England

Partners situated in England

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England in a nutshell

(mainly sourced from: [http://])

Source: original picture on https://www.

The population of England is 51 million.

The capital city is London - also the capital of the United Kingdom.

For more details on England see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England

Education in England

(mainly sourced from: [2] and [3])

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Source: origial jpg on: [1]

Since it is considerably larger in population than the others combined it is common for observers to equate England with the United Kingdomn. In the realm of education, this is a mistake - one has to analyse the constituent home nations.

Schools in England

(mainly sourced from: [4], [5] and [6])

There are three levels of school education: primary, secondary and tertiary.

Pre-school in England is relatively unregulated, and is not compulsory. The first exposure many children have to learn with others outside of traditional parenting is day care or a local government run playgroup. This type of activity is not generally considered schooling. Pre-school education is separate from primary school.

Pre-schools are usually run by local councils, community groups or private organizations. Pre-school is offered to three- to five-year-olds. The year before a child is due to attend primary school is the main year for pre-school education. This year is far more commonly attended, and usually takes the form of a few hours of activity five days a week.

Most children in England start school during the Academic Year that they are going to be five. Primary school is from year 1 to year 6 (11 years old), with the emphasis on developing English language and literacy skills, numeracy and basic mathematics as well as health and creative activities. There are no formal examination requirements and students progress to secondary education at the completion of primary schooling. National Curriculum assessments are a series of formative assessments, colloquially known as SATs, used to measure the attainment of children attending maintained schools in England. They comprise a mixture of teacher-led and test-based assessment depending on the age of the pupils.

The tests were introduced for 7-year-olds for the academic year ending July 1991, and for 11-year-olds in the academic year ending July 1995. Similar tests were introduced for 14-year-olds for the academic year ending July 1998 but were scrapped at the end of the academic year ending July 2009.

The assessments are completed at the end of each Key Stage and record attainment in terms of National Curriculum attainment levels, numbered between 1 and 8.

Secondary education is from year 7 (11 years old) to year 11 (16 years old). Core subjects are taught for the first two years and a selection of electives are introduced thereafter, culminating in GCSEs. Pupils may leave secondary schools at this time or continue to study for A levels. Students generally need at least 5 A*-C GCSE Grades, including English and Mathematics as a prerequiste to start A-levels.

A-levels are part of the tertiary Further Education process. A-levels can also be studied by students in Years 12 and 13 in a Sixth Form institution, as an optional part of secondary school. This is an integrated part of a Secondary Education institution in many areas of the country, while others have separate Sixth Form Colleges - this is normally done as a direct continuation of the secondary education process and hence most students study for the qualification from ages 16 to 18. The term Sixth Form has been retained as a vestige of the old system and is used as a collective term for years 12 and 13. The first five years of English secondary schooling were previously known as forms. Pupils started their first year of secondary school in the first form or first year, and this was the year in which pupils would normally become 12 years of age. Pupils would move up a form each year before entering the fifth form in the year in which they would have their sixteenth birthday. Those who stayed on at school to study for A-levels moved up into the sixth form, which was divided into the Lower Sixth and the Upper Sixth.

Sixth form education is not compulsory in England and Wales; however, university entrance normally requires at least 3 A-level qualifications, and perhaps one AS-level. Students usually select four subjects from the GCSEs they have just taken, for one "AS" year, the AS exams being taken at the end of lower sixth. Three subjects are then carried into the A2 year (the dropped AS being "cashed in" as a qualification) and further exams are taken at the end of that year. The marks attained in both sets of exams are converted into UCAS points, which must meet the offer made by the student's chosen university.

There are two categories of schools: State Schools and Independent or Private Schools (confusingly known as 'public' schools). Most of the older private institutions predate the availability of general compulsory public education in the 19th century and were "public" in the sense of an "initial public offering": anyone who can afford the tuition and meets the institutional requirements may attend, rather than the normal sense of being public, i.e. state run, institutions.

School is compulsory between the ages of five and sixteen, with, in recent years, over three quarters of students staying on until they are eighteen. State schools educate more than 90% of English pupils, with 7% in independent schools, rising to more than 18% of 16+ pupils.

State schools are free, while independent ‘public’ schools charge fees. Regardless of whether a school is government or independent, they are required to adhere to the same curriculum frameworks. Most school students, be they in state or independent school, usually wear uniforms, although there are varying expectations and some schools do not require uniforms.

Primary education

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Secondary education

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Further and higher education

(mainly sourced from: [7])

Giles

Universities in England

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Further Education & Sixth Form Colleges in England

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Education reform

Schools: Governance & Management

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14-19 and University Technical Colleges

Giles

Administration and finance

(mainly sourced from: [8] and [9])

Schools

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Colleges

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Training Providers

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Quality assurance

(mainly sourced from: [10] and [11])

Schools

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Colleges and Training Providers

Giles

ICT in education initiatives

Virtual initiatives in schools

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Virtual initiatives in colleges and training providers

Both

References

Both

• [12]
• [13]
• [http://www.pisa.oecd.org/pages/

Relevant websites

Both

• European Commission
• [14]
• [15]
• [16]
• [17]
• [18]
• [19]
• [20]
• [21]
• [22]
• [23]