Text 1. Schools in Great Britain

1. Read the text quickly to find out peculiarities of the British educational system.

The basis features of public education in Great Britain are the following:

- full-time education is compulsory up to the middle teenage years;

- the academic year begins at the end of summer;

- compulsory education is free of charge, but parents can spend money on educating their children privately outside the state system if they want to (the fees are high).

There are three recognized stages of education: primary, secondary and “further” education.

The first stage is primary education from 5 to 11 years old. Primary education takes place in infant schools where pupils are taught basic reading, writing, arithmetic, art, etc., and in junior schools (from 8 to 11 years old) which mark the transition from play to “real work”.

The second stage is secondary educationfrom 11 to 16/18 years old. Children must go to school until the age of 16, and pupils may stay on for one or two years if they wish. Free secondary education is available to all children in comprehensive schools, which are not selective – children don’t have to pass an exam to go there. Comprehensive schools in the UK are for all abilities and sexes. They develop the talents of each individual child. Comprehensive schools teach wide range of subjects in arts, crafts, woodwork, domestic science, modern languages, sciences, technical areas and computer studies. All pupils move to the next class automatically at the end of the year. There are also a small number of secondary modern schools, offering a more practical education, grammar schools, providing a more academic education and technical schools, offering a combination of academic and technical teaching. There are also special schools for children with physical or mental disabilities.

Private (or public) schools are for pupils aged up to 13. They are very expensive and accept pupils on the basis of an examination. Most of them are boarding schools. The education is of a high quality. The discipline is very strict, corporal punishment has been recently banned in state schools, but in most public schools it is still allowed. At 18 most public school-leavers gain entry to universities. Public schools are famous for their ability to lay foundation of a successful future by giving their pupils a good academic backgroundand self-confidence. About 7 percent of schoolchildren go to private schools.

The school-leaving exams are set by independent examining boards and held in May/June. All schools share the same unified school-leaving exam. The main exam is the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), normally taken at the age of 16, in which students sit papers in different subjects (usually five or more) and are awarded a grade in each subject on a seven-point scale, A to G.

Those pupils who don’t leave school at 16 and go on to a Sixth Form will study two or three subjects for an A-Level (Advanced Level) exam. This is a highly specialized exam and is necessary for University entrance.

2. Read the text more carefully and answer the questions.

1. Is full-time education compulsory for all children in UK?

2. What subjects are taught in primary school?

3. In what types of schools is free secondary education available to all children?

4. What subjects are taught in comprehensive schools?

5. There are state and private schools in Great Britain, aren’t there?

6. What can you say about the discipline and quality of education in private schools?

7. How do private schools accept pupils?

8. Is corporal punishment allowed in schools?

9. What kind of education is provided by Grammar and Modern schools?

10. What is GCSE and when is it held?

3. What questions could you ask to get these answers?

1. Only about 7 percent of children go to private schools.

2. No, all schools hold the same school-leaving exam.

3. To enter the University they need to have 2 or 3 A-Levels.

1.2 Speaking

1. Discuss the following problems with your partner.

a) Advantages and disadvantages of English schools.

b) Are private schools better than state schools?

c) Do you agree with the proverb “Spare the rod, spoil the child”?

In your discussion use special phrases

2. Give a short summary of Text 1 in English.

3. Render the following text in English* or in Russian.

Does a Good Education Really Matter?

We surveyed some people to find out how important they felt that a good school education was. The results showed that many people were disappointed in their education. They put the blame sometimes on themselves. Many felt that their teachers were not good enough, that many of the textbooks were out-of-date, especially when it came to science, and that they should have been made to work harder, either by teachers or by their parents. But people seemed equally ready to put the blame on their own shoulders. Many felt that they had chosen the wrong subjects when they started to specialize, or that they had wasted time at school. Others felt that they had left school too early to get a job and earn money.

4*. Study the following chart and make a report about American system of education.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 646