Introduction
The education history of England and Wales involves a situation where the learning services were provided by churches, and only church schools existed. The principals and the teachers were supposed to be holy people, and the state met a high resistance in trying to providing education.
However, various constitutional and societal changes led to the role of providing education being adopted by the state and the establishment of public schools. Later a well-structured education system was established through the 1988 education reform act that introduced the national curriculum and its consequent examinations, financing of schools, among other reforms to improve the quality of education.
The education system in England and Wales
The education system in England is mainly under the supervision of the department of kids, family units, and schools in conjunction with the departments of innovation, training, and higher education. It’s the duty of the local authorities to execute policies on community education and national schools locally.
There are also been a number of independent schools that operate in the country since the establishment of the education system. The framework of Wales is almost similar to that of England except that England emphasizes studying few subjects with in-depth analysis. On the other hand, Wales emphasizes an education system where students study many subjects with a shallow understanding of the main concepts.
The England education framework comprises compulsory education for all the kids between 5 to 16 years old; the education is provided by the public, private, and home schools. The compulsory education usually closes on the very last Friday of June when the academic time ends, and the students become 16 years old. Compulsory schooling consists of primary and secondary education. The primary learning is usually offered in baby class and junior or a combination of the two and consists of four main stages, i.e., foundation, full-time foundation, key stage 1, and key stage 2.
On the other hand, secondary schooling consists of two chief stages, i.e., key stage 3 and key stage 4. The examination system is made of four main “key stage national curriculum” assessments where students get tested at various levels in the learning process. These tests include key stage 1 taken the second year after joining the school, key stage 2 undertaken at the last part of the sixth year. In addition, the key stage 3 is undertaken by students at the last part of the ninth year, while the key stage 4 is administered through the tenth and the eleventh, which is integrated as the GCSE is a compulsory exam for all students.
Then the students can join a further college schooling which is the sixth form of learning mandatory in some schools where they attain an Advanced Level GCE. The A-Level is made of six units in each subject where in the first year the students undertake three subjects, and after passing, they can choose to continue with the other three subjects to attain the A-Level.
At the age of 18, students can join universities or institutions of higher education to attain bachelor’s degrees. Undergraduate learning is principally sponsored by the government except in private universities where students are self-sponsored. After attaining the bachelor’s degree, the willing students can continue to pursue the postgraduates degrees, which include the master’s and the doctorate degrees completed in one and three years, respectively. Most of the students are self-sponsored as the government only assists the financially needy students, and in very rare cases hence the admission to these degrees is a bit competitive.
In addition, the government offers adult schooling at all levels of education for the purposes of equipping the students with the general knowledge and skills of life and performing duties, e.g., access program. In terms of the cost charged at each educational level, the primary and the secondary education is free, while the sixth form, undergraduate, master’s, and doctorate degrees are charged differently as per their requirements and the institutions the student attends.
Effects of the British education division
The British education system has subdivided into the state and the independent sectors of learning, where the learning services are provided by both the government and the private sectors of the economy. The divisions have both positive and negative effects; the positive effects include the education system becomes more competitive as both sides are committed to achieve better results and become the winners.
The state and the private schools fight to attain top positions in the main national examinations in order to get more students and get favors from the state; hence the competition created has improved the quality of education offered in both sectors. In addition, the competition has also spread even in extracurricular activities such as sports, and many students can identify their talents when still young.
The existence of only state schools had been accused of poor management and being strict in providing only the national curriculum. The existence of the independent sectors in Britain has seen other curriculums practiced in other countries being offered in the country; hence many students do not travel outside the UK to access these other curriculums. In addition, the private sector has started a forum where they offer the Britain curriculum to other countries by establishing branches or examination bodies that only provide the UK curriculum exams. This has reduced the cost of accessing other international curriculums as they are offered in other countries. However, the existence of two sectors has contributed to state schools finding their own sources of income and managing their resources to maintain the standards of education.
The negative effects include the creation of double standards in education where the rich students join the independent schools as their facilities outstand that of the state schools; hence they charge large amounts of fees only affordable by the rich. In addition, they are less strict in terms of discipline and performance as they are losing students considering the amount they pay for school maintenance. More so, the independent schools offer a wide range of curriculums, therefore, making these students better in terms of international competitiveness and access to opportunities.
On the other hand, the state schools remain for the middle and the lower classes of the working class who cannot afford private sector education. This creates a division in a society where there are schools for the poor and the rich hence the association of the two groups is difficult. More so, they offer a standard form of curriculum applicable to all state-owned schools hence limiting the students to only the locally created opportunities.
The disparity in terms of the resources and facilities available to the students makes the students in independent schools access many opportunities compared to those in state schools. For instance, private schools only admit the students and the staff that meet their standards. In addition, they charge a large number of fees in order to make all facilities available to both the students and the staff, making sure the needs of all students are met. They also spend most of their time, resources, and energy towards other extracurricular activities making the students their talents as they have all the necessary facilities at their disposal.
On the other hand, the state schools lack enough to provide all the necessary facilities in schools due to the fact that they cannot charge high fees in the name of luxury. Therefore, the state takes the responsibility of providing basic education; hence the students never access many opportunities. For instance, only a few identify their talents in extracurricular activities as not all the facilities are available. More so, the state schools admit all kinds of students without considering their personal information or background hence less discriminative and more just a factor that tends to push their performance down.
The state schools in providing higher education seem to maintain their high standards where students with low grades are only allowed to take degrees that are fewer adverse effects on human beings and society. For instance, the medicine and the engineering students are supposed to be students with very high grades due to the nature and complexity of the job responsibilities and the risks involved. Therefore they are supposed to be bright students who are good performers.
On the other hand, the independent schools are never strict on course offering in terms of the students’ performance or grades rather they are interested in the fees paid by the students, i.e., who can afford their services hence we end up having students dropping out of class when they are halfway or who fail in their careers due to lack of the relevant knowledge and skills. Hence, the independent schools are commercial as they are not state-sponsored like state schools.
References
David McDowall. Britain in close up, United Kingdom: Longman publisher, 2000.
Dent H.C. education in England and Wales, London: Hodder and Arnold H&S publisher, 1982.
John Oakland. British Civilization, Great Britain: Rout ledge publisher, 1998.