Pre-primary and primary education

ñ Nurseries

ñ Primary School

ñ Streaming

ñ The Eleven-Plus Examination – No More of it?

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 preschool 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 run 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 5 in a primary school. A primary school may be divided into two parts – infants and juniors. At infants school 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 modelling 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 7 children go on from the infant 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.

Pupils are streamed, according to their ability to learn, into А, В, С 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-Pius Examination brought to life comprehensive schools where pupils can get secondary education.

 

References:

1) primary school – общая начальная школа (для детей от 5 до 11 лет в Англии и от 5 до 12 лет в Шотландии; государственная; включает первую ступень малышей и начальную школу);

2) Eleven-Plus Examination – отборочные экзамены в 11 с половиной лет (включают интеллектуальные тесты на проверку умственных способностей учащегося, его сообразительности, знания английского языка и арифметики; по результатам экзаменов определяют, в каком типе школы учащемуся продолжить образование: в классической, технической или средней современной школе; в большинстве школ эти экзамены были отменены с введением единой средней школы);

3) nursery school – дошкольное учреждение; старшая группа детского сада;

4) infants [‘infants] classes – классы первой ступени начальной школы (от 5 до 7 лет);

5) local education authority’s nursery – дошкольное учреждение, находящееся в ведении местных органов образования;

6) junior school – начальная школа (для детей от 7 до 11 лет; государственная; существует самостоятельно или в составе общей начальной школы);

7) set periods – фиксированные в расписании уроки;

8) to stream – распределять по потокам (в зависимости от результатов интеллектуальных тестов: streaming – распределение по «потокам»; сравните: grouping – распределение по профилям, уровням, setting – распределение по группам для изучения предметов на разных уровнях и в зависимости от успехов)

9) comprehensive school – единая средняя школа (соединяющая три типа школ: классическую, среднюю современную и техническую)

Exercises

1. Give the Russian equivalents of the following words and word combination:

nursery schools; primary schools; to be staffed; to play in safety; to keep an eye on smb; to pay according to one’s income; to be free; infants; juniors; to increase; to be streamed; the least gifted.

 

2. Use the words and phrases of exercise 1 in the sentences of your own.

3. Give the English equivalents of the following:

дошкольное образование; посещать детский сад; занимать детей; бесплатный; длинные списки; утвержденное расписание; постепенно увеличиваться; простые сложения и вычитания; переход; по умственным способностям; зависеть.

 

4. Use the words and word combinations of exercise 3 in the sentences of your own.

5. Find in the text and read the information about:

Nurseries

Primary School

Streaming

The Eleven-Plus Examination

6. Make up ten questions on the text.

7. Retell the text using the outline.

8. Choose one point of the outline to make an extended report.

SECONDARY EDUCATION

• Comprehensive Schools

• Grammar Schools

• Secondary Modern Schools

• The Sixth Form

• No More Inequality?

• Cuts on School Spending

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. In 1988 these examinations replaced the GCE and O-levels 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 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 CPVE examination which means the Certificate of Pre-Vocational Education.

In Scotland students take the SCE examinations. 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 one-twelfth of that for the child of a professional parent. Besides, government cuts on school spending caused many difficulties.

 

References:

1) grammar school – классическая школа (государственная или частная; предусматривается изучение классических языков);

2) secondary modern school – средняя современная школа (государственная; имеет практическую направленность);

3) secondary education – среднее образование (для учащихся от 11 до 16 или 18 лет);

4) GCSE сокр. от the General Certificate of Secondary Education – общий аттестат о среднем образовании (введен в практику в 1988 г.; предполагает не только сдачу учащимися соответствующих экзаменов, но и оценку их текущей учебы за два года);

5) GCE сокр. от the General Certificate of Education – Общий аттестат о школьном образовании (экзамены на получение такого аттестата существовали до 1988 года);

6) O-level сокр. от Ordinary level – 1) на обычном, пониженном уровне 2) экзамены на Общий аттестат о школьном образовании, существовавшие до 1988 года;

7) sixth-form college – приготовительный колледж (среднее учебное заведение для молодежи старше 16 лет; государственное или частное);

8) A-level – сокр. от Advanced level – 1) повышенный уровень; 2) экзамен на повышенном уровне по программе средней школы;

9) SCE сокр. от the Scottish Certificate of Education – аттестат о среднем образовании на территории Шотландии;

10) Highers – экзамены на повышенном уровне на получение аттестата о среднем образовании в Шотландии;

11) professional – человек умственного труда (адвокат, врач, архитектор, преподаватель и др.).

 

HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UK

Education after 16 is voluntary in United Kingdom. Students, who live in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, must take at the age of 16 the examinations for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE). In Scotland students receive the Scottish Certificate of Education. After this exam students can choose to stay in school or attend colleges of further education.

British universities are self-governing and are guaranteed academic independence. Funding for education and research is provided by funding councils set up by Parliament. The number of universities jumped in 1992 when polytechnics and some other higher education establishments were given the right to become universities. By the end of 1994, there were some 90 universities, almost half of them former polytechnics, including the Open University.

Many of the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge universities were founded in the 12th and 13th centuries. All other universities in Britain were founded in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Open University, based in Milton Keynes, England, was founded in 1969. It uses extension techniques of correspondence courses, television and radio programmes, and video cassettes, supported by local study centres and residential summer schools, to provide higher education opportunities to a wide variety of people.

During the 1960s there was a significant increase in the number of new universities, reflecting a fast growth in student numbers which was made possible by an expansion in grant facilities. During the 1980s, an expansion in higher education places led to another large jump in student numbers. In the 1992-1993 academic year there were more than 1.4 million students in full – or part-time higher education in Great Britain, compared with just under 850,000 a decade earlier. About one quarter of young people are in higher education in England, Wales, and Scotland; one third in Northern Ireland. About 90 per cent of students get state grants to cover tuition fees and living costs.

The size of the grant is determined by parents’ income. Since the late 1980s, however, grants have been frozen; students can apply for a student loan.

 

Vocabulary Bank

voluntary	добровольное
attend	посещать
self-governing	самоуправление
polytechnics	политехнические институты
extension techniques	технологии дистанционного образования
to reflect	отражать
Parents’ income	доход родителей
student loan	студенческий заём
funding	финансирование
significant	значительный
funding councils	советы по финансированию
to set up	основывать

References:

a) high-school diploma – школьный аттестат

graduation ceremony – выпускной экзамен

Bachelor of Science (B.S.) – бакалавр естественных наук

BachelorofArt (B.A.) – бакалавр естественных наук

Master of Arts (M.A.) – магистр искусств

Master of Science (M.S.) –магистр естественных наук

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) – доктор философии

undergraduate student – студент 1-4(5) курсов

graduate student – студент 5-6 курсов

graduate school of psychology – магистратура аспирантура по специальности психология

b) room (lodging) and board –проживание и пропитание

personal expenses –личные расходы

books and supplies – книги и материалы

c) to be eligible for admission – быть подходящей кандидатурой для поступления

to enroll –зачислять

enrollment – зачисление

tuition fee –плата за обучение

admissions office – приемная комиссия

student services office – департамент по работе со студентами

university bursar’s office – бухгалтерия университета (офис казначея)

Exercises

1. Translate into English.

1. В возрасте 16 лет каждый житель Великобритании обязан сдать экзамены на получение Сертификата о среднем образовании.

2. Экзамены продвинутого уровня являются необходимым требованием для поступления в университет.

3. Британские университеты являются полностью самоуправляемыми.

4. В 1992 году политехническим институтам была предоставлено право стать университетами.

5. Открытый университет, широко известный своими технологиями дистанционного обучения, был основан в 1969 году.

6. В 60-е годы в Соединенном королевстве наметился значительный рост числа университетов.

7. Размер гранта на обучение определяется исходя из дохода родителей.

 

2. Answer the following questions.

1. Do you think that higher education should be free? Do you think that the quality of education in private universities and institutes is better because professors and teachers are paid more?

2. Do you think that the paid higher education with a system of grants is better than entry exams?