British education helps us to develop fully the abilities of individuals, for their own benefit and of society as a whole. Compulsory schooling takes place between the agers of 5 and 16, but some pupils remain at shool for 2 years more, to prepare for further higher education. Post shool education is organized flaxebly, to provide a wide range of opportunities for academic and vacational education and to continue studying through out life.
Administration of state schools is decentralised. The department of education and science is responsible for national education policy, but it doesn't run any schools, if doesn't employ teachers, or prescribe corricular or textbooks. All shools are given a considerable amount of freedom. According to the law only one subject is compulsary. That is religious instruction.
Children recieve preschool education under the age of 5 in nursery schools or in infant's classes in primary schools.
Most pupils receive free education finenst from public fonds and the small proportions attend schools wholy independent. Most independent schools are single-sex, but the number of mixing schools is growing.
Education within the mantained schools system usually comprises two stages: primary and secondary education. Primary schools are subdevided into infant schools (ages 5 - 7), and junior schools (ages 7 - 11). Infant schools are informal and children are encouraged to read, write and make use of numbers and develop the creative abilities. Primary children do all their work with the same class teacher exept for PT and music. The work is beist upon the pupils interests as far as possible.
The junior stage extence over four years. Children have set pirits of arithmetic, reading, composition, history, geography nature study and others. At this stage of schooling pupils were often placed in A, B, C and D streams according their abilities. The most able children were put in the A stream, the list able in the D stream. Till reccantly most junior shool children had to seat for the eleven-plus examination. It usually consisted of an arithmetic paper and an entelligent test. According to the results of the exam children are sent to Grammar, Technical or Secondary modern schools. So called comprehansive schools began to appear after World War 2. They are muchly mixed schools which can provide education for over 1000 pupils. Ideally they provide all the courses given in Grammar, Technical and Secondary modern schools.
By the law all children must receive full-time education between the ages of 5 and 16. Formally each child can remain a school for a further 2 or 3 years and continue his studies in the sixth form up to the age of 18 or 19. The course is usually subdevided into the lower 6 and the upper 6. The corricular is narrowed to 5 subjects of which a pupil can choose 2 or 3.
The main examinations for secondary school pupils are general certeficate of education (the GCE) exam and certificate of secondary education (the CSE) exam. The GSE exam is held at two levels: ordinary level (0 level) and advanced level (A level).
Candidats set for 0 level papers at 15 - 16 years away. GCE level is usually taken at the end on the sixth form. The CSE level exam is taken after 5 years of secondary education by the pupils who are of everage abilities of their age.
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