3.Secondary Education

For all children in state schools，secondary education begins at the age of eleven.Each LEA is obliged by the 1944Education Act to provide secondary schools of sufficient variety to cater for the abilities and aptitudes of children in its area.The secondary education was originally a three-part system in England and Wales，with grammar school taking the academic pupils，technical schools taking those with a bent for practical skills，and the secondary modern schools taking the rest.In recent years comprehensive schools have been developing very fast.They are designed to merge the three ranges of pupils into one school.

The grammar school is by many centuries the oldest type of secondary school in England and Wales.Its historical function has been to give an academic education which serves as a foundation for university studies.The name comes from the fact that Latin grammar formed an important part of the teaching in the original grammar schools.Now the subjects normally studied during the first three years in such schools are English language and literature，foreign languages，history，geography，mathematics，chemistry，physics，biology，and some other subjects.From the fourth year some subjects are dropped.All grammar schools prepare their pupils to take the external examinations for the General Certificate of Education（GCE），and a majority of their pupils sit these examinations.The examinations are taken at two levels，Ordinary² and Advanced³.They were in 1980administered by eight examining boards.Six were University boards；the other two were Welsh Joint Education Committee and Associated Examining Board.Now many grammar schools have been replaced by comprehensive schools.Only about 3percent state school pupils are at grammar schools.

Technical schools provide an integrated academic and technical course.They are usually connected with some industrial organizations and other professions.The teachers in technical schools are mainly drawn from polytechnic graduates.The entrance requirements and the years at school are the same as grammar school，but the number of technical schools is small.Such schools are attended by only one percent of all students of secondary school age.

Secondary modern schools develop pupils in a somewhat different direction.They offer a more general and technical and less academic education than grammar schools.Many special courses are provided in such schools.These courses led to a rapid increase in number of pupils in such schools.Among the special courses the one that made the most spectacular advance was the academic course leading to the GCE.Many modern school pupils can win the GCE at“O”levels.Now，of students of secondary school age，only five percent attend the secondary modern schools.

Now comprehensive schools are more than any other types.They provide education for all children between the age of 11and 18from a given district，regardless of their background or intelligence.Pupils in comprehensive schools are often“streamed”for different subjects according to their ability.The Labour Party tends to favor the idea of comprehensives，while the Conservative Party would like to keep the grammar schools or secondary modern system.There are now about 1，400fully comprehensive schools in England and Wales.About 90percent of all secondary school students attend such schools.