2. Secondary Education

All the children of 11/12 years of age pass from primary schools to secondary schools. There are different types of secondary education. Grammar schools, secondary modern schools, technical schools are the three types of school in the so-called tripartite system of education introduced in 1944. However the traditional tripartite system is now gradually being replaced by the comprehensive system. A new system of comprehensive schools has now become more usual all over the country.

Alongside the state system of education there exists the system of private, independent or public schools.

3. Further Education

Further education means education after school, that is, in colleges of further education, technical colleges and various other institutions.

Further education includes all the part-time and full-time educational provision as well as cultural training, leisure-time activities, etc. except universities and some colleges of education which are independent.

Answer the following questions:

1. How many stages of education are there in England? 2. What may the local authority establish for the under fives? 3. What do nursery schools provide for children between two and five years old? 4. At what age must all children start school? 5. What is the primary stage divided into? 6. How many years do children go to infant schools? 7. How many years do children go to junior schools? 8. When must children attend secondary schools? 9. How many systems of secondary education are there in England? What are they? 10. What can you say about the types of the state system of education? 11. What can you say about the school-leaving age?

Length of school life. Streaming

R ead the following words aloud:

[i] – will, into, infant, children, Christmas, until, begin, continue

[i:] – each, these, leave, reach, Easter, feature, complete, receive

[e] – secondary, technical, attend, attendance, education, length, general, separate

Transcribe the words and read them:

Vacations, separated, duration, education, beginning, birthday, continue, nineteen, customary, technical, percentage, normally, secondary, primary, attend, general, attainment, particularly, complete, eleventh, another, promote, attendance, junior, infant, corresponding

Arrange the following words into 3 columns according to the part of speech. Read and translate:

Education, continue, divide, vacation, start, customary, reach, last, compulsory, complete, attainment, secondary, attend, primary, junior, transfer, promotion, type, urban, birthday, feature, noteworthy, period, duration, promote, attendance

Translate the following word combinations into Russian:

A junior school, a primary school, a secondary school, an infants’ school, full-time education, primary stage, secondary stage, promotion, attainment, to transfer, to complete, compulsory.

Replace the words in bold type using the following words: compulsory, attend, is divided into, be trained, lasts.

1. Full-time education is obligatory from the age of five. 2. Full-time education consists of two stages. 3. During the primary stage a child may go to one school. 4. In urban areas they may go to both an infants’ school and a junior school. 5. The school year runs from September till July.

Read and translate the following sentences. Mind the prepositions:

1. It is customary for children to start school at the beginning of the term. 2. They may continue until the age of nineteen. 3. Full-time education is divided into two stages. 4. After an infants’ school a child will transfer to a junior school. 5. Promotion is based on age and not upon attainment. 6. Mid-term is marked by a long week-end. 7. A child normally completes the school primary stage at the end of the year in which his eleventh birthday falls.

LENGTH OF SCHOOL LIFE

Full-time education is compulsory from the age of five, and it is customary for children to start school at the beginning of the term in which their fifth birthday falls. They must not leave before the end of the term in which they reach the age of sixteen, but they may continue until the age of nineteen.

The period of full-time education is divided into two stages – primary and secondary. A child normally completes the primary stage at the end of the school year in which his eleventh birthday falls. During this primary stage, a child may attend one school, or, particularly in urban areas, two, these being an infants’ school and a junior school. If he begins in an infants’ school, he will transfer to a junior school at the end of the school year in which he becomes seven years old. Upon leaving the junior school he goes to a secondary school of one type or another. A noteworthy feature of both primary and secondary schools is that promotion is, in generally, based on age and not upon attainment.

The school year begins in September, and continues until late in July. It is divided into three terms separated by vacations at Christmas and at Easter, each lasting about three weeks, and a summer vacations of six or seven weeks. Mid-term is usually marked by a long week-end of three or four days’ duration.

Answer the following questions:

1. What type of education is compulsory in Britain? 2. When is it customary for children to start school? 3. How many stages is the period of full-time education divided into? 4. What are they? 5. When does a child normally complete the primary stage? 6. How many schools may a child attend during the primary stage? 7. What primary schools may a child attend, particularly in urban areas? 8. When may a child be transferred to a junior school if he or she begins in an infants’ school? 9. When does he or she go to a secondary school of one type or another? 10. What is a noteworthy feature of both primary and secondary schools? 11. When does the school year begin? 12. How long does it continue? 13. How many terms is it divided into? 14. How long does each term last? 15. What is each term separated by? 16. What is mid-term usually marked by? 17. How long does it last?

Read and translate in the written form the following article:

STREAMING AND THE ELEVEN PLUS EXAMINATION

Most junior schools carry out a policy of streaming, that is to say, the children are divided into an A stream of the cleverest, a B stream of the next in ability, and so on. Each stream constitutes one class. In the average school the C stream is the lowest. This system (selectivity and division) is primarily based on theories of intelligence which permeate the whole educational system. It was once held that intelligence was an inborn quality and therefore unchangeable, and that it defined and limited the development of the child’s intellectual attainments. The main task of the junior school one seems to be the achievement of the maximum number of passes in the Secondary Selection Examination, popularly known as the ‘Eleven Plus (11+) examination’. The name 11+ appears to refer to the age at which children transfer to a secondary school, rather than to the age at which they take the examination (in their last year at primary school, at about 10 ½).

Whilst English education is controlled locally, through the county councils, and there is therefore much variation, the general pattern of this examination remains largely the same throughout the country. It consists of three tests – one in English, one in arithmetic and one Intelligence Test, the latter is thought to play the dominant role. It enables the testers to determine the child’s Intelligence Quotient, or IQ.

Children are allocated to the different types of secondary school according to their results in the 11+ examination. The children with the best results go to a grammar school. The children with lower marks go to modern or technical schools.