Pre-primary and Primary Education

In some areas of England there are nursery schools for children under 5 years of age. Some children between two and five receive education in nursery classes or in infants classes in primary schools. Many children attend informal pre-school play-groups organized by parents in private homes. Nursery schools are staffed with teachers and students in training. There are all kinds of toys to keep the children busy from 9 o’clock in the morning till 4 o’clock in the afternoon – while their parents are at work. Here the babies play, lunch and sleep. They can rub about and play in safety with someone keeping an eye on them.

For day nurseries which remain open all the year round the parents pay according to their income. The local education authority’s nurseries are free. But only about three children in 100 can go to them: there aren’t enough places, and the waiting lists are rather long.

Most children start school at five in a primary school. A primary school may be divided into two parts – infants and juniors. At infants schools reading, writing and arithmetic are taught for about 20 minutes a day during the first year, gradually increasing to about 2 hours in their last year. There is usually no written timetable. Much time is spent in modeling from clay or drawing, reading or singing.

By the time children are ready for the junior school they will be able to read and write, do simple addition and subtraction of numbers. At seven children go on from the infants school to the junior school. This marks the transition from play to ‘real work’. The children have set periods of arithmetic, reading and composition which are all Eleven Plus subjects. History, Geography, Nature Study, Art and Music, Physical Education, Swimming are also on the timetable.

According to their ability to learn, pupils are streamed into A, B, C and D streams. The least gifted are in the D stream. Formerly towards the end of their fourth year the pupils wrote their Eleven Plus Examination. The hated 11+ examination was a selective procedure on which not only the pupils’ future schooling but their future careers depended. The abolition of selection at Eleven - Plus Examination brought to life comprehensive schools where pupils can get secondary education.

Secondary Education

After the age of 11, most children go to comprehensive schools of which the majority are for both boys and girls. About 90 per cent of all state-financed secondary schools are of this type. Most other children receive secondary education in grammar and secondary modern schools.

Comprehensive schools were introduced in 1965. The idea of comprehensive education, supported by the Labour Party, was to give all children of whatever background the same opportunity in education.

At 16 students in England and Wales take GCSE examinations (General Certificate of Secondary Education). In 1988 these examinations replaced the GCE (General Certificate of Education) and O – levels (Ordinary level) which were usually passed by about 20 per cent of school students.

GCSE examinations are taken by students of all levels of ability in any of a range of subjects, and may involve a final examination, and assessment of work done by the student during the two-year course, or both of these things.

Some comprehensive schools, however, do not have enough academic courses for sixth-formers. Students can transfer either to a grammar school or to a sixth-form college to get the courses they want. At 18 some students take A – level (Advanced level) GCE examinations, usually in two or three subjects. It is necessary to have A – levels in order to go to a university or Polytechnic. But some pupils want to stay on at school after taking their GCSE, to prepare for a vocational course or for work rather than for A – level examinations. Then they have to take the GPVE examination which means the Certificate of Pre – Vocational Education.

In Scotland students take the SCE examinations (Scottish Certificate of Education). A year later, they can take examinations called Highers after which they can go straight to a university.

Secondary education in Northern Ireland is organized along selective lines according to children’s abilities.

One can hardly say that high quality secondary education is provided for all in Britain. There is a high loss of pupils from working-class families at entry into the sixth form. If you are a working-class child at school today, the chance of your reaching the second year of a sixth-form course is probably less than that for the child of a professional parent. Besides, government cuts on school spending caused many difficulties.