Text 1 educational institutions and their work

I. Types of institution

1. In England there are both state and independent (or private) institutions. Before dealing with the various institutions, it is worth giving the names of the bodies and people responsible for the state system of education, together with their functions, as some of them will be mentioned in discussing the institutions, and all of them occur in the press and in books on education.

The Department of Education & Science (DES) is the ministry responsible for national educational policy. Until 1964 it was called the Ministry of Education, and (government) department has the same meaning as ministry.

The Secretary of State for Education & Science, or, in less formal style, the Education Secretary, is the minister who heads the DES.

The local education authorities (LEAs) are responsible for:

• providing and maintaining schools in their areas in accordance with national policy;

• the day-to-day administration of schools, the employment of teachers, and the curriculum, although in practice much of this responsibility is delegated to head teachers;

• post-school education, except for universities.

The chief education officer is the official at the head of a local education authority. In some areas the title director of education has come into use instead.

2. Independent, private

The word independent, when applied to an educational institution, means "independent of the state". However, such independence is not complete. For example, independent schools must register with the DES and be open to inspection by the Department; universities are increasingly dependent on the Department from the financial point of view. Private is often used of educational institutions in the same sense as independent, especially in non-formal style. Strictly speaking, however, a private institution is one run mainly for the profit of its owner(s), in contrast to other, non-profit-making institutions, which are controlled by some form of governing body.

Pre-school institutions in england

3. Nursery school

This is a school for children under five, mainly from three to five. Attendance is not compulsory, and in any case there are not enough of them to take all children of that age group. Although they are called schools, they give little formal instruction (in the sense of systematic teaching). The children spend most of their time in some sort of play activity, as far as possible of an educational kind. Most nursery schools are state institutions provided by the local education authority, but there are also some independent nursery schools.

4. Day nursery

Day nurseries take children from two months to five years, and are run by the local health authority. Besides the fact that they take younger children than nursery schools, there are some other differences between the two types of institution, which Tyrrell Burgess, in his GUIDE TO ENGLISH SCHOOLS, describes as follows: "Broadly speaking, the difference is in the word school. A day nursery meets a social need: it minds children while their parents arc at work. A nursery school is an educational establishment and is more positively concerned with the children's development. Nursery schools operate during normal school hours (approx. 9 a. m. — 4 p.m.) and observe normal school holidays. Day nurseries are normally open for longer, and remain open virtually all the year round. What is more, you pay according to your income for day nurseries run by the local health authority; the local education authority's nursery schools are free.''