Britain’s education system offers two dynamics of key importance to the inward investor:

	High-quality employees, skilled, adaptable and experienced in the latest modern technology following government investment.
	A wealth of high-calibre international schools for the children of relocated staff, in keeping with Britain’s role as the most favoured inward investment zone.

As the home of some of the world’s most famous schools and universities, the UK has long been a centre of educational excellence. Government investment is being made to meet today’s increasing demand for information technology (IT) and further education. The following examples highlight how it is on course to deliver.

	The UK is now a world leader in implementing IT, boosted by teaching IT at all school ages.
	The UK has introduced a new National Grid for Learning, using the Internet.
	The UK offers a wide and increasing range of academic and vocational courses.
	The UK is raising teachers’ status with higher pay and its ‘Meeting the Challenge of Change’ programme.
	The UK has increased its support for early education substantially, with most three- and four-year-olds now in free, quality provision.

Information technology is the key driver at the heart of the UK’s competitive philosophy. It underlies all stages of the country’s education system. The UK is already a world leader in developing and integrating IT in education and IT is, of course, a National Curriculum subject. Computers and similar tools are used in all subjects and by children of all ages with different abilities, and for different purposes. The intention is to deliver complete familiarity with this technology when they leave school for their first jobs.



The National Grid for Learning strategy enhances teaching and learning by providing schools with the infrastructure, training and support to use information and communications technology effectively and access resources on the Internet.
The National Grid for Learning provides access to a wide range of education resources that support teaching and lifelong learning. (See website: www.ngfl.gov.uk) It is the aim to have all schools linked to the Internet in 2002.



The first curriculum phase in education in England is the distinct Foundation Stage covering the period from age three to the end of the reception year in primary school, when the majority of children will be aged five or just over.

Early Learning Goals set out what most children are expected to achieve by the end of the Foundation Stage. They will enable children to develop key skills such as speaking, listening, concentration and early literacy and numeracy.

All providers, whether state sector, private or voluntary, receiving government funding for their free early education provision, must work to the Foundation Stage and Early Learning Goals. For children over five, a National Curriculum is taught in all state schools in England and Wales. It sets out what subjects should be taught and what standards the children are expected to achieve. Besides including traditional subjects like English, history and mathematics, it introduces information technology at the earliest age.



Temporary visitors to Britain may find it more convenient for their children to be educated at boarding schools. The vast majority of such schools are fee-paying independent schools. State schools offer only 4,000 beds, but over 600 of the UK’s 2,398

independent schools, of which 1,300 are accredited by the Independent Schools Council, offer over 80,000 beds for children boarding by the term on full boarding or a weekly basis (where they come home for the weekends).
Britain’s independent schools include some of the most famous in the world. A very high proportion of their school-leavers regularly go on to universities, some of which are also the most respected in the world.

Further information on independent schools can be obtained from ISCIs and the following websites:
www.schoolsearch.org.uk
(including special education)
www.indschools.co.uk
www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk

The government encourages 16- and 17-year-olds to go on to higher quality education and training after leaving school. At the moment almost three-quarters of the 16-year-old school leavers go on to full-time further education. For many of them this is free. The intention is that they will then be able to acquire and develop the skills needed for the UK to compete more effectively in the world.

Such skills will be an invaluable asset for an inward investor. Various institutes for further and higher education, including universities and colleges, provide a wide range of academic and vocational courses for adults of all ages. There are 499 further education colleges in the UK. About 3,000 private colleges also offer higher and further education. And about another 340 further education colleges also offer higher education courses.

Universities and most other higher education institutions enjoy complete academic freedom, deciding what and how to teach and which degrees to award. Inward investors often work closely with universities in a way that benefits both parties – for example, in investment in facilities and the production of graduates highly qualified in the inward investors’ fields.

Information supplied courtesy Invest . UK

www.invest.uk.com