Britain’s System of Education The British Commonwealth incl

Btritain’s System of Education
   Good morning, everyone. Today we will talk about Britain’s system of education. As you know, Britain’s system of education is not easy to summarise. This is because there are relatively few laws governing how children are educated. The day-to-day running of schools is mainly organised by local education authorities, boards of governors and the individual head teachers.
   Britain is divided into a number of local government areas, local government is responsible for providing a number of services, such as hospitals, the maintenance of roads, the police force and education. The local education authority is responsible for providing schools, and pays for them with money from central government and with money raised from local taxes.
   Every state school has a board of governors. This board is made up of representatives of the local education authority, teachers and parents. They decide on the policies of their school and have some control over the selection of teacher and other staff.
   Within the school, the head teacher, sometimes called the headmaster or headmistress, is in charge of the teaching and administration and often leads school assemblies and other meetings of the school.
   There are certain laws which all local education authorities and schools have to obey:
   All children should attend full-time education between the ages of five and sixteen, and this education should be free, unless parents choose to send their children to a private school.
   All schools should provide religious instruction, though parents have the right to refuse to allow their children to at tend.
   All schools should provide education in certain basic subjects: mathematics, English and science, as wen as history., geography, technology, music, art, physical education and ( at secondary schools) a foreign language.
   Everything not covered by these laws is decided by the local education authority and the head teacher.
   There are many different types of school in England and Wales. However, schools fit into three main systems.
   The comprehensive system:
   The majority of children, about ninety-three percent, go to state schools -- schools which are nm by the state, through the local education authority, and which do not charge school fees. Of these children, more than ninety percent go to schools in the comprehensive system, introduced in the 1960s. Fairham Community College, the school in this programme, is a comprehensive school. Children go to a primary school at the age of five.
   Depending on the policy of the local education authority, they may go directly to the upper school -- usually called the comprehensive school -- at the age of eleven, when they begin their Secondary education. Alternatively, they may spend some time at a middle school before going to the upper school.
   The comprehensive is non-selective. This means that all children go from one school to another without taking any exams, and without being selected according to their abilities.
   The selective system:
   A small number of local education authorities still provide a type of selective education, a system which was originally introduced in 1944. Under the selective system, all children go to a primary school until the age of eleven; they then take the eleven-plus examination. Those who pass continue to a grammar school, where they receive a more academic education. Those who fail to go to a secondary modem school, where they receive an education which is vocational rather than academic -- it is intended to train them for a job when they leave at the age of sixteen.
   The private system:
   Only seven percent of children go to private schools. There are three levels of private school: pre-preparatory schools; preparatory schools; and public schools. In order to gain entrance to public schools, children leaving preparatory school have to pass an examination known as Common Entrance. Many preparatory and most public schools arc boarding schools: the children live at the school during the school terms.
   Even within one geographical area or one of three systems, there can be a wide variety of schools, for instance: all boys’schools; all girls’schools; mixed schools and voluntary schools. Voluntary schools often have a religious back ground, such as Roman Catholic or Church of England schools. These are usually paid for from public money but founded by a voluntary organisation.