Education made easy
Joining the UK’s education system need not be a daunting process. Here’s everything that parents and prospective pupils need to know
Overview
The vast majority of children in the UK
attend state-funded schools. All children
are required by law to be in formal education
from the age of five (four in Northern
Ireland) to the age of 16. Education in
England is divided into four stages:
- Early years and foundation (0-4 year olds)
- Primary (4-11 year olds)
- Secondary (11-16 year olds);
- Over 75% of young people stay in education beyond the age of 16.
Early Years and the Foundation Stage (0-4 year olds)
Most children will begin formal education around the age of three – and all three and four-year-olds are entitled to free, parttime education before they begin school in England and Wales. Children at this stage of education work towards ‘early learning goals’, which cover six key curricular areas (personal, social and emotional development; communication, language and literacy; mathematical development; knowledge and understanding of the world; physical development; creative development).
All the evidence suggests that the quality of care for young children is vital to their emotional, social and intellectual development.
Primary education (4-11 year olds)
At the age of four, children begin primary school. Over 90% of pupils go to publiclyfunded primary schools. There is a national curriculum that schools are required to follow. At primary school, there is a strong emphasis on literacy and numeracy, with an hour of classroom teaching each day devoted to reading and writing.
Primary school pupils also study science, information and communication technology (ICT), art, history, geography, music and physical education, at a level appropriate to their age. Increasingly, more primary schools are also teaching modern foreign languages to their pupils, although as yet, this is not a requirement by law.
Pupils undergo teacher assessments in English and math at the age of seven and sit national exams in these subjects, as well as science at the age of 11. In most areas, children aged 5-to-11 attend primary schools and move on to secondary schools at the age 11 for education up to the age of 16 and beyond.
Secondary education (11-16 year olds)
Around 93% of 11-16 year old pupils in England attend publiclyfunded state schools. There are different types of secondary schools. Some choose to specialize in a particular subject or subject area such as science, modern foreign languages or arts and drama. This doesn’t mean that they only offer these subjects, rather that they become a local centre of excellence in a particular area and they work with partners and other schools to share their expertise. All secondary schools must follow the national curriculum and ensure that the school curriculum is broad and balanced, and also promotes the spiritual, moral, physical and mental development of pupils.
English, math, science and ICT are all compulsory subjects up to the age of 15. Pupils usually study geography, history, music, religious studies, technology, citizenship, art and a modern foreign language as well. At the end of their third year in secondary school (at the age of 13 or 14) pupils choose which subjects they’d like to continue studying. Generally, as well as English, math and science, pupils choose four other subjects. In addition, many schools also offer vocational subjects – which range from leisure and tourism to design and construction.
Pupils sit national exams called GCSEs (General Certificate of
Secondary Education) in their chosen subjects, usually when they
are aged 15 or 16. The benchmark standard is “C” out of A-E grades
or higher in at least five of their GCSEs, preferably including English
and math. Currently, around 55% of pupils achieve this benchmark,
with a significant number in this group achieving much better grades
than this.
Education for 16+
Around 75% of pupils choose to continue studying either at a school or a college. After they’ve completed their GCSEs, most students will go on to do A (Advanced) or AS (Advanced Subsidiary) levels, which are academic courses of study in a specific subject (for example, French or physics).
They will usually choose to do an A or AS level in a subject they have achieved a C grade or higher in at GCSE, although there are exceptions with subjects such as Law, where there are no GCSEs. They do this either at school or at a further education college. Students generally do up to three or four A levels selected from a large number of academic subjects – from history and English to physics and math. Study at A level is very specialised and lasts for two years, with examinations at the end of both years. One of the things that students consider when choosing which A levels to do is what they might want to go on to study at university. Certain universities will ask for specific qualifications for particular courses – for example, students might be expected to have good grade A levels in two or more of the sciences if they want to do medicine.
There are also National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) that students can do in work-related topics such as business, marketing, engineering or information technology. National Vocational Qualifications are designed to give students workrelated skills that will enable them to pursue a particular career path – either by going on into employment or by continuing their studies at university.
For more information, contact:
The Department for Children, Schools and Families
Website: www.dfes.gov.uk
The Department for Universities, Innovation and Skills
Website: www.dius.gov.uk
back
