British Education System

I. Answer the questions

1. At which age do children start school?
2. Is schooling compulsory or optional?
3. When can children stop school?
4. How many stages of schooling? What are they?
5. What is "boarding school"?
6. What is the percentage of children who attend Government-run schools?
7. What time do schools start and finish?
8. How long is the lunch-break?
9. How long is the summer vacation?
10. Name the most famous public schools:
11. Compare the funding of 2 types of schools: public and state
.....................................................................................................................................
II. Matching
1. 5 years old

a. taking the SAT for the 1st time

2. 7 years old

b. sitting for GCSE test

3. 8 years old

c. finishing A-level course

4. 11 years old

d. starting school

5. 14 years old

e. finishing primary school

6. 16 years old
7. 18 years old

Summary of Education System in the UK

1. Primary and Secondary Education
More than 90% of students in the UK (1)............... publicly-funded state schools. Primary schools
usually include both girls and boys as (2)................... Secondary schools may be either single-sex or coeducational.
By law, all children between ages (3)................... and (4)................... must receive a full-time
education. For children under age (5)............., publicly-funded nurseries and pre-schools are available
for a limited number of hours each week. After the age of (6)..............., students can attend sixth form
colleges or other (7) ...............education institutions.
2. National Curriculum
National Curriculum core subjects are: English , mathematics, s(8)............., design and technology,
information and communication technology, h(9)............., geography, modern foreign languages,
m(10).............., art and design, physical education, and c(11)................
After five years of (12)............... education, students take examinations in a range of subjects at the
level of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE).
After taking GCSEs, students may (13)............... secondary schooling; or they may choose to
(14)............ their education at vocational or technical colleges, or they may take a higher level of
secondary school examinations known as AS-Levels after an additional year of study. Following two
years of study, students may (15).............. A-Level (short for Advanced Level) examinations, which are
required for university (16)................ in the UK.

3. Post-secondary and Higher Education

There are 2 main types of further education: Vocational training and University or College Education.
About one third of young people go on to higher education at age 18 (with almost 50% of students in
Scotland). Undergraduate degrees take three years to (17).................
Professional courses, such as medicine, veterinary medicine, law and teaching, usually are undertaken
as five-year undergraduate degrees

British Universities
All of Britain's universities are financed by the (1).................... Although they are financed by the British
government, no university (2)................ actually owned by the State and in spite of the state's sponsoring of
universities, (3)................... at British university are considerably higher than other countries. Students in the
United Kingdom generally study only one (4).............. instead of a combination of minor and master. One
particularity of universities in UK is that most students choose to attend institutions far away from their
(5)................ Consequently, most universities provide accommodation for their students or at least help them
find a (6) ............ to live. There are four main types of British Universities.
1. Ancient Universities:
Ancient universities in the United Kingdom were (7).................. during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Typicals: University of Oxford and University of Cambridge . There are over 21.000 students at Oxford,
including 11,723 undergraduates and 9,327 postgraduates (2010). This university has 38 independent and selfgoverning colleges and has the largest university library system in the UK, with over 100 libraries.
2. Red Brick Universities
Red Brick Universities - named (8)............. the buildings which were usually built with red (9)................ The
main difference between Red Brick and ancient universities is that Red Bricks were so called non-collegiate
institutions and admitted everybody without regarding their religion or social background. Furthermore, they
concentrated on teaching "practical subjects" to work in real life. Some Red Brick universities include:
University of Liverpool , University of Manchester
3. New Universities

They are all the academic institutions founded in the 1960s after the Robins Report. Besides
recommending immediate expansion of universities. Due (10)............... their modern architecture, and
(11)............... terms of academics, they have out-performed some Red Brick universities, especially on the

(12)............... of research, which has improved their reputation considerably. Typicals: Aston University,
Brunel University
4. Open University
(13).............. in 1986, the Open University is Britain's d(14)............. -learning institution. In 2005 a total of
180,000 students, most of them based in the UK, were enrolled, which made it the largest institution of
(15).......... education in the UK by student numbers. The Open University was r(16)................ top university in
England and Wales for student satisfaction in 2005. Just as any other academic institution, the Open University,
too, actively engages (17)............... research and awards both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.