英国教育有3个相对独立的法定教育体系。英国教育部负责英格兰的各级各类教育、威尔士的继续教育和整个大不列颠的大学教育。威尔士的初、中等教育由威尔士国务大臣通过威尔士教育办公室管理。苏格兰教育部负责苏格兰的初、中等教育和继续教育等。北爱尔兰教育部负责本地区的初、中等教育、继续教育和大学教育。根据英国1944年通过的教育法，初、中等教育由地方教育委员会（Local EducationAuthorities）负责。有关教学内容的确定和教育政策的制定，地方教育委员会拥有相当大的自主权。

   与其他大多数国家一样，英国对16岁之前的孩子实行义务教育。初、中等教育经费几乎完全由国家从中央与地方税收中拨给。大部分支出在地方一级偿付，虽然地方收入约半数来自中央政府。按照1944年教育法，儿童在11岁参加考试（11-plus）。 在此基础上选派他们去文法学校（grammarschool），为将来的高等教育做准备，或到中等现代学校（secondarymodern school）。1964年工党政府按照全面培养的方针改革中等教育，即每所学校接受各种才能的学生。除北爱尔兰的中等教育仍保持选拔制度外，绝大多数儿童进入综合性学校（comprehensiveschool）。1989年，英国政府颁布了国家课程大纲 (National Curriculum)，决定加强对全国初、中等教育的管理。英国还为此还安排全国统考，并根据学生成绩为所有学校排列名次。

   与公立学校（state school）并行的有少数私立学校，它们为6％的英国儿童提供教育。预备学校（preparatoryschool）是英国的初等私立学校；中等私立学校常称为“公学”（publicschool）。英国的许多公学历史悠久, 并因其优质教学而名声卓著, 同时也因其贵族子女多而背上了排他和势利的恶名。公学男女分校，男校包括著名的伊顿、哈罗、威斯敏斯特和文切斯特公学；著名的女校有罗迪安和切尔滕汉姆女子学院。英国权势集团的大多数成员都曾就读于这类公学。

   从历史上说，英国大学是独立自治的，但因大学的开支相当一部分来自中央政府的拨款，所以两者之间保持比较密切的联系。牛津和剑桥大学（通常合称为Oxbridge）可追溯至12 和13 世纪, 而苏格兰的圣安德鲁大学、格拉斯哥大学、阿伯丁大学和爱丁堡大学也可追溯到14 和15 世纪。英国所有的其他大学都建立于19 和20 世纪。继续教育是指学生在16岁离校之后所接受的教育和培训。英国学生在16岁时均应参加普通中等教育证书考试，以决定他们继续学习什么，或者接受哪一种培训。英国政府负责提供大部分的继续教育课程，且制定了督学制度以确保继续教育的教学质量。一些私立学校也提供16岁之后的教育课程。

   尽管一系列教育改革促进了英国教育发展，资金短缺、基础设施老化、教师奇缺等问题仍困扰着英国的公立教育体系。国家课程大纲虽加强了对全国初、中等教育的管理，但在很大程度上限制了教师的自主性，进而导致学科成绩下降，在数学和科学等学科上落后于主要发达国家。

学银课程（Historical Background and Debates ）

学银课程（School System and Higher Education ）

学习要点（Learning Objectives）

(1)    Get somegeneral knowledge of British education system

(2)    Knowsomething about the school reforms in theUK

(3)    Understandthe current education problems in theUK

 

中心问题（Project）

How isthe British education system structured?

生词与词组（New Words and Expressions）

literacy             读写能力

universal            普遍的

compulsory          义务的

assembly            议会

certificate           证书

unprecedented        没有前例的

innovation           创新

answer to            向……负责

be supposed to do     应该

aptitude             才能

preparatory          预科的

prominent            重要的

aristocratic          贵族的

boarding            供膳宿的

budget              预算

curriculum           课程

polytechnic          理工专科学校

tutorial              个别指导

seminar             研讨班

recruitment          征兵，招生

accommodation       膳宿

dropout              辍学

autonomy            自治

vocational           职业的

crumble             崩溃

infrastructure         基础设施

deteriorate           恶化

注释\解释（Notes and Explanations）

GCSE --- The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is anacademic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in anumber of subjects by students aged 14–16 insecondary education inEngland,WalesandNorthern Ireland. GCSE exams wereintroduced as the compulsory school-leavers’ examinations in the late 1980s,replacing the Certificate of Secondary Education (CSE) and GCE Ordinary Level(O-Level) examinations.

University of Oxford --- It is a public university located in theUK, the second oldest survivinguniversity in the world and the oldest university in the English-speakingworld. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidenceof teaching there as far back as the 11th century. The University grew rapidlyfrom 1167 when Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris. League tables consistently list Oxford as one of theUK'sbest universities, and Oxfordconsistently ranks in the world's top 10.

University of Cambridge --- It is a public, research university located in Cambridge, the second-oldest university in bothEnglandand the English-speaking world and the seventh-oldest globally. The universitygrew out of an association of scholars in the city of Cambridgethat was formed in 1209 by scholars leaving Oxford after a dispute with townsfolk.Academically Cambridgeranks as one of the top universities in the world. Cambridgeregularly contends with Oxford for first placeinUKleague tables.

Eton College --- Eton College is a Britishindependent boarding school for boarding pupils aged between 13 to 18 years. Itis a large boys' school, with over 1,300 pupils, and was founded in 1440 byKing Henry VI. Eton has traditionally been referred to as "the chief nurseofEngland'sstatesmen", and has been described as the most famous public school in theworld.

State Education

State education isprimarily composed of two main stages: primary up to the age of eleven, andsecondary from eleven to eighteen. The primary stage is subdivided, with theperiod between five and seven years being generally called “infants”.Sometimes, in small communities, a single school contains primary and secondaryclasses, but usually the primary and secondary schools are separate from eachother.

State laws provide a general frameworkwithin which the schools operate and the central government provides a largepart of the money, but there is only a fairly loose state control over theschools throughout the country. Primary education is free paid for from publicfunds and compulsory from age 5 to 11. Full-time school begins at age five in infants’schools. After two years in the infants’ school, the child enters a juniorschool which ends at age 11. The secondary education, which is organized in avariety of ways for children aged 11 to 19, is also free and compulsory to age16. Parents are required by law to ensure that their children receivecompulsory full-time education. At the age of 16, pupils take their GCSE, orGeneral Certificate exams. They are free to leave school at this point to findemployment, but increasingly many students stay on for another two years in theequivalent of high school to take “A” or Advanced level exams. If theirA-levels are good enough, then they can go on to college. In recent years, thepercentage of students who have passed these exams has risen to unprecedentedlevels.

Education inEnglandis overseen by the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovationand Skills. InScotland,Wales, andNorthern Ireland, separatedepartments of education are headed by ministers who answer to the country’sparliament or assembly. Primary and secondary education is a localresponsibility. Each council or local authority in theUKhas a Local Education Authority(LEA) and they are primarily responsible for public spending on schools.

The 1944Education Act divided state schools into three different types: grammar,secondary modern and technical to cater for the different academic levels andother aptitudes of children. Entry to these schools was based on the 11 plusexaminations. Although schools were supposed to be equal in their respectiveeducational targets, the grammar schools were considered a better (more academic)education preparing students for better jobs and entry into higher educationand the professions. From 1964, the Labor governments have been committed toabolishing the eleven-plus selection and the secondary school divisions. Today,in most parts of theUK,secondary schools are non-selective comprehensive, that is, they are open topupils of all abilities.

 

IndependentSchools

However good thestate schools may be, it is still true that if an English parent has enoughmoney to pay the fees to send his children to an independent school he willmost probably do so. In independent schools boys and girls above the age ofeight are usually educated separately. The terms “primary” and “secondary” arenot usually applied to independent schools at the different levels because theage of transfer from a lower to a higher school is normally thirteen orfourteen instead of eleven. The principal schools for boys of over thirteen arecalled “public schools” and those for younger boys are usually called “preparatory”schools.

There is animportant difference of constitution between the “preparatory” and the “public”schools. Preparatory schools are usually private in the fullest sense, and areoperated as private enterprises as if they were shops or factories. Such aschool is often the personal property of its headmaster, who is not controlledby any governing body, but works as an independent businessman. To add to theconfusion of the use of words, it is quite usual to say “private school”,meaning the same thing as “preparatory school”. The private secondary schools,or “public schools”, on the other hand, are normally not called “privateschools”, and indeed they are not private in the fullest sense. They aregenerally controlled by governing bodies, who are appointed as trustees to keepalive foundations originally begun by charitable institutions or by rich andphilanthropic people. They do not try to make any financial profits. but onlyto balance their budgets. Their income is partly from gifts and endowments,mainly from fees paid by parents.

A typical“preparatory school” is very small, with between fifty and a hundred boys,either all boarders, or all day-boys, or some of each. Many of these schools arein adapted houses in the country or in small towns, houses built in the nineteenthcentury and too big to be inhabited by families in the conditions of the modernworld. Many of the preparatory schools of today have existed as schools foronly a fairly short time, and depend on success and good reputation for theirsurvival. A few are closely attached to particular public schools. Some 250public schools as so called, but private in nature, such as Eton, Harrow and Winchester, are the mostfamous of the private secondary schools. Some public schools are severalhundred years old, but many others, including some of the most prominentthirty, were founded during the past 140 years. They were originally created toprovide education for the sons of the rich and aristocratic. Such schools aremainly boarding establishments, where the pupils live and are educated duringterm time. Public and other private schools play a significant role in Britisheducation, and many leading figures have been educated at them.

 

Higherand Further Education

Higher educationhas a long history in theUK.There are 90 universities, plus 15 Scottish central institutions and hundredsof Colleges of Higher Education (CHE).

The universities can be broadly classified into four types. The ancient universities of Oxford and Cambridge date from the12th and 13th century, respectively (they are collectively known as Oxbridge).But until the 19th century they were virtually the only universities andoffered no places to women. Other older universities were founded inScotland, such as St. Andrews (1411), Glasgow (1450), Aberdeen(1494) and Edinburgh(1583). A second group comprises the “red-brick” or civic universities such asLeeds, Liverpool and Manchester,which were created between 1850 and 1930. The third group consists ofuniversities founded after the Second World War and in the 1960s, such asSussex, York andEast Anglia.The forth group is made up of the “new universities” created in 1992 whenpolytechnics and some other universities were granted university status.  

Universities aresupposed to have uniform academic standards. Students can choose from animpressive array of subject areas and teaching is mainly by the lecture system,supported by tutorials (small groups) and seminars. The student-lecturer ratioat British universities has increased in recent years because of expandedrecruitment. Most students tend to live on campus in university accommodation,while others choose to live in rented property outside the university. Not allstudents can pursue their study at universities; they are carefully selected byexamination performance, and the dropout rate is low by internationalstandards. Most students receive state-funded grants inversely related to theirparents’ income to cover the tuition fees and they may also receive state-fundedloans to cover living expenses.

The autonomy ofhigher-educational institutions is strikingly pronounced in theUK.Its universities enjoy almost complete autonomy from national or localgovernment in their administration and the determination of their curricula.British universities enjoy academic freedom, appoint their own staff, awardtheir own degrees and decide which students to admit. However, they have closelinks with the central government because a large proportion of their budget derivesfrom public funds.

Furthereducation in theUnited  Kingdomis post-compulsory education and isdistinct from the education offered in universities. It may be at any levelabove compulsory secondary education, from basic skills training to highervocational education. Further education is conducted by further educationcolleges including “sixth form” colleges and some adult education institutions.They are legally independent institutions with independent governing bodiesthat include nominations from the local community and businesses.  Furthereducation colleges offer a range of full-time and part-time options servingover 4 million students through more than 500 state-funded colleges and programs.These colleges have strong links with industry and commerce, employers oftenbeing involved in the courses design. More vocational courses such assecretarial studies and mechanical engineering are provided and the collegesalso offer foundation courses for older students returning to study. Oneimportant training program is Youth Training Scheme (YTS) giving opportunity toall school leavers who have not got a job or continued to higher education.These young people are given a combination of training and work experience sothey can learn to be qualified in their jobs.

 

EducationReforms and Current Problems

        In 1870,Britain’s first education act was inspired bythe pioneering example of mass compulsory education inGermany. The Education Act passedin 1944 established free and compulsory secondary education up to age fifteen;this was increased to age sixteen in 1973. Then, the Education Reform Act in1988 allowed individual schools to control their own affairs and budgets, andto receive grants directly from the government. It also established acontroversial national curriculum, which was simplified in 1994 aftercomplaints about its complexity. The introduction of this curriculum isintended to have an influence on the subject matter of teaching.  At primary levels, it emphasizes the 3R’s,i.e. Reading,wRiting and aRithmatics, while at higher levels, it emphasizes science andtechnology. The emphasis is different from traditional British approach toeducation which emphasized arts and humanities to develop the well-roundedhuman beings. The national curriculum also brought in key stage tests whichmean that pupils are assessed at various stages throughout their education.These national curriculum tests are popularly known as “SATS” even though theproper term would be “national curriculum” or “key stage” tests. Under the nationalcurriculum, as a result of the Education Reform Act 1988, four Key Stages wereestablished, respectively for ages 5-7, 7-11, 11-14, and 14-16.
        Despite the above reform efforts, thestate school system inEnglandandWaleshas been going through a crisis for many years, caused by a lack of funding,crumbling infrastructure, shortage of books and other equipment, and above all,shortage of teachers. With the introduction of the National Curriculum,teachers in schools have lost some of their autonomy. Teaching in schools hasbecome a less popular occupation than it once was, not least because of the payand the ways in which successive governments have blamed teachers for the stateof education and the standards achieved by pupils. It is estimated the stateschool system has some 10,000 teaching vacancies, particularly in math andscience, and the situation is deteriorating. Largely related to these problems,theUK'seducation system has had a bad press in recent years, and according to many surveys,is falling behind the leading countries, particularly in math and science.There is an inadequacy of vocational education and training in theUK,and general educational standards are inferior to those in many advancedindustrial nations. In 2001, theUKwas ranked 11^th inreading skills, 5th in Science and 9th in Math out of 43 countries in theOrganization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Programs forInternational Student Assessment (PISA) survey into the quality of primary andsecondary education.