types of schools providing secondary education: the system of secondary schools in England and Wales is rather complicated. The majority of pupils attend non-selective comprehen­sive schools. These largely take pupils with­out reference to ability or aptitude and pro­vide a wide range of secondary education for all or most children in a district. Com­prehensive schools take pupils in the 11 to 18 age-range. In addition there are middle schools (from 8 to 12 or from 9 to 13), and also there are some parts of the country which have retained selection at the age of 11, after which a minority go to the more prestigious grammar schools (there remain today 166 grammar schools) and the ma­jority go to secondary modern schools.

Before 1965 a selective system of secon­dary education operated throughout Eng­land. Under that system a child of 11 had to take an exam (known as "an 11-plus") which consisted of intelligence tests cover­ing linguistic, mathematical and general knowledge and which was to be taken by children in the last year of primary school­ing. The object was to select between aca­demic and non-academic children. Those who did well in the examination went on to a grammar school, while those who failed went to a secondary modern school or tech­nical college. Grammar schools prepared children for national examinations such as the General Certificate of Education (GCE) at ordinary and advanced levels. These examinations qualified children for the better jobs, and for higher education. The edu­cation in secondary modern schools was based on practical schooling, which would allow entry into various skilled and unskilled jobs.

Many people complained that it was wrong for a person's future to be decided at so young an age. The children who went to "secondary moderns" were seen as "fail­ures". Moreover, it was noticed that the children who passed this exam were almost all from middle-class families. The Labour party, among other critics, argued that the 11-plus examination was socially divisive, increasing the inequalities between rich and poor and reinforcing the class system.

When the Labour party returned to power, the government in 1965 abolished the 11-plus and tried to introduce the non-selective education system in the form of comprehensive schools, that would provide schooling for children of all ability levels and from all social backgrounds, ideally under one roof. The final choice between selective and non -selective schooling, though, was left to Local Education Autho­rities that controlled the provision of school education in the county. Some authorities decided for comprehensives, while others retained grammar schools and secondary moderns.

When the Conservative government came to power in 1979 it found that the British educational system was not responsive to the rapidly changing economic and social conditions in the country. Drastic steps were to be undertaken to bring the level of edu­cation in line with modern economic con­ditions. Therefore new legislation was passed giving the government powers to exercise greater influence over what happens in schools. The 1988 Education Act legislated a National Curriculum and a system of National Assessment at the ages of 7, 11, and 14, using attainment targets which all children should normally be expected to reach at these different ages in different subjects — especially in English, mathemat­ics and science.

In addition, other major changes were made to establish greater control over the organization and content of education. Schools were given the right to decide whether to remain as LEA-maintained schools or to "opt-out" of the control of the LEA and put themselves directly under the control of the government department in London. These "grant-maintained" schools (GMS) were financed directly by central government. The government also significantly reduced the power of local authorities by transferring the management of schools from the LEA to the schools themselves (known as the "local man­agement of schools" or LMS). Other im­portant initiatives of the government were the encouragement of business represen­tatives (future employers) on governing bo­dies of schools and a range of measures which gave employers a greater say in the purposes which the schools were expected to serve.

The above-mentioned changes, reflecting the new-philosophy, were criticized as edu­cation was more and more managed as part of the drive to be more economically com­petitive. There appeared the new language of education that was drawn from an en­tirely different activity, that of business and management: the language of control, de­livery, inputs and outputs, performance in­dicators, defining products testing against product specification, etc. This was the lan­guage obviously inappropriate to the devel­opment of thinking, enquiring, imagination, creativity and so on. In this managerial "philosophy", the relationship between teacher and learner was understood and interpreted as "delivering a service". The role of the teacher in this context is re­duced to that of a "technician" of some­one else's curriculum.

The present-day Labour government, who generally stands in favour of decentralization and devolution, believes that local au­thorities understand local conditions better and that they are more directly responsible to the parents for the children they edu­cate. Thus, new legislation was passed to restore the pre-1980s arrangement. Under the 1998 School Standards and Framework Act, from 1 September 1999 all state school education is again provided by Local Edu­cation Authorities with the ending of the separate category of grant-maintained sta­tus.

A comparatively recent development in education has been grant-maintained or voluntary-aided secondary schools, called "city technology colleges" (CTCs). In 1999 there were 15 CTCs in England. These are non-fee-paying independent secondary schools created by a partnership of govern­ment and private sector sponsors (which means that they are outside LEA control). The promoters own or lease the schools, employ teachers, and make substantial con­tributions to the costs of building and equip­ment. The colleges teach the National Cur­riculum, but with an emphasis on mathe­matics, technology and science.

There should also be mentioned another type of schools, called "specialist schools". The specialist schools programme in Eng­land was launched in 1993. Specialist schools are state secondary schools specializing in technology, science and mathematics; mod­ern foreign languages; sport; or the arts — in addition to providing the full National Curriculum.

State schools are absolutely free (includ­ing all textbooks and exercise books) and generally co-educational.

Under the National Curriculum far greater emphasis at the secondary level is laid on science and technology. Accordingly, ten subjects have to be studied: English, his­tory, geography, mathematics, science, a modern foreign language (at secondary le­vel), technology (including design), music, art, and physical education (PE). For spe­cial attention there were chosen three of these subjects (called "core subjects"): Eng­lish, science, mathematics (and sometimes, in the secondary schools, a foreign lan­guage). Seven other subjects are called "foundation" or "statutory subjects".¹ Be­sides, these and other subjects are grouped into departments and teachers work in teams to plan work.

Most common departments in compre­hensive schools across the country are: - Humanities Department: geography, me­dia studies, history, economics, English literature, drama, PE, social science;

-Science Department: chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics;

-Language Department: German, French, English language;

-Craft Design and Technology Department: information and communications techno­logy, computing, home economics, and photography.

The latter department (often known as CDTD) brings together the practical sub­jects like cooking, woodwork, needlework and metalwork with the new technology used in those fields. Students might design a T-­shirt on computer using graphics software and make up the T-shirt design. Students might also look at ways to market their prod­uct, thus linking all disciplines. This sub­ject area exemplifies the approach to learn­ing introduced by the National Curricu­lum.

Preparing young people for adult life means not only preparing him or her for economic competition. Schools are re­quired to prepare them for living the life of a good citizen, of a father or mother, of involvement in social and political activi­ty. Schools have responded with pro­grammes of social education, citizenship and parenthood, sometimes called "Per­sonal and Social Education" (PSE) or "pas­toral" care. Education in areas related to life skills include, among other things, look­ing at drug abuse, discussing physical changes related to puberty, sex education and relationships. There are usually one or two lessons a week, from primary school through to sixth form, and they form an essential part of the school's aim to pre­pare students for life in society.

Education in Britain is not solely con­centrated on academic study. Great value is placed on visits and activities like organizing the school club or field trips, which are educational in a more general sense. The organization of these activities by teach­ers is very much taken for granted in the British school system. Some teachers give up their free time, evenings and even week­ends to do this "unpaid" work. At Christ­mas teachers organise concerts, parties and general festivities. It is also considered a good thing to be "seen" to be doing this extra work since it is fairly essential for se­curing promotion in the school hierarchy.

Classes of pupils are called "forms" (though it has recently become common to refer to "years") and are numbered in se­condary school from one to six, beginning with first form. Nearly all schools work a five-day week, and are closed on Saturdays. The day starts at about nine o'clock with three hours of lessons (divided by short breaks) in the morning and two more hours of lessons after the lunch break. School normally finishes between three and four, for younger children the day is shorter. The lunch break or "dinner hour" usually lasts about an hour-and-a-quarter. Nearly two-thirds of pupils have cheap meals provided by the school. Parents pay for this, except for the 15% who are rated poor enough and have it for free. Other children either go home for lunch or take sandwiches.

Instead of one very long holiday in the summer with very short breaks at other times, as in the rest of Europe, English schools usually divide their year into three "terms", starting at the beginning of Sep­tember (see Table 1).

 

 

Table 1

 

 

Passage from one year to the next one is automatic. At the age of 14 pupils are test­ed in English, maths and science, as well as in statutory subjects.

"Streaming", i. e. dividing pupils into dif­ferent groups according to ability, is practiced in many schools. A few Local Educa­tion Authorities still send bright children to one school and slow learners to another (to a grammar school and a secondary mod­ern school, respectively), but now that the vast majority of schools are comprehensive (i. e. accept children of all abilities) the decisions have to be made within the schools. Very few teachers believe that it is possible to educate children of all abilities together if some are going to study advanced mathematics, for example. On the other hand, few teachers want to go back to rigid streaming where children were kept apart, and those at the bottom were always at the bottom. Rigid streaming is considered re­actionary in England and unfair to children who are denied opportunities for educational advancement because they are put into cat­egories at an early age. However, it is eas­ier to organise special help for slower chil­dren if they are all together in one group. And clever children like to work with clever children. So the schools are always facing a dilemma. The most common solution is to organise children into both classes of mixed ability and groups of similar ability, and to organise timetables in which they are mov­ing between classes and groups.

When they reach the age of 14—15, in the 3rd or 4th form, pupils begin to choose their exam subjects (called subject "op­tions") and work for two years to prepare for their General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) qualifications. The exams are usually taken in the 5th form at the age of 16, which is a school-leaving age. Russian schoolchildren sometimes believe that life in British schools must be wonder­ful because pupils decide for themselves what they are going to study. Life is not quite so simple! The GCSE must be taken in "core subjects", plus three, four or five other subjects (usually chosen in discussion with teachers, from a list). But there is no "free choice" because of the timetables and demands for a coherent education. One of the subjects must be practical, another must be part of "social studies" — geography, history, etc. Academic pupils will be able to choose mostly academic subjects, those who find school work more difficult can concen­trate on practical and technical subjects.

The actual written (and sometimes prac­tical) exams (sometimes two papers in each subject) are set by independent examina­tion boards, and are marked anonymously by outside examiners, though they must be approved by the government and comply with national guidelines. There are several examination boards in Britain and each school decides which board's exam its pu­pils take.

Most exams last for two hours; marks are given for each exam separately. There is a complicated (and changing) system of mark­ing. Exams are usually marked out of 100, and then are "converted" into grades from A to G (grades A, B, C are considered to be "good" marks). This means that there is far less subjective impression of whether this or that pupil deserves a good mark or a not-so-good mark.

TEXT 4

OXBRIDGE

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